Global Information System

Global Information Systems

Magid Igbaria , ... Charlie Chien-Hung Chen , in Encyclopedia of Information Systems, 2003

I. Introduction

The discipline of Global Information Systems (GIS) has increased in importance because of the current trend toward globalization. GIS centers on issues relating to information technologies (IT) and other factors which enable globalization. GIS is evolving to cope with the continuous changes in IT as well as globalization enablers. This chapter provides a snapshot of GIS for readers who have had no prior knowledge of it and who are interested in exploring the field further.

The GIS framework proposed in this chapter is divided into three major areas, namely, infrastructural, operational, and organizational. Infrastructural issues are the fundamental ingredients for GIS implementation. These include issues relating to information, computing, telecommunication standards and technologies, as well as Internet standards. Without these infrastructural ingredients, communication across borders will be virtually impossible. The ubiquitous nature of GIS mandates the understanding of operational issues. Operational issues deal with a country's culture, training, management, people, government, legal structure, and organizational factors. The organizational issue is a crucial factor for the successful deployment of GIS at the corporate level. For instance, multinational enterprises (MNEs) need to align their information systems (IS) strategy with their business strategy to deal effectively with organizational issues.

The framework proposed in this article provides an integrated view of GIS with a multilayer analysis. The article concludes with a list of resources, including references and bibliography, for readers interested in further exploring the GIS domain.

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Internet, Overview

Raymond Greenlaw , Ellen M. Hepp , in Encyclopedia of Information Systems, 2003

I. Introduction

We begin with a definition of the Internet as formulated by the Federal Networking Council.

The Federal Networking Council (FNC) agrees that the following language reflects our definition of the term Internet. Internet refers to the global information system that:

1.

Is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons

2.

Is able to support communications using the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) suite or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons, and/or other IP-compatible protocols

3.

Provides, uses or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high-level services layered on the communications and related infrastructure described herein

Simplifying, we can condense this definition to: the Internet is a global system of networked computers together with their users and data. The system is global in the sense that people from all over the world can connect to it. The users of the Internet have developed their own culture and as such they are a defining factor of the Internet. Without the possibility of accessing data or personal information, very few would be excited about connecting to the Internet. The notions of being able to quickly and easily access information and communicate led to the vision of the Internet.

The Internet has also been referred to as the "Information Superhighway." Thirty years ago, information exchange and communication took place via the "back roads"—regular postal mail, a telephone call, a personal meeting, and so on. Today they take place over the Internet nearly instantaneously. The history section of this article describes the evolution of the vision of the Internet into today's Information Superhighway.

I.A. Information Superhighway

We expand on the superhighway metaphor. With cars there are levels of expertise—learning to drive is easy and knowing how to operate a vehicle is all you really need to know about cars in order to use them to get to where you are going. Driving is like learning to surf the Internet. In the course of driving you learn about highways and shortcuts, and so it is with the Internet. With practice, you will learn where and how to find information on the Internet.

In driving you can go a step further and learn how an engine works and how to do routine maintenance and repairs such as oil changes and tune-ups. With the Internet the equivalent is to learn how Web pages are created or how search engines find information.

A deeper level of involvement with cars is to learn how to do complex repairs, design them, and build them. Not many people demonstrate this level of interest in cars. On the Internet a similar level of interest involves writing software, either building applets in a language such as Java or developing more general purpose tools for others to use in navigating the Internet. Again, only a limited number of people aspire to this level of involvement.

Today the Information Superhighway is in place but the mysteries surrounding it for many people are where to go and how to travel. Like traveling a highway in a foreign country, unable to read the road signs, navigating the Information Superhighway can be frustrating and time-consuming without the right tools.

As far as "how to travel" the Information Superhighway, consider that there are many routes and many forms of transportation that we can take to get to where we want to go. We can follow sidewalks, roads, and freeways and we can take a bicycle, a bus, a car, or a pair of in-line skates. Similarly, there are many ways to use the Internet to send and retrieve information. These include (but are not limited to) e-mail, file transfer, remote log-in, and the World Wide Web. It is also very likely that new methods of traveling the Information Superhighway will be conceived and developed in the near future, and existing methods will be improved.

