The partitioned support network for expert system justification

A knowledge representation used to capture support knowledge necessary for expert system justification, a kind of explanation, is discussed. A system is also presented that is being designed as a preliminary testbed for a technique of expert system explanation called knowledge-based explanation. Previous support knowledge representations in expert systems are reviewed and contrasted to the partitioned support network (PSN) introduced. PSNs are defined both in graphical and nongraphical notation. The significance and importance of the PSN knowledge representation are discussed and examples of its power are given