Data mining support systems

Abstract

The main stream of research in data mining (or knowledge discovery in databases) focuses on algorithms and automatic or semi-automatic processes for discovering knowledge hidden in data. In this paper, we adopt a more general and goal oriented view of data mining. Data mining is regarded as a field of study covering the theories, methodologies, techniques, and activities with the goal of discovering new and useful knowledge. One of its objectives is to design and implement data mining systems. A miner solves problems of data mining manually, or semi-automatically by using such systems. However, there is a lack of studies on how to assist a miner in solving data mining problems. From the experiences and lessons of decision support systems, we introduce the concept of data mining support systems (DMSS). We draw an analogy between the field of decision-making and the field of data mining, and between the role of a manager and the role of a data miner. A DMSS is an active and highly interactive computer system that assists data mining activities. The needs and the basic features of DMSS are discussed.