How to apply the anthropological technique of participant observation to knowledge acquisition for expert systems

The author describes and illustrates how the anthropological method of participant observation can be used in manual knowledge acquisition to: (1) familiarize the knowledge engineer with the domain prior to interviews of the experts and users; (2) obtain information about the experts´ or users´ unconscious behavior; (3) learn the experts´ or users´ views of themselves and their actions; (4) investigate the social processes by which expertise is developed and supported; and (5) aid the knowledge engineer´s construction of personal models of the events and objects in the domain. Participant observation is compared to similar, more commonly used knowledge acquisition techniques, such as apprenticeship learning. Suggestions are given on how to use participant observation within knowledge engineering projects