Viewpoints for knowledge management in system design

Abstract

Managing knowledge involved in the design process of a new artefact is discussed starting from the principle to regard each actor of the process as the stakeholder of a particular viewpoint on the object to be. The two concepts of Viewpoint and of Correlation of Viewpoints are considered from a semiotic angle in that dealing with conditions an actor gives some sense to the object to be, as opposed to a semantic or ontological view which postulates that the object has a sense in itself. The semiotic approach on the one hand, and the synthesis of an experiment, on the other hand, give means to establish that the intuitive concepts of Viewpoint and Correlation of Viewpoints fall under a paradigm, called the Viewpoint Paradigm. The basis of this paradigm is stated as follows: the sense of an object to be designed consists of the integration of the viewpoints which are exerted on it. Two computerized models of Viewpoint and Correlation of Viewpoints are presented. The first aims at recognizing viewpoints and their correlations starting from the written documents produced during the design process. The second supports the definition of evolution indicators of the design process by means of a logical framework in which each viewpoint is associated with a knowledge-based system.