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From: hnkst2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Hanhwe N. Kim)
Newsgroups: comp.society.development
Subject: Re: Expert Systems in Developing Countries
Message-ID: <138062@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: 10 Jun 91 21:40:49 GMT
References: <1991Jun10.110537.16188@aifh.ed.ac.uk> <1991Jun10.114353.17103@aifh.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Lines: 35

Ehud Reiter writes:
>>
I was recently looking over a Ph.D thesis(*) that discussed (among other things)
an evaluation of a medical expert system designed for rural Third-World areas.
One claim the author made was that the expert system she looked at was so
brittle that it could only be used by people with substantial medical intuition
.... This meant, in particular, that the system could *not* be sent out 
to paramedics and nurses in remote villages, as some of these people were 
not very well trained.
>>
Katheleen King writes:
[articulate argument for knowledge bases 
 tailored specifically for use by nurses and paramedics and
 data structures and inference mechanisms better suited for 
 flexibility and providing explanation.
]
How about allocating some computer storage in expert systems for
learning support and explanation facilities so that the paramedics 
and nurses can augment their training as well? An expert-system-as-
interactive-medical-textbook approach.

>
>>I have always thought that it would be really nice if we could
>>use expert system technology to provide badly-needed expertise (medical and
>>otherwise) in poor Third-World areas,
>
>Yes yes!
>
>>but perhaps this dream is fundamentally unachievable.
>
>Well I still believe in it....
Same here. I think its worth a try but tried and true cost-effective
PREVENTIVE methods such as clean water, better nutrition, and sanitation
should be the first priority.
-Han Kim