An overview of agents in knowledge management

Abstract

Current developments in Knowledge Management concern the sharing and usage of knowledge in dynamic environments. The need for systems that both react to and anticipate the needs and expectations of users calls for flexible and adaptable development and implementation frameworks. These are exactly the characteristics that identify software agents and agent societies, which make natural the application of the agent paradigm in KM. This paper attempts to identify both the advantages of agents for KM, and the aspects of KM that can benefit most from this paradigm. Furthermore, the paper describes several current KM projects that use agent technology and identifies open research areas