Data mining is a technique used to discover and present data in useful form to support decision making. This work responds to the need for a multi-disciplinary research resource, offering various perspectives on the social construction of reality and how different people make sense of the same information at different times. For example, in the section addressing information retrieval, subject relevance - chosen based upon the user's construction or pertinence - is contrasted with objective relevance, a system-based relationship that is measured by aspects of the subject matter and its universe. Format, use, currency, relevance, reliability, and validity are all basic elements of information quality that are explored in the research presented. Other strands include information architecture, Text Retrieval Conferences (TREC), machine learning, biometric technologies, computer interfaces, the interoperability of networked retrieval systems, and other research topics related to information retrieval.
