ABSTRACT
Distributed Knowledge Networks (DKN) provide some of the key enabling technologies for translating recent advances in automated data acquisition, digital storage, computers and communications into fundamental advances in organizational decision support, data analysis, and related applications. This chapter summarizes the design and implemention of DKN. It proposes a modular and and scalable approach to addressing these challenges by building DKN. The chapter describes the key technical problems that need to be addressed in the design and implementation of DKN. It also describes the approach to the design of DKN and briefly discusses the implementation and applications of DKN. The chapter explores DKN prototypes using the commercially available Voyager mobile agent infrastructure. It outlines some of the key technical challenges involved in translating recent advances in computers, communications, data acquisition and digital storage technlogies into fundamental gains in science, technology, and decision support applications.
