It is the topic of the day – data mining. Who is doing it, why are they doing it, and why should we care? USA Today brought this interesting information to our attention in their article, “Data mining: What’s the big deal?”
Data mining is something businesses have used for years to extract information regarding purchasing patterns, searching records, etc., – all things used to target advertisements and information resourcing. Metadata mining isn’t the big bad “brother” watching you. At least, it doesn’t have to be.
The recently revealed National Security Agency practice of using computer algorithms to search vast collections of data for patterns isn’t much different. Targeted data mining can be a useful tool for tracing terrorists. It is the next step that leaves most concerned.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
