Abstract

The knowledge discovery process is traditionally viewed as a sequence of operations to be applied to data; the human aspect of the process is seldom taken into account, and when it is, it is mainly the roles and actions of domain and technology experts that are considered. However, non-experts can also play an important role in knowledge discovery, and furthermore, the role of technology in the process may also be substantially expanded from what it traditionally has been, with special software facilitating interactions among human actors and even operating as an actor in its own right. This diversification of the knowledge discovery process is helpful in finding tenable solutions to the new problems presented by the current deluge of digital data, but only if the process model used to manage the process adequately represents the variety of forms that the process can take. The paper addresses this requirement by presenting a conceptual model that can be used to describe different types of knowledge discovery processes in terms of the actors involved and the interactions they have with one another. Additionally, the paper discusses how the interactions can be facilitated to provide effective support for each different type of process. As a future perspective, the paper considers the implications of intelligent software taking on responsibilities traditionally reserved for human actors.