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Citizenship and Public Policy

B.S. Turner , in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001

4 Conclusion: Public Policy and Globalization

This historical pattern of policy options changed significantly in the last two decades of the twentieth century with the emergence of a global economy. Although it would be an exaggeration to claim that globalization has resulted in the decline of national sovereignty (Hirst and Thompson 1996 ), it is the case that global economic processes constrain the capacity of national governments to make independent decisions about national public policy. For example, volatile financial markets responding to global information systems can undercut national public policy through the collapse of local currencies. The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s was a dramatic illustration of how global uncertainty can destabilize currencies and prevent governments from adhering to public policies that have inflationary consequences. Volatile markets, the fragmentation of public policy by constant restructuring of government agencies and the economy, an emphasis on individual responsibility and subsidiarity, and the recommodification of services through neoliberalism have encouraged some social scientists to argue that public policy has become postmodern (Petersen et al. 1999). A new policy environment may involve the globalization of delivery through global enterprises that provide services for governments under 'outsourcing' arrangements. The growth of private prisons, managed by global enterprises, to replace or supplement state prison services would be one example. Social experiments in policy delivery in a global context may not be postmodern, but they will certainly be increasingly translocal. As a consequence, the conventional mixture of state, market, and voluntary sector as the framework of public policy will change radically to reflect the changing circumstances of social citizenship in a global economy.

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Adapting e-gov Usability Evaluation to Cultural Contexts

Torkil Clemmensen , Dinesh Katre , in Usability in Government Systems, 2012

Key Considerations

Studies of cultural aspects of usability — here defined as "cultural usability" — have applied different definitions of "culture." Two of these are particularly important.

Usability defined as cultural values

The background for many studies of cultural usability has been Hofstede's (1980) framework of national cultural dimensions: power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, and avoidance of uncertainty (Clemmensen & Roese, 2010). When we use this framework, usability — at least in the West — can be defined as an issue of equality (universal access) for individual users. There is a tendency to favor "masculine" values of effectiveness and efficiency rather than emotional and social aspects, and to focus on safe and secure use of IT. In the research fields of information systems (IS) and human-computer interaction (HCI), nationally shared cultural value dimensions have been the dominant concepts of cultures. This is clear from three review studies conducted within the last 10 years. Ford, Connelly, & Meisterr (2003) found that 22% of global IS research papers cited Hofstede's framework; Leidner & Kayworth (2006) defined and developed a value-based approach to the study of information technology (IT) and culture; and Kappos & Rivard (2008) applied a definition of culture as patterns of meaning, which link visible artifacts and practices to the beliefs, assumptions, and values of everyday life. However, the preference for focusing on values as central to cultural usability is not limited to IS research. Most culture and design theorists, many professional designers across all disciplines, and even some users believe that national cultural value dimensions pervade every human activity and every artifact, including user interfaces (Marcus, 2002).

Usability defined as cultural representations in situations

Those who oppose the cultural value approach to usability argue that it is not appropriate to rely on overly simple guidelines about how to address differences in cultural values. It is difficult to identify who the users are, based only on national cultural values. A value-based design process tends to build stereotypes — which may later become design rules! Merely identifying different cultures as groups or geographical regions that share one specific set of values does not really take into account cultural heterogeneity. Instead of using this overly simple cultural value approach, usability professionals should consider that the meanings of icons, symbols, and text in user interfaces lie in the cultural contexts. They should think of culturally determined usability problems in interfaces as resulting from users' (mis)understandings of the symbols, icons, and texts used in the design (Bourges-Waldegg & Scrivener, 1998). Culturally specific usability problems occur because the symbols, icons, texts, and other representations used are too foreign, are not available in the local culture, or are simply not appropriate in social situations in the local culture.

Cultural usability

The culture-specific approach to usability in e-gov and public IS that this chapter suggests and illustrates with case studies assumes that usability is something different for different cultural groups and geographical regions of the world. We believe that it is worthwhile to consider and study the usability problems in e-gov that are emerging in diverse regions and countries around the world. Furthermore, this must be done by drawing on studies that are indigenous to the region/country in question; no one from the outside can appreciate what are the critical problems in a local design solution (Clemmensen, 2011).

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Electronic Commerce

Hossein Bidgoli , in Encyclopedia of Information Systems, 2003

IV. Defining E-Commerce

An e-business encompasses all activities that a firm performs for selling and buying products and services using computers and communications technologies. In broad terms, an e-business includes a host of related activities, such as on-line shopping, sales force automation, supply-chain management, electronic payment systems, web advertising, and order management. E-commerce is buying and selling goods and services over the Internet. Based on this definition, e-commerce is part of e-business. However, in many cases the two are used interchangeably.

