[Chapters-l] SOASIST 8/27 Data Mining; Dayton, OH

[Carter, Patricia Jean (LNG)]

SOASIST & LexisNexis Technical Library Sponsor
Mark Wasson, LexisNexis on
"Data Mining and Text-based Information"

WHEN: August 27, 2002 (Tuesday), 6 PM-- Dinner and
7PM-- Speaker in Auditorium 3 (Three)

WHERE: LexisNexis, Dayton, OH
COST: Presentation & dinner-- $10.00 for members and
non-members; $5 for student or retired members.
PREPAYMENT REQUIRED TO GUARANTEE CATERER.

COST: Presentation only-- free but must register to
guarantee seating.

PAYMENT/REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 08/23/2002 by 5PM

"Metadata" is defined as data about data. For a text
document, there are at least two types of metadata.
Structural or formatting metadata describes a
document's layout on the page, and can include
information on fonts, spacing, indentation and so on.
Content-based metadata captures information found in a
document and organizes it for further use. This may
include controlled vocabulary index terms, extracted
terms and summaries that have been created and
assigned to the document. Extracting and highlighting
a list of proper names or citations found in a
document is another example source of content-based
metadata.

Using such metadata in combination with or as an
alternative to full-text search can help people find
and retrieve relevant documents more easily by both
simplifying the search and improving the preciseness
of what the search is specifying. Picklist-based
document retrieval based on controlled vocabulary
index terms is one way of exploiting content-based
metadata.

By examining metadata from across a collection of
documents, and combining it with data from other
sources, such as stock price, corporate financial and
economic data, one can begin to discover information
that is not available in any one document. Knowledge
Discovery in Databases, a.k.a. Data Mining, is a newer
area in Artificial Intelligence that has had much
early success when dealing with numerical and other
structured data, in areas like consumer behavior and
purchasing analysis, fraud detection and business
forecasting.
Free text, however, does not have the structure that
many knowledge discovery processes need. Metadata
provides a means for representing the information
found in free text in a structured way that is
appropriate for many knowledge discovery processes.
Applying data mining techniques to text is a steadily
growing focus area within the knowledge discovery
domain.

In his talk, Mark will give a general overview of
knowledge discovery and data mining, discuss how this
technology can be applied to text, review some
applications and related technology, and provide links
to resources for more information.

Mark Wasson is a Senior Architect/Research Scientist
who has been with LexisNexis since 1986. He led the
research projects behind Term-based Topic
Identification, the Term Mapping System, the NEXIS
Company Indexing and NetOwl Indexing technologies
behind SmartIndexing, Searchable LEAD and the Fact
Extraction Tool Kit. He also conceived Company
Dossiers and Trend Analysis. He collaborated with
researchers at the University of Pennsylvania on two
projects. His current research activities and
interests include applying knowledge discovery and
data mining technologies to text-based content,
question answering technology and automatic
summarization. Mark also scouts new and emerging
technologies at numerous conferences, workshops and
third party technology companies (including more than
100 companies in 2001 alone).

Mark has authored or co-authored a number of papers
and presentations for technical conferences covering
topics including document categorization and indexing,
summarization, information extraction, knowledge
discovery, shallow vs. deep text processing approaches
and academic-industry relations. He has also served on
two panel discussions (including one at 2001 ASIS&T)
and three conference and workshop program committees.
Mark received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer
Science and both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts
degrees in Linguistics, all at the University of Iowa.

DIRECTIONS to LexisNexis from Cincinnati: Take I-75
North to Dayton. Exit 44 to S.R. 725
(Centerville/Miamisburg Rd.). East on S.R. 725. South
on S.R. 741 (Springboro Pike). LexisNexis is approx. 1
mile, on the right side of the road. Turn right at
Spring Valley Road entrance (the 6th light from S.R.
725/S.R. 741 intersection), LexisNexis sign will say
9443-9595. Drive underneath skyway connecting the
buildings. Turn right, go over the speed bump, and
park in the lot next to the covered entrance. Enter
Building 4 (9443 Springboro Pike). Wait at the guard
station for someone to escort you.

DIRECTIONS to LexisNexis from Columbus: West on I-70.
I-675 towards Cincinnati. Exit 2
(Centerville/Miamisburg Exit) off of I-675. Left on
Yankee Rd. Right on Lyons Rd. Left on S.R. 741
(Springboro Pike). LexisNexis is about .5 mile on the
right. Turn right at Spring Valley Road entrance (the
2nd light from Lyons Rd./S.R. 741 intersection),
LexisNexis sign will say 9443-9595. Drive underneath
skyway connecting the buildings. Turn right, go over
the speed bump, and park in the lot next to the
covered entrance. Enter Building 4 (9443 Springboro
Pike) and wait for an escort.

AGENDA:

    * 5:30 - 6:00: REGISTRATION and social half-hour.
Beverages will be provided by LexisNexis.
    * 6:00 - 7:00: DINNER
    * 7:00 - 9:00: MARK WASSON

Optional dinner: hot buffet of baked chicken with fine
herb sauce, braised beef tips burgundy, vegetarian
lasagna, wild rice pilaf, green beans almondine,
tossed salad, pasta salad, assorted fresh dinner
rolls, dessert choices, coffee, and iced tea.

PREPAYMENT REQUIRED with check made out to "SOASIS" by
5 p.m., Friday, 08/23/2002, sent to Patricia Carter,
B6F1 room 82, LexisNexis, 9595 Springboro Pike,
Miamisburg, OH 45342. Please indicate (1) association
affiliation noting student/retired as appropriate, and
(2) the name of your employer. Questions may be
addressed to:patricia.carter at lexisnexis.com; (937)
865-6800 x6099.

Beverages and a portion of dinner cost are being
underwritten by LexisNexis.

__________________________________________________
Patricia J. Carter
Manager - Technical Library
LexisNexis, B6/F1/Room 82
9595 Springboro Pike
Miamisburg, OH 45342
phone: (937) 865-6800 x56099
fax: (937) 865-1655 to my attention