Extracting the knowledge entangled in the web: technologies, applications and developments

Web mining is an area that has garnered much attention in the past few years, with the ability to 'mine' new knowledge and information from the vast expanse of the World Wide Web. This paper starts with an introduction to web mining research and applications, and then focuses on the key new technologies and methods in the field. This is then followed by a discussion of the important applications in the field, including those in marketing, e-commerce, crime, and web communities. The benefits and future of web mining, together with important areas for research, conclude the paper.