E-business, a major contributor to the popularity of global information systems, is a system that includes not only those transactions that center on buying and selling goods and services to generate revenue, but also those transactions that support revenue generation. These activities include generating demand for goods and services, offering sales support and customer service, or facilitating communications between business partners.

E-commerce builds on traditional commerce by adding the flexibility offered by computer networks and the availability of the Internet. By generating and delivering timely and relevant information through computer networks, e-commerce creates new opportunities for conducting commercial activities on-line, and thus it fosters easier cooperation between different groups: branches of a multinational company sharing information for a major marketing campaign; companies working to design and build new products or offer new services; or businesses sharing information to improve customer relations.

Table I lists some of the major beneficiaries of e-commerce. A close examination of these businesses and entities reveals the potential for e-commerce to generate revenue and reduce costs. For example, banks use the Web for diverse business practices and customer service. The entertainment industry utilizes the Web extensively for offering diverse products and services.

Table I. Major Beneficiaries of E-commerce

Banks
Brokerage firms
Entertainments companies
Government agencies
Insurance companies
Marketing firms
Publishing firms
Retailesrs
Training organizations
Travel industries
Universities

Different branches of governments using e-commerce have experienced major cost savings. For ex-ample, the United States federal government uses electronic data interchange (EDI) for requests for quotes (RFQs), quotes, award notices, purchase orders, and invoices.

Table II lists business uses of the Internet. These services and capabilities are a core part of a successful e-commerce program. They are either parts of a value chain or are included as supporting activities discussed earlier in the article.

Table II. Business Uses of the Internet

Buying and selling products/services
Collaborating with others
Communicating within organizations
Gathering general information
Gathering information on competitors
Providing customer service
Providing software update and patches
Providing vendor support
Publishing and disseminating information

Table III lists some popular products and services that can be purchased on-line. Close examination of these products and services reveals their suitability for e-commerce transactions. Several successful e-businesses including amazon.com have established their business models around selling these products and services.

Table III. Popular Products and Services Purchased On-line

Airline tickets and travel
Apparel and footwear
Banking services
Books and music
Computer hardware, software, and other electronics
Flowers and gifts
Stock brokerage services
Entertainment
Information for conducting research and evaluating competition

Table IV lists companies using e-commerce, highlighting the products and services that are most suitable for web transactions. Table V lists the top 10 countries with the highest sales volume in e-commerce operations. This table is a guide for the investigation and implementation of e-commerce on the international scene. As this table shows, e-commerce is estimated in the United States to generate approximately $3.2 trillion in revenue in 2004.

Table IV. Examples of Companies Using E-Commerce

Amazon.com provides access to several million books electronically. It also sells music CDs, electronics, software, toys, video games, prescription drugs, and much more
Drugstore.com, and CVS.com refill and sell new drugs and vitamins and other health and beauty products on-line
American Express successfully uses e-commerce for credit card transactions
Apple Computer sells computers on-line (Apple.com) autobytel sells cars over the Web
Charles Schwab, National Discount Brokers, and E*TRADE have successfully used e-commerce for on-line security transactions
Cisco Systems sells data communications components over the Web
Dell Computer and Gateway sell computers through their web sites and allow customers to configure their systems on the Web and then purchase them
Epicurious.com sells exotic foods over the Web
Peapod.com sells groceries over the Web
Proctor & Gamble and IBM conduct order placements electronically
Virtual Vineyards sells expensive wines from small vineyards over the Web

Table V. Top 10 E-Commerce Countries

Country Total sales (%) E-commerce sales (in $ millions)
2004 2000 2004 (estimates)
1. United States 13.3 488.7 3189.0
2. Japan 8.4 31.9 880.3
3. Germany 6.5 20.6 386.5
4. United Kingdom 7.1 17.2 288.8
5. Australia 16.4 5.6 207.6
6. France 5.0 9.9 206.4
7. South Korea 16.4 5.6 205.7
8. Taiwan 16.4 4.1 175.8
9. Canada 9.2 17.4 160.3
10. Italy 4.3 7.2 142.4

[Adapted from Forester Research and INFOWORLD, May 15, 2000, p. 20.]

Table VI lists the top on-line retail sites based on sales volume in August 2000. Again this table high-lights those e-businesses that have been able to generate the highest sales in 2000. A close investigation of the business model used by these companies may serve as a guide for others.

