AN INTELLIGENT ASSISTANT FOR THE KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY PROCESS

Abstract

A knowledge discovery (KD) process involves pre- data, choosing a data-mining algorithm, and postprocessing the mining results. There are very many choices for each of these stages, and non-trivial interactions between them. Consequently, both novices and data-mining specialists need assistance in navigating the space of possible KD processes. We present the concept of Intelligent Discovery Assistants (IDAs), which provide users with (i) systematic enu- merations of valid KD processes, so important, potentially fruitful options are not overlooked, and (ii) effective rankings of these valid processes by different criteria, to facilitate the choice of KD processes to execute. We use a prototype to show that an IDA can indeed provide useful enumerations and effective rankings.