Welcome to the Institute's Knowledge Management Tools Site

AUVSI's Unmanned Systems Institute was founded to address the professional, ethical and legal issues concerned with the exploitation of unmanned systems for the benefit of our world. The two main activities we have started to address are the compilation and management of relevant knowledge and the development of educational programs. This site contains the first two of the knowledge management tools we offer. At the moment they are sparsely populated. Our aim is that by working collaboratively with the entire global unmanned systems community, we can populate these tools progessively with information and knowledge which will be of use to others. Both tools are dynamic and should both grow and evolve in the light of our experience.

The first tool is the Forum. This is an area where people can debate issues in open forum. The aim is to move all manners of thinking forward through shared dialogue. We have suggested a list of potentially interesting forum topics. Site users are asked to suggest new topics. Please email institute@auvsi.org with such suggestions. Forum topics which do not stimulate interest will be deleted in due course.

The second tool is the Wiki. It is a local instantiation of the software which drives the popular 'Wikipedia' (www.wikipedia.org, which has more than 1.3 million entries in English alone). A wiki is effectively an interactive encyclopaedia which is compiled by users for the benefit of the community. Especially in the unmanned systems area, we need to refine terminology and definitions as our sector grows and evolves. It is hoped that the Institute Wiki will enable debate and consensus about concepts, meaning and understanding.

MODERATORS
Each subject area of the Forum should have a Moderator who is responsible for the proper conduct of business. This is not an arduous task, but one which requires regular access of the forum area in question with the aim of maintaining appropriate content. Moderators have the power to edit their own forum discussions.

Ideally a Moderator should be someone who has expert domain knowledge of the subject matter concerned and who stands to benefit from being involved in the debate. Initially AUVSI Staff will act as Moderators, but their capacity and knowledge is limited. If you would like to contribute in this role, please email us at institute@auvsi.org.