For most, the understanding of text mining centers on developing more intelligent method
of text retrieval. However, this search-centric view falls short
of the "mining" metaphor, which implies the extraction of precious nuggets from
otherwise worthless rock. In his paper "
Untangling Text Data Mining," Marti A. Hearst (School of Information Management & Systems at UCB)
discusses text mining applications that "take the mining-for-nugget metaphor more seriously."
From discovering new cures for migraines, to determining the social impact of publicly financed research on
industrial advances, to developing new exploration strategies in gene function discovery, his emphasis is on
"the use of large online text collections to discover new facts and trends about the world itself."
The possibilities for text mining remain virtually untapped. Hearst's paper provides an excellent insight
into the future of text mining.
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9/11 Remembered
