Defining basic units for knowledge interchange

In this paper, we present a software tool allowing for knowledge interchange between people. With this tool, domain knowledge is represented as a number of knowledge networks, each of them consisting of several knowledge units and links. At its core, knowledge units are modeled as semi-structured entities to favor their understanding by the users. Moreover, the tool can convey various resources (e.g. multimedia files) which are necessary for the understanding of procedural knowledge. We argue afterwards that the tool can support the creation of new knowledge and can help to construct a new domain ontology. We then give some practical reasons which have led us to define an appropriate scope for the basic units involved in the interchange of knowledge. In the context of permanent knowledge evolution, we explain how structured knowledge units (instead of individual keywords) as used. Finally, we report on some experimentation using this tool carried out by our team as part of an educational project.