A referral system is a multiagent system whose member agents are capable of giving and following referrals. The specific cases of interest arise where each agent has a user. The agents cooperate by giving and taking referrals so each can better help its user locate relevant information. This use of referrals mimics human interactions and can potentially lead to greater effectiveness and efficiency than in single-agent systems. Existing approaches

Traditional approaches to knowledge management are essentially limited to document management. However, much knowledge in organizations or communities resides in an informal social network and may be accessed only by asking the right people. This paper describes MARS, a multiagent referral system for knowledge management. MARS assigns a software agent to each user. The agents facilitate their users' interactions and help manage their personal social networks. Moreover, the agents cooperate with one another by giving and taking referrals to help their users find the right parties to contact for a specific knowledge need.

Up to now, there are few detailed proposals for the cooperative (and distributed) construction of ontologies (cf. [2]). The problem of how to establish a consensus and a shared conceptualization, especially when dealing with contradictory knowledge and conflicting interests has hardly been dealt with. We propose and evaluate a threephased knowledge mediation procedure which is especially conceived to integrate different perspectives and information needs into one consensual ontology.

Abstract. Usability patterns represent knowledge about known ways to design graphical user interfaces that are usable and meet the needs and expectations of users. There is currently a plethora of usability patterns published in books, private repositories and the World-Wide Web. The dominance of pattern creation and discovery efforts has neglected the emerging need to organize the patterns so they can become a proactive resource for developing interfaces. This paper presents an approach using Semantic Web concepts that turns informal patterns into formal representation capable of supporting systematic design methods. Through this method, loosely coupled pattern collections can be turned into strongly coupled pattern languages representing software patterns and the context in which usability patterns should be applied. Furthermore, we demonstrate how experience-based mechanisms can be utilized to continuously improve the resulting pattern libraries. 1 Usability Patterns as an Interface Design Resource The development of interactive software systems, i.e. systems with significant user

Abstract. While most agile methodologies assume that change is inevitable, current approaches have adopted the strategy of defining practices and activities that are general enough to be adapted to many project settings. These methodologies have the ability to address variance and adaptability within the processes, but are unable to adopt different methodologies to meet the evolving needs of projects as they progress through their lifecycles, or change to meet new business or user conditions. For example, a project may begin with a Scrumbased process, but require some XP processes or even heavyweight processes later in the lifecycle. Agile methodologies should be able to react to these changes with appropriate practices and processes that fit project needs at any point in time. In this paper, we describe a methodology generator, a tool that can create hybrid approaches to software development spanning from the most simple to the agile to the heavyweight, depending on project needs. A rule based system is combined with an experience-based feedback mechanism to define the conditions under which a given methodology, process, or activity is applicable to

Abstract. One of the first question each knowledge management project faces is: Which concrete activities are referred to under the name of knowledge management and how do they relate to each other? To help answer this question and to provide guidance when introducing knowledge management we have developed KMap. KMap is an environment which supports a practitioner in the interactive exploration of a map of knowledge management activities. The interaction helps trigger interesting questions crucial to the exploration of the solution space and makes hidden argumentation lines visible. KMap is not a new theory of knowledge management but a pragmatic “object to think with” and is currently in use in two case studies. 1

Experience-based approaches to software development promise to capture critical knowledge from software projects that can be used as a basis for continuous improvement of software development practices. Putting these ideas into practice in the quickly evolving discipline of software engineering has proven elusive. Techniques and tools are needed that help software practitioners apply past knowledge to current projects while engaging in knowledge creation processes. This paper outlines the experience factory and organizational learning approaches, both of which explore how experience-based approaches to software development can be used to improve software development practices. A software tool is used to investigate how these two approaches can be integrated to create an approach that addresses many issues of knowledge

Knowledge is one of the organization’s most important value, influencing its competitiveness. One way to capture organization’s knowledge and make it available to all their members is through the use of knowledge management systems. In this paper we discuss the importance of knowledge management in software development and we present an infrastructure to deal with knowledge management in software engineering environments (SEEs). This infrastructure is applied to manage product software quality knowledge in ODE, an ontology-based SEE.

Abstract. Knowledge is one of the organization’s most valuable assets. In the context of software development, knowledge management can be used to capture knowledge and experience generated during the software process. In this process, collaboration technologies also play a central role. With groupware facilities, we have the basis for creating, increasing and capturing knowledge from group and organizational collaboration. First in this paper, we discuss the importance of knowledge management in software development, and how knowledge management and groupware facilities can be integrated into a software development environment (SDE). Then, we present an infrastructure to manage knowledge in ODE, an Ontology-based software Development Environment. This infrastructure deals with several knowledge items, including artifacts, lessons learned and packages of discussion, and considers knowledge capture, store, retrieval, dissemination, use and maintenance. 1

Abstract. Some of today’s most widely spread applications are social systems where people can form communities and share knowledge. However, knowledge sharing is not always effective and communities often do not sustain. Can user modelling approaches help to identify what support could be offered and how this would benefit the community? The paper presents algorithms for extracting a model of a closely-knit virtual community following processes identified as important for effective communities. The algorithms are applied to get an inside of a real virtual community and to identify what support may be needed to help the community function better as an entity.