Proposed visual wiki system for gathering knowledge about discrete event systems

The first phase of the conceptual modeling process is the acquisition of knowledge about the real world system. One issue in this phase is the need for clear communication, between the modeler, and experts on the system being examined. These domain experts may not be versed in modeling techniques or languages. Another issue is the potential benefit offered by the recording of the gathered knowledge, in a way that facilitates its reuse outside of the modeling project itself. Existing approaches to the construction of a system description have different strengths and weaknesses. Therefore a combination of different model types, in an integrated manner, could be most effective. Visual wiki software is proposed to facilitate this. Wikis are proven as a platform for incrementally growing shared knowledge bases. They are generally text-based; a wiki allowing editing of graphics as well as text would be preferable for system and process knowledge.