Abstract:

Thailand is a country rich in herbs, especially in Phetchaburi province. The knowledge about herbs passed on from generation to generation. Nowadays, the new generations do not interest to inherit such knowledge and the number of those who have understanding of herbs is reduced. Phetchaburi Rajabhat University in corporate with local government in Ban Lat district, Phetchaburi province decides to overcome this problem by integrating the knowledge management with the information technology to sustainable preserve this knowledge by creating the Virtual Herbs Centre.

The purpose of this research were to:
1) make a collection of the body of knowledge of herbs in Khao Daan area, Ban Lat district, Phetchaburi province,
2) develop a knowledge management model of virtual herbal centre, and
3) implement a prototype system of virtual herbal centre with animation and assess its user acceptance.

The research tools were a knowledge management model of virtual herbal centre, a database of the body of knowledge of herbs, a prototype system of virtual herbal centre, the usability evaluation form, and a user acceptance questionnaire. The population is people in the community of Khao Daan area whose herbal knowledge inherited. The sample size was 30 people selected from population by using simple random sampling method. Statistics used for data analysis were mean, frequency, percentile, and standard deviation error.

The research findings were:
1) knowledge management model of virtual herbal centre can be used to collect, search, present, and analyse herbal information as needed,
2) database created to keep the body of knowledge of herbs was a relational database,
3) prototype system of virtual herbal centre was a web application interconnected to a database, developed by using agile software development life cycle with usability evaluated by using Nelsen’s Heuristic and a Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI),
4) the 87.56 percent of user accepted the knowledge management model of virtual herbal centre in the highest level with mean 2.63, the 84.44 percent of user accepted database of herbs collected in the area in the highest level with mean 2.53, and the 83.24 percent of user accepted the prototype system of virtual herbal centre with animation in the highest level with mean 2.70 and
5) the 91.11 percent of user accepted that knowledge management process allows data collection and data presentation of herbs in Khao Daan area, Bann Lat District including its utilization in the highest level with mean 2.73, the 87.78 percent of user accepted that the adequacy of herbs classification in the highest level with the mean 2.63, and the 87.78 percent of user accepted that the appropriateness of herbal information presentation in the form of game in the highest level with the mean 2.63.

The benefit of this research was that the community could be able to preserve the body of knowledge of herbs in Khao Daan area, Ban Lat district. An innovation was a prototype system of virtual herbal centre with animation that could extend its use nationwide.

Keywords:

Agile, heuristic evaluation, knowledge management, virtual herbal centre.