governments dispense reams of data on their relationship with each other, and forego a greatdeal of the “normal” day to day material that readers from many other countries wouldconsider standard fare. Certainly, the cross-section of subject matter that the Swiss exhibitthrough the Swissinfo site combines daily as well as historical information with aspects oftourism, of business, and of technology that help define the Swiss entity.

The enumeration by the MFA and the PNA of deaths, of missing people, and of bombingscan be characterized as news, but the abundance of these reports in the narrowly selectedtopic areas is, for either government, a very difficult way to portray the sense of stability thatis conveyed by, for example, the Swiss site. Thus, these three web resources offer exactlywhat McLuhan suggested: massive amounts of information adapted, in this application, tocarry on age-old cultural and political battles. Thus, these presentations—through immediatedistribution around the world—may be used to voice one’s case and/or to recruit others totheir cause. On the other hand, this technology may be leveraged to demonstrate the benefitsof cultural and political stability. The Internet now affords us all an opportunity to see bothworlds.

Charles D. BernholzUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln, NE 68588-4100E-mail address: cbernholz2@unl.edu

doi:10.1016/j.giq.2003.09.003

Notes and references

1. Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man. NY: McGraw Hill, 8, 1964..2. Digital McLuhan: a Guide to the Information Millennium. NY: Routledge, 1999.3. The Voice of America web site (www.voa.gov) declares on its “ Internet Programs” page: “The VOA News

Internet site www.voanews.com provides the latest news and information, updated minute by minute, 24 hoursa day with English text, graphics and RealAudio. In addition, news is increasingly available in other languagesincluding Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Albanian, Spanish, and Persian. All 53 VOA language sites offer audiofiles streaming the latest broadcasts; many include a week of archived programs. In fact, VOA is one of theworld’s largest audio streaming sites— with more than 1,000 hours of weekly Webcasts.”

4. Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man. NY: McGraw Hill, 351, 1964.

Data Mining and Business Intelligence: A Guide to Productivity.Stephan Kudyba and Richard Hoptroff. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, 2001. 166pp. $74.95 (cloth). ISBN: 1-930708-03-3.

This fairly recent work on data mining origins and applications is a brief resource formany readers, particularly those who are new to the concepts and applications involved.Data Mining and Business Intelligence: A Guide to Productivity outlines the theoriesessential to the various applications and the basic forms involved with its current usage. The

423Book reviews / Government Information Quarterly 20 (2003) 419–435

authors, Stephan Kudyba, an economist1 and Richard Hoptroff, a physicist2 bring an unusualcombination of academic, scientific, technological, and business expertise to this work.Kudyba and Hoptroff look closely at data mining’s correlation with the compilation ofbusiness intelligence (BI), although given this focus, the subtitle pointing to considerationsregarding productivity appears redundant.

The book is organized in two main sections. The first section lays the groundwork for datamining technology while the second looks at “key commercial applications.” Data miningapplications began to be utilized more extensively in the mid-1990s, with a particular eye onhow reducing uncertainties involved in business processes by providing relevant compila-tions of data can increase productivity. This work summarizes these developments, andquestions if data mining tools use new enough concepts and practices to be more just a newbusiness fad. The work concludes by summarizing how data mining provides a substantiallydifferent, dynamic tool with potential for growth that differs significantly from otherconcepts and tools.

The book opens with a discussion of the information economy and an in-depth descriptionof the theoretical foundations and main methods of data mining, classifying approachesaccording to their functionality. The authors then proceed to discuss a “high-end” analyticalapplication including steps which will ensure the success of an application, the pitfalls toavoid, and enhanced Six Sigma techniques.

The fourth chapter moves into the more specific problems involved with their applicationsin business environments, looking at time series forecasting and cross-sectional analysis. Thenext chapter notes the econometric mining involved with regression and neural networkanalysis, including techniques that are more common across industry sectors. Examples areincluded from the advertising, marketing, and promotion industries, in particular a discussionof its use by Engage, Inc., an e-commerce company utilizing mining as a part of both theirmarketing and advertising programs, and also a summary of Market Basket Analysis andrelated techniques, as outlined by Macromedia. They analyze implementation considerationsof the entire BI strategic intelligence cycle—data extraction and reporting, OLAP, miningand complementary Internet-related technologies—looking most at the vast innovations thatcould develop as a result of wider application of existing technology and greater integrationof reporting tools and the Internet, rather than from the creation of new algorithms.

With businesses operating in increasingly information-oriented economies and with morecomplex structures, mining offers strategies for precision, more accurately addressing prob-lems, better consideration of bottom line issues, and more effective decision making. Thesestrategies serve as bridges between microeconomic and technological theories and thecorporate world, with individuals developing more knowledge across functional areas, andtechniques for utilizing that knowledge to create value. Business intelligence, enhanced bysoftware, may include user-friendly and timely presentation of data, with better numeric andgraphic analysis that can be used as aggregate, multidimensional cube data that is moreclosely tied to functional areas.

