3.7 Data Mining
In computer science Data Mining is also called knowledge discovery in databases. It involves the process of discovering interesting and useful patterns and relationships in large volumes of data (Clifton, 2010108). The field combines tools from statistics and artificial intelligence (such as neural networks and machine learning) with database management to analyze large digital collections, known as data sets. Data mining is widely used in business (insurance, banking, retail), science research (astronomy, medicine), and government security (detection of criminals and terrorists). Most types of data mining are targeted toward ascertaining general knowledge about a group rather than knowledge about specific individuals (Clifton, 2010). The Open Directory Project109lists a number of data mining tools, as well as resources on data mining techniques applied to analysing and making decisions from web data.