By now, IBM’s Jeopardy! champion Watson is old news. But the computer technology triumph, capable of understanding human language and broad knowledge topics, may have more to teach us.
Baseline brought this to our attention in their article, “Watson At Work.” According to at least one spectator, Watson may have knowledge to be applied across the typical enterprise.
For the average organization attempting to use the “Watson” approach, there are things to consider. A core framework for structuring information is needed in order for any algorithm to make sense of data – something more complex like taxonomies and ontologies, which tell the system how concepts relate to one another. It is also important to consider the questions searchers will ask and the ambiguity that may be created. Solutions to help users with proper queries and alternate meanings can only make the results more dynamic.
What we do know is that it has never been more important to approach knowledge organization or taxonomy management based on accepted and shared standards. Access Innovations is one of a very small number of companies that can help you generate ANSI/ISO/W3C-compliant taxonomies.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
Another example of the critical value of context for any word, phrase, or concept. For any given concept, knowing its broader concept and related concepts provide the context to clarify whether a possible “answer” is right on or far off base, misled by some red herring clue. The taxonomic relationships are key. That was Watson’s weakness, despite pulling thru in the end.