The search for knowledge, contexts, and Case-Based Reasoning

A major goal of this paper is to compare Case-Based Reasoning with other methods searching for knowledge. We consider knowledge as a resource that can be traded. It has no value in itself; the value is measured by the usefulness of applying it in some process. Such a process has info-needs that have to be satisfied. The concept to measure this is the economical term utility. In general, utility depends on the user and its context, i.e., it is subjective. Here, we introduce levels of contexts from general to individual. We illustrate that Case-Based Reasoning on the lower, i.e., more personal levels CBR is quite useful, in particular in comparison with traditional informational retrieval methods.