Abstract
In this study, the "structural highangle-view" proposed by the authors, in which knowledge is expressed structurally in highangle views, is extended, and the Cosut (Concept Support Tool) is proposed, in which the highangle-view map is produced by adding attributes and descriptions to the items of knowledge which form the view, upon providing the meaning of each relationship between the items of knowledge to which such attribute information, etc., have been added. By using Cosut, it becomes possible to further organize and analyze the set of items of knowledge. That is, it is thought that it can be used to effectively utilize knowledge in various scenes such as in developing new products or solving problems in enterprises, or further, in considering new theories in research organizations. In an evaluation experiment, a quantitative comparison with the case of not using Cosut was made, and changes in the structure of concepts were analyzed. As a result, the tendency of a quantitative increase in the number of ideas for developing hypotheses was confirmed, and further, effects of supporting idea generation, such as making possible the identification of the parts where Cosut directly influenced the subject's structure of concepts, were found.
