Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Another type of data often overlooked within organizations is something called a data mart. A
data mart
is an organizational data store, similar to a data warehouse, but often created in
conjunction with business units' needs in mind, such as Marketing or Customer Service, for
reporting and management purposes. Data marts are usually intentionally created by an
organization to be a type of one-stop shop for employees throughout the organization to find data
they might be looking for. Data marts may contain wonderful data, prime for data mining
activities, but they must be known, current, and accurate to be useful. They should also be well-
managed in terms of privacy and security.
All of these types of organizational data carry with them some concern. Because they are
secondary, meaning they have been derived from other more detailed primary data sources, they
may lack adequate documentation, and the rigor with which they were created can be highly
variable. Such data sources may also not be intended for general distribution, and it is always wise
to ensure proper permission is obtained before engaging in data mining activities on any data set.
Remember, simply because a data set may have been acquired from the Internet does not mean it
is in the public domain; and simply because a data set may exist within your organization does not
mean it can be freely mined. Checking with relevant managers, authors and stakeholders is critical
before beginning data mining activities.
A NOTE ABOUT PRIVACY AND SECURITY
In 2003, JetBlue Airlines supplied more than one million passenger records to a U.S. government
contractor, Torch Concepts. Torch then subsequently augmented the passenger data with
additional information such as family sizes and social security numbers—information purchased
from a data broker called Acxiom. The data were intended for a data mining project in order to
develop potential terrorist profiles. All of this was done without notification or consent of
passengers. When news of the activities got out however, dozens of privacy lawsuits were filed
against JetBlue, Torch and Acxiom, and several U.S. senators called for an investigation into the
incident.
This incident serves several valuable purposes for this topic. First, we should be aware that as we
gather, organize and analyze data, there are real people behind the figures. These people have
certain rights to privacy and protection against crimes such as identity theft. We as data miners
