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Building Web Farming Systems: Architecture and Methodology
Overview and update to the book Web Farming for the Data Warehouse: Exploiting Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management. Covers the business concepts and justification for Web Farming. Introduces the four-stage methodology and explains the respective architecture required for each stage. The role of the Information Analyst is highlighted. 

Enterprise Information Portals: Personalization and Collaboration  
Reviews the latest developments in the emerging Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) area. In particular, positions EIP as a required component for Web Farming systems, and highlights the functions of personalization and collaboration.

Searching the Web: Dealing with Global Search Engines
Examines the practices and tools for finding business information by using global search engines. The strengths and weaknesses of the top 6-10 services are outlined, along with specific usage tips.

Searching the Web: Dealing with the Invisible Dark-Matter
Only a fraction of web-based information are indexed by the global search engines. The rest is hidden in six types of Web 'dark-matter' and often accounts for the more valuable business information. Tools and resources are surveyed.

Text and Hyper-Text Mining: Concepts and Tools
Text is often regarded as single blob with few definable features. New techniques for mining the information from text and especially hyper-text are surveyed. Covered are the techniques for: Language Identification, Feature Extraction (multi-term, abbreviations, acronyms), Noun Categorization (person, place, duration), Document Categorization (predefined topics), Document Clustering and Similarity (discovered topics), Text Summarization, Text Search (Boolean, fuzzy, relevance ranking). Analysis techniques of explicit and implicit links are surveyed.

Information Visualization: Concepts and Tools
Information Visualization or InfoViz has great potential for enhancing the value of web-based information. However, this technology is still in its infancy. Covered are various approaches and concepts for InfoViz, along with a survey of current tools.

In-Depth XML: Vocabularies for Information Exchange
A detailed examination of XML-related standards, such as DTD, namespaces, XSL/XSLT, Xlink, DOM, RDF, and Dublin Core, along with several under review (XHTML, XML-Data). Survey of 10-15 XML vocabularies that are being formed or are established. Approaches to using XML to create "information communities." 

Acquiring Web-Based Information: Techniques and Tools
Discovering web-based information is only half the battle. Acquiring this information so that it has business value is the challenge. Covered are the issues of capturing link versus content, time-varying content (movie rather than photo), and data extraction. Examples of custom 'web-scraping' programs are given, along with a survey of current data acquisition tools. Advances in intelligent structuring of text into XML documents are reviewed.

Privacy and Intellectual Property Rights: The Deeper Issues of BI
Any Web Farming effort should include an awareness of privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property rights. The legal and ethic boundaries surrounding these issues are constantly changing. Every organization engaged in Web Farming should determine its policies for these deeper issues. A suggested Code of Ethics is discussed.

Analysis of Hubs and Authorities on the Web
Based on Klienberg's work (as utilized in the IBM Clever Project), multiple virtual information communities for several topics will be examined. See the June 1999 issue of Scientific American for a description of this technique. Discussion of the practical application of this technique and a comparison with new Google website.

Web Farming with Commercial Content Providers
Survey of 15-20 popular content vendors, with a more detailed examination of several innovative firms. Examination of approaches to XML delivery. Discussion of licensing terms, especially for database archiving.