1. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web A Vision of Consumer Applications of Software Agent Technology - Enabling Consumer-Centric Knowledge-Based Computing Jack Krupansky – Base Technology March 5, 2006 Previous: February 27, 2006, CurrentFebruary 27, 2006Current

2. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web What is it? The Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web is a research proposal for a new knowledge-based computing infrastructure (global knowledge web platform) which will be much better-suited for consumer applications by enabling computer applications to finally understand what consumers really want Consumers have the knowledge, but computers are too dumb to understand and there is no language for consumers to conveniently and comfortably express their knowledge Software agent technology has the raw horsepower, but lacks the fuel (consumer knowledge) to go very far or very fast Even the W3C Semantic Web is too week to provide consumers and software agents with enough power and ease of use The CCKW will enable consumers and their software agents communicate in a manner that empowers both to be all they can be

3. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web The Problem Applications are too dumb Applications dont have enough user context to comprehend what the user is saying Difficult and expensive to give applications a sense of intelligence; each app has its own infrastructure Consumers feel at the mercy of vendors

4. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web The Solution Software agents acting on the users behalf Rich knowledge infrastructure gives the actions of software agents a sense of intelligence Global web of knowledge and interacting software agents share knowledge among users Platform and infrastructure for an entirely new generation of applications Shift away from vendor-centric app servers to a P2P knowledge environment

5. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web The Goal Put the user in control of their own knowledge Vendors and other organizations will be on the outside looking in – not in control Users are more willing to entrust the computer with their knowledge since they feel in control

6. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web Key Hurdles Large-scale, distributed web of knowledge –Complexity: Google times 1,000 Natural language processing Knowledge-mining of existing text User interfaces for knowledge Software agent technology –True autonomy –High-reliability software Interaction Machines vs. Turing A-machines New models of consumer-vendor interaction

7. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web The Plan Lots of hard-core research is needed Pre-commercialization Entrepreneurs, start your knowledge engines

8. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web Research Lots of research is needed –Basic - What is the nature of knowledge? –Architectures for knowledge-based apps –Interactions between consumers and vendors –Experimental - How to organize knowledge?

9. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web Pre-Commercialization Pre-commercialization –Prototypes - Real user response –Vendors – changing their business models –Stress test the concepts – 100+ billion knowledge items –Admit defeat - Back to the drawing board, 10+ times

10. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web Going Commercial Entrepreneurs, start your knowledge engines –Early adopters –Back to the drawing boards –Repeat 1 and 2 until Version 3.1 –Early mainstream –Hitting stride mainstream –Maturity

11. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web Whats Next? Questions –Is this a reasonable focus? –Are people excited about doing this? –Are people willing to fund the research? –Are people patient enough to wait for results? –Will consumers accept knowledge-based apps? Fund some initial research Incremental approach – Agile and Opportunistic

12. Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web Resources Read our white paper/idea notebook, The Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web - A Vision of Consumer Applications of Software Agent Technology - Enabling Consumer-Centric Knowledge-Based ComputingThe Consumer-Centric Knowledge Web - A Vision of Consumer Applications of Software Agent Technology - Enabling Consumer-Centric Knowledge-Based Computing Email: Jack@BaseTechnology.comJack@BaseTechnology.com Web: www.Agtivity.com/cckw.htmwww.Agtivity.com/cckw.htm