AHIC Review Course 6: Knowledge Management and Information Science – Unit 1: Foundational Knowledge

Question-and-answer flashcards covering the key concepts from the lecture on Information Science and Knowledge Management, including definitions, frameworks, and applications in health informatics.

What is Information Science as described in the lecture?

An academic field concerned with the collection, classification, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of knowledge; health informatics is part of it; involves professional practice and scientific inquiry addressing information communication.

What did Harold Borko define information science as in 1968?

The discipline that investigates the properties and behavior of information, the forces governing the flow of information, and the means of processing information for optimum accessibility and usability.

How is Information Science related to Europe vs. the US terminology?

In Europe, information science is synonymous with informatics; in the US, informatics is often domain-specific; library science is related through shared focus on knowledge.

What are the three main concepts of information architecture?

Structural design of how data are obtained, shared, and managed; infrastructure for shared information environments; a systems model including databases, knowledge bases, and human users.

What is information retrieval?

A subfield concerned with searching for relevant information; starts with a user query; uses free text, keywords, or metadata; results may be ranked and refined iteratively.

What is knowledge representation in health informatics?

Systematic formalization of domain knowledge using standard methods to symbolize concepts and relationships (e.g., taxonomies, ontologies, rules) for a knowledge base.

What are computable knowledge representations?

Knowledge that is computer-interpretable and machine-executable; encoded as code; examples include semantic networks (UMLS), hierarchies (MeSH), ontologies (NCI Thesaurus), and Arden syntax rules.

What are examples of computable knowledge representations mentioned?

Semantic networks (e.g., UMLS), hierarchies (MeSH), ontologies (NCI Thesaurus), and Arden syntax Medical Logic Modules.

What is the Arden syntax?

A rule language used to express Medical Logic Modules for computable knowledge.

What is the role of MeSH in knowledge representation?

A controlled vocabulary developed by the National Library of Medicine used to encode domain knowledge.

How does information science relate to library science?

Library science applies IT to libraries and archival systems; information science is broader and encompasses the study of information flow and representation.

What are knowledge base design decisions?

Selecting a knowledge representation standard (e.g., HL7, Semantic Web); using controlled terminologies for interoperability; choosing storage/management technologies (files, graphs, ontologies, semantic databases).

What are the three major sources of domain knowledge for a knowledge base?

Domain subject matter experts; existing knowledge resources (ontologies, semantically linked data); automated knowledge discovery via NLP and machine learning from literature/EHRs.

What does knowledge maintenance involve?

Verifying logical consistency, editing to update or correct knowledge, and validating deductive capabilities against ground truth.

How are deductive conclusions applied in a decision support system?

Applying the knowledge base to data (e.g., EHR data) to trigger alerts or recommendations based on rules.

Which item would not be part of an information architecture for a clinical decision support system?

Portable RN, a digital clinical textbook.

What are the key points about information science in health informatics?

Information Science is foundational to health informatics; controlled terminologies and standards-based representations enable computable knowledge; knowledge base design is the first step in knowledge management.

Why are controlled terminologies and standard representations important in health IT?

They enable interoperability and portability of computable biomedical and health knowledge and are key components of information architectures.

What is the difference between computable knowledge and general knowledge?

Computable knowledge is machine-interpretable and executable code; it may be less immediately understandable to humans, unlike general knowledge.