Appendix 5: data mining.(a way of looking through large amounts of information to find particular bits of information)

Data Mining Methodology is a way of looking through large amounts of information to find particular bits of information. The "looking through" can be done by computer. Once the computer finds what it is looking for, it will sound an alarm or alert a human operator, who can then judge whether the item is what was wanted. Also useful is the fact that this methodology allows for a record of the search process, so that patterns of object or item occurrence can be stored and graphed. This pattern-creation is an aspect of the methodology that humans simply cannot perform on their own because of the very large amount of information that must be processed simultaneously.

The methodology has been developed largely by businesses to help with marketing, but it has also been useful to the medical profession and has real potential to law enforcement and intelligence operations.

Shaw, Michael J; Subramaniam, Chandrasekar; Tan, Gek Woo; Welge, Michael E. (2001). Knowledge management and data mining for marketing. Decision Support Systems. Vol. 31(1) 127-137.

Due to the proliferation of information systems and technology, businesses increasingly have the capability to accumulate huge amounts of customer data in large databases. However, much of the useful marketing insights into customer characteristics and their purchase patterns are largely hidden and untapped. A systematic methodology that uses data mining and knowledge management techniques is proposed to manage the marketing knowledge and support marketing decisions. This ...