Meta-knowledge in systems design: panacea ... or undelivered promise?

In this study we present a review of the emerging field of meta-knowledge c omponents as practised over the past decade among a variety of practitioner s. We use the artificially defined term "meta-knowledge" to encompass all t hose different but overlapping notions used by the artificial intelligence and software engineering communities to represent reusable modelling framew orks: ontologies, problem-solving methods, patterns and experience factorie s and bases, to name but a few. We then elaborate on how meta-knowledge is deployed in the context of system's design to improve its reliability by co nsistency-checking, enhance its reuse potential and manage its knowledge-sh aring. We speculate on its usefulness and explore technologies for supporti ng deployment of meta-knowledge. We argue that, despite the different appro aches being followed in systems design by divergent communities, meta-knowl edge is present in all cases. in a tacit or explicit form, and its utilisat ion depends on pragmatic aspects which we try to identify and critically re view on criteria of effectiveness.