Concept mining is a process that focuses on extracting ideas and concepts found in documents. The approach is somewhat similar to text mining, with the main difference being that mining a text focuses on the extraction of information rather than ideas. Concept mining is helpful in a number of applications, including the evaluation of software programs and in various applications that are generally classified as part of the artificial intelligence discipline within computer science.
The use of concept mining can take place with any type of documents, regardless of how they are formatted. This strategy will work well with smaller documents but is especially effective with longer documents, since the ideas can be extracted over the course of the document. This is in contrast to extracting specific sections of text, especially if the words included in the extracted section could take on different meanings based on the context of the usage. Since concept mining is considering the entire text as a whole, the ability to glean intent and meaning based on the overall flow of the document increases.
Actual applications of concept mining include the ability to scan multiple documents contained in a company database and relate them on the basic of the concepts found in similar documents. This helps to accomplish is the ability to cross-reference a large number of documents in ways that are not possible using a text mining or other forms of data mining. It is not unusual for companies to make use of this approach along with other strategies in order to arrange the most efficient and comprehensive processes for accessing related documents with a minimum of delay.
While the idea of concept mining has been around for decades, this process has become increasingly important as companies and institutions of all sizes and types rely more on electronic data rather than paper documents. To that end, the development of software applications that can be customized to allow the relation of various documents from a conceptual point of view has also become more common. Most of these software programs are configured to allow a degree of intuitive activity as a means of identifying concepts found with text and finding logical connections with other documents. When concept mining is managed efficiently, this approach to document organization and retrieval can greatly enhance the ability to make the most use of the documents held in storage and make retrieval of ideas as well as relevant task much faster and easier.