Table VI. Top On-Line Retail Sites Based on Sales Volume in 2000

Amazon.com
Ticketmaster.com
Buy.com
Cdnow.com
Sears.com
Barnesandnoble.com
JCPenney.com
Real.com
Pets.com

[Adapted from INFOWORLD, September 25, 2000, p. 22.]

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Developing Nations

Elia Chepaltis , in Encyclopedia of Information Systems, 2003

IX. Ethics: Beyond Piracy and Privacy

Corruption, inequity, and immoral behavior in economic development migrate to information systems. In the 1990s, substantial intellectual and cultural resources were used to identify and define ethical problems for in international business, to achieve a rough consensus on priorities, and to design solutions. Unfortunately, these designers were often working with arm-chair philosophers and social engineers who did not focus on unethical behaviors within developing areas. However, the will to address moral behavior was established both globally and locally.

In advanced economies, information ethics emerged as a logical and vital extension of computer ethics. Before this extension, computer ethics focused on software piracy and other crimes against property such as the theft of computer time for personal use. Social and economic issues surfaced, such as egregious failure to develop ergonomic and user-friendly information systems. In the 2000s, riveting problems demand attention: security, unemployment, and equitable data access for a wide range of shareholders. With the expansion of e-commerce and the need for economic justice, not only ethicists and IS professionals, but also international organizations and global consumer advocates seek effective professional and moral codes of behavior.

In developing economies, the thrust and the centrality of information ethics differ from those societies with mature markets and global information systems. Without the ethical development and use of information, information poverty cannot be eradicated. In addition, the stakes are critical: first, establish stability, popular trust, and a consensus on the new economic order; second, focus on the expansion of wealth, opportunity, and equity. From Honduras to Russia, computer and information ethics are preconditions for both stable market mechanisms and the maturation of information systems. The lack of information integrity and access contributes to low or stagnant growth and cripples orderly transitions to an information economy. Immoral ICT behaviors will become immoral behaviors via ICTs without intervention, crippling economic development from Mexico to China. Mismanaged, hoarded, and distorted information results in missed opportunities and valuable partnerships, inefficient distribution and supply channels, fraud, unproductive hidden assets abroad, egregious personal aggrandizement, tax avoidance, and unfair advantage—luxuries which developing economies cannot afford.

The search for an ethical consensus draws upon experience, development theory, and multicultural resources, and represents a marked shift away from utopianism and toward action-based pragmatism and individual accountability. The stakes are enormous; the evolution of information ethics affects not only the viability of ICTs, but the digital divide within the most needy societies. The success of open, integrated, and extended systems depends upon the availability of information technology as well as equitable and honest information-handling behaviors and other moral considerations. Information systems cannot succeed in environments with endemic corruption, information-hoarding elites, illegality, and other moral considerations. The significance of historical experience, consequence-oriented traditions, and culture are germane but must not be overstated. Although ethical problems in information management arise from local economic, political, legal, and cultural factors, research on information ethics reveals a craving for moral consensus at every stage of economic development. At all levels of society, a debate on ethics is taking place, conflicting ethical norms have surfaced, and strategies to deal with corruption sit at the top of political and economic agendas. A critical mass of evidence on unethical behavior has accumulated, and the short- and longterm repercussions are self-evident and instructive.

Action-based ethics feature three major reference points: a reevaluation of existing practices and values in developing economies, a critical analysis of the relationships among ethics and a market economy both internally and abroad, and a search across multiple cultures and within layers of cultures for the identification, definition, and solution to ethical problems.

Although intercultural transfers of moral norms, or the "missionary position," cannot be transferred from advanced to developing economies, developing economies are dynamic, instructive workshops and laboratories positioned at the leading edge of ethical inquiry in information ethics and other moral problems in economic development. The 1990s were a time of severe trial and soul-searching. Substantial intellectual and cultural resources are now available to identify and define ethical problems with rigor, to achieve a rough consensus on priorities, and to begin to design solutions in a nation replete with arm-chair philosophers and social engineers. Most importantly, the will to address ethical questions and habits of investigation into novel and multiple resources have been established.

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Teacher librarians and the school library

James Herring , in Libraries in the Twenty-First Century, 2007

Collection development in school libraries

The materials held in the school library and the materials available for access via the school library constitute the school library collection. What was once a store of books is now a multi-format information centre with a collection that can be accessed and used from within the school, from home or from anywhere with online access. This has meant that teacher librarians have had to reappraise what they mean by collection management and collection development. Collection management focuses on the organisation of the collection and in some cases is interpreted as managing a collection for access, and includes aspects of cataloguing, classification and circulation. Hughes-Hassell and Mancall (2005) argue that developing a collection in a school primarily should focus on the needs of the school community, which includes students and staff as well as the wider school community. The emphasis is on ensuring that the school library collection is developed to meet the needs of learners and that managing the collection is a subsidiary part of collection development. Thus before collections can be managed effectively, the information needs of students have to be identified and this can be done via curriculum mapping but may also involve student surveys to identify the changing needs of particular groups of students (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall 2005).