Some of the most pertinent long-term points in this work include the evaluations andsummaries of statistical and quantitative techniques, again, as the authors consider whetherthe most recent applications are providing enough potential for increased value to justify anew categorization. They outline traditional econometric and statistical techniques such as

424 Book reviews / Government Information Quarterly 20 (2003) 419–435

clustering; segmentation (CHAID and CART, in particular, along with tree methods);multiplayer perception utilizing cascading neurons, including nonlinear elements; backpropagation; neural networks, including Hopfield Models, Boltzmann Machines and Self-Organizing Maps; R2 and Adjusted R2 statistics; t-stats; Dublin-Watson statistics; Beta-coefficients, regression analysis and more.

The sections covering marketing, advertising, and promotion department’s efforts tocompile data utilizing models provide little substantive material that will either show muchdetail about any of the cases or demonstrate to a good degree the effect of using these toolsover time. Brief sections include some graphical material, data, and discussion on pricingstrategies in a multivariate model of marketing and advertising, for example, but they arealmost teasers. The coverage of “online profiling” and “market basket analysis” are consid-ered out-of-date, but the discussion of item association maybe an introductory guide for thoseinterested in constructing a tool without having a theoretical discussion.

The concluding chapter offers more key discussion of work on the enterprise level, andcontinues the kind of analysis suggested at the beginning that is only touched upon through-out most of the book. Noting the uses of information culled from mining when it iscomprehensive, effectively linked to users, monitors actual performance against measuresand considers the merits of statistically robust modes that are closely enough tied to variouspractice areas to really model effectiveness and accuracy, and provides a value-addedsolution (and is sometimes a multiple model addressing multidimensional space and ap-proaches).

By evaluating which models are most effective, the authors identify key relationships inenvironments that work and reflect corporate foundations and key processes. Effective datamining will also consider the broader economic structure and macroeconomic model opti-mization utilized by modelers, with linkages to political structures, both inside and outsideof the organization, along with maximizing incorporation of extracted data from repositories(including, e.g., creation of an OLAP cube). Systems may be limited by difficulties withgathering data, applying the best methodology, and in selecting from the available universes.They look at OLAP analysis; provision of “slice, dice and filter” ; a vast amount of aggregatedinformation into multi-dimensional cubes of data (including extracting data to storagefacilities, massaging data on various variables to apply corresponding methodologies, in-cluding segmentation, regression and neural networks); how reporting will take placethroughout an enterprise; offering feedback, and proliferating information throughout a firm.The authors point to the ways in which mining allows increased communication and flow ofinformation, reducing uncertainty of drivers and degree of partnerships and outsourcingoptions formed.

Although innovations in statistics and the creation of new algorithms will continue, theseare not what Kudyba and Hoptroff see as key, nor what qualifies data mining as a valuablenew area of information science. It is the degree of association and sequencing analysispossible which will allow users to identify patterns in activity, align them with key processesthroughout an organization, communicate results on many levels and in different ways thatoffer the significantly enhanced value, thus distinguishes mining from the vast tools alreadyavailable in a context which considers new organizational forms and processes beyond thekinds of evaluations of organizational structure and communication.

425Book reviews / Government Information Quarterly 20 (2003) 419–435

This work, though somewhat limited in many respects, offers an interesting enoughanalysis and overview of the field to be considered by numerous business analysts, infor-mation scientists and others involved with the evaluation and usage of corporate informationresources, particularly, again, those new or newer to data mining concepts and techniques.

Sarah HolmesSalem, MA 01970

E-mail address: sholmes@smtp-2.mdc.net

doi:10.1016/j.giq.2003.07.001

Notes and references

1. Ph.D. Economics, R.P.I. with special strengths in informtion technology, international marketing analysis, andrisk exposure management, who has worked with Cognos Corporation, Citibank and Dresdner Bank.

2. Ph.D. Physics, London who now applies the optimization algorithms and neural networks he developed forindustrial systems to economics and business modeling, currently at Cognos.

Human Computer Interaction: Issues and Challenges.Qiyang Chen, Editor. London: Idea Group Publishing, 2001. 255 pp. $74.95 ISBN1-878289-91-8 (paperback) Also available as a PDF file $59.95.

This book is a compilation of papers that provide an overview of current trends and issuesin the design, use and evaluation of human computer interaction (HCI). The object of theHCI process is to develop a computer interface that effectively responds to the informationalneeds of the user. These papers from researchers from around the world and coveringvariable disciplines reflect current theoretical and practical applications of user interfacedesign that go beyond usability and task-oriented designs. Their research suggests softwaredesigners need to consider the user in every aspect of the user interface design. This kind ofconsideration enables the user to become actively involved in creative efforts, to make betterdecisions, to develop better research skills, and to improve group communication in the workenvironment. Many of the papers point out the success of this kind planning in the design ofthe HCI software. For example, HCI research has shown user behavior and characteristicscan be tracked on the Web using intelligent agent technology that implements artificialintelligence techniques. The resulting information can be placed in a predictive modelenabling the computer to act as a mediator between the user and the information needed tocomplete a transaction or coursework. Some of the research indicates the use of one-waycommunication, but the research also points out two-way communication is on the horizon.Some of the papers point out the perils of expecting too much from a computer generateduser interface. The paper on virtual reality indicates users can be lulled into a euphoric stateby using a basic virtual reality system, but virtual reality systems can be designed to stimulatecreative thinking. Another quotes Jason Lanier, who warns against accepting computer

426 Book reviews / Government Information Quarterly 20 (2003) 419–435