| Web mining is like harvesting a
fully-grown crop in the field, gathering wild berries in the forest, or finding gold
nuggets in a mine. The implication is that valuable information exists somewhere on the
Web, just waiting to be found and used. Web
farming requires considerable effort to use the natural resources of the
Web, which in the raw can be quite ugly. The emphasis is on the hard work of preparing the
field, seeding the crops, cultivating the soil, and then finally harvesting the crop.
 Consider the old story about the
farmer. Two city folks are surveying the farmer's beautiful farm. Several times they say
to the farmer, "God and you sure did a great job with this place." Finally, the
farmer pauses in thought and replies, "Yes, but you should have seen it when God had
it all to Himself."
We are not belittling the contribution of God,
for that is certainly essential. However, God works through the farmer, who properly uses
the available resources. Likewise, the value of web farming comes from applying effort
over time and with patience to the information resources of the Web. Cultivating a few
seeds (of data) will produce a harvest (of information). |