Loertscher (1996) argues that the school library collection should not be seen narrowly as a collection existing within the school but should be seen as part of the total information system in which students and staff operate, both in school and outside school. The increase in home internet access for students in Australia and elsewhere has meant that teacher librarians need to consider not only how the school library collection is part of the global information system, given the ubiquity of internet access, but also how the school library can provide students with knowledge of and access to the myriad of other information sources available to them.

The key aspect of developing a school library collection lies in the selection of materials relevant to the needs of the school community and the acquisition or provision of access to those materials. It is important that this selection reflects the principles of the school, the goals of the school and the school curriculum. In too many schools, the collections developed reflect more the views and aspirations of the teacher librarian rather than that of the school. It is suggested here that a school library collection that has printed materials dominated by fiction is not reflecting the total curricular needs of the school community – a view that would be regarded as controversial in some schools. School libraries are not 'mini public libraries' but learning centres with varied collections which challenge students intellectually and widen their horizons. ASLA states that each school should have a collection development policy that 'ensures that the collection reflects the school's priorities and considers all information resources available to the school community' (ASLA 2003, p.26). There are now a number of collection development policies online that can provide guidance for teacher librarians developing a policy or revising a policy. Two good examples from Australia are provided by Horton (2004) and Braxton (2004). Dillon et al. (2001) state that a collection development policy should demonstrate the overall principles on which materials are acquired or access is provided, the criteria used for selection of materials, the acquisition policies (not procedures) of the school, the ways in which the collection will be regularly evaluated and policies to deal with disputed materials.

The selection of materials for the school library collection needs to consider a range of aspects of the school community but particularly the needs of students. Braxton (2004, 'General criteria for selection', paragraphs 2-9) states that the main general criteria for selection of materials should include 'authority … physical format and technical quality … arrangement of material … appropriateness … cost … availability … format … currency'. Hughes-Hassell and Mancall (2005) stress that the needs of the widest range of students in the school should be taken into account and selection criteria should include aspects of the level of language used in print or digital resources. As many school library collections now include websites, the criteria for selecting websites need to be clear in the collection development policy. Schrock (2002) is recognised as an expert in this field and recommends that teacher librarians examine the authority of the site, in terms of the author or the institution, how up to date the site is, whether the site is unreasonably biased and whether the site contains misinformation. Herring (2004, p.50) poses questions such as 'Can I trust this site because I recognise the author or organisation as a reliable source of information?'

Other aspects of collection development include the need for maintenance of the collection. This includes weeding of out-of-date or damaged print materials and keeping a regular check on whether links to websites are still operable. The teacher librarian's task is to provide the school community with access – physical or digital – to a wide range of learning resources and to keep track of the increasing number of new digital resources available. For example, Lu (2004) examines the criteria for selecting online magazines or journals (e-zines) for children and states that while the number of youth-related e-zines is regularly increasing, many are of dubious value and that teacher librarians should only select those that are appropriate. Lu (2004) includes a range of criteria and indicates that, for example, e-zines which seek personal information from students should not be selected. As the formats of potentially relevant digital learning resources constantly increase, teacher librarians need to be aware of what is available.

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COMCOM 40 years

Marco Ajmone Marsan , ... Nicola Blefari Melazzi , in Computer Communications, 2018

1 Introduction

More than 50 years ago, when the basic principles that led to the Internet were first conceived, nobody could have imagined how they would change our life. Even if we put aside the Internet's face of a "global information system" [1], and we just restrict our analysis – for the purpose of this paper – on the Internet as a "network infrastructure", we can see impressive changes over time in both requirements and usage patterns.

For sure, physical connectivity supporting a transparent transfer of information is not any more the only functionality required from the network. Intelligent algorithms and features are needed to make the network able to adapt and evolve, to meet changing requirements and scenarios and to provide tailored services to users. Data generated by the network and by the users need to be exploited by the network itself and to be capitalized outside the network.

With this position paper, we postulate that the time has come for the Internet not only to change our own lives, but also to autonomously change itself. Indeed, the increasing pervasiveness of artificial intelligence approaches, combined with the modularization and the "fluidification" of computing and networking building blocks, brought about by modern programmable networking trends, makes us imagine the emergence of a new breed of network architectures, with an unprecedented ability to (autonomously) change, so as to best adapt to context, and that we will call Living and Fluid Networks .

We are certainly not the first to believe in such a future evolution, whose roots possibly date back to as much as more than 20 years ago, with, on the one side, pioneering active networking proposals [2], and on the other side the vision to combine cognition loops [3] into networking [4]. However, we believe that now time is mature for a shift towards an Internet infrastructure which will not only provide support for connectivity and data delivery, but will also include the tools for adapting its operation to the changing contexts and service needs, and thus "re-engineer" itself. Tools which may ultimately even evolve into a (not-too-science-fictionary!) "living" Internet, gradually capable to take more and more autonomous adaptation decisions. Key to this evolution is the availability of: (i) better underlying technologies, drastically improving communication and computing performance; (ii) new techniques for network softwarization and related primitives and interfaces; (iii) intelligent and autonomous algorithms; (iv) data about the network, service and user behavior; (v) applications integrated with the network, performing in part also networking functionality and customized to user needs. The network will be also more pervasive and more integrated, further absorbing residual conceptual differences, e.g., between cellular/mobile and wired/core sections.

This paper is very simply organized in three sections focusing on past, present and possible future of the network infrastructure. Through the paper we will make reference to Fig. 1, which cursorily summarizes: (i) how networks developed and evolved (left side of the figure); (ii) past and current main trends behind such progresses (right side of the figure); (iii) traditional and new requirements (upper side of the figure) that should be satisfied by the future instance of the network, which we call xG, just for the sake of having a neutral future-proof placeholder name (as opposed to "future", "evolved", etc.) and also because a softwarized network will evolve more rapidly and incrementally with new software releases, rather than with major generational leaps.

Fig 1

Fig. 1. Overall picture of the evolution of networks.

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Data mining techniques and applications – A decade review from 2000 to 2011

Shu-Hsien Liao , ... Pei-Yuan Hsiao , in Expert Systems with Applications, 2012

1 Introduction

Data mining techniques (DMT) have formed a branch of applied artificial intelligence (AI), since the 1960s. During the intervening decades, important innovations in computer systems have led to the introduction of new technologies (Ha, Bae, & Park, 2000), for web-based education. Data mining allows a search, for valuable information, in large volumes of data (Weiss & Indurkhya, 1998). The explosive growth in databases has created a need to develop technologies that use information and knowledge intelligently. Therefore, DMT has become an increasingly important research area (Fayyad, Djorgovski, & Weir, 1996).

Of the data mining techniques developed recently, several major kinds of data mining methods, including generalization, characterization, classification, clustering, association, evolution, pattern matching, data visualization and meta-rule guided mining, are herein reviewed. The techniques for mining knowledge from different kinds of databases, including relational, transactional, object oriented, spatial and active databases, as well as global information systems, are also examined. Potential data mining applications and some research issues are discussed.

As an element of DMT research, this paper surveys the development of DMT, through a literature review and the classification of articles, from 2000 to 2011. The various applications of DMT, during that period, are reviewed. This period is especially important, because the Internet was opened to general users, in 2000, and the newly widespread availability of information and communication technology has played an important role, not only in the field of DMT, but also in the development of methodologies for the collection of data from online databases.

The period of interest, for this literature survey, begins in January 2000. In August, 2011, a search was made of the keyword indices on the Elsevier SCOPUS, Springerlink, IEEE Xplore, EBSCO (electronic journal service) and Wiley InterScience online database, for article abstracts containing the phrase, "data mining technique". For the period from 2000 to 2011, 14,972 articles were found. Topic filtering reduced this number to 216 articles, from 159 journals, which were related to the keyword, "Data mining application". Using these 216 articles on DMT applications, this paper surveys and classifies DMT, using nine categories: Neural networks, Algorithm architecture, dynamic prediction-based, Analysis of systems architecture, Intelligence agent systems, Modeling, knowledge-based systems, System optimization and Information systems, together with their applications in different research and practical domains.

The remaining part of the paper is organized as follows. Sections 3–11 present the survey results for DMT methodologies and applications, based on the categories mentioned, above. Section 12 is a discussion of suggestions for the future development of DMT methodologies and their applications. Finally, Section 13 contains a brief conclusion.

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