Visual Web Ripper: Using External Input Data Sources

Sometimes it is necessary to use external data sources to provide parameters for the scraping process. For example, you have a database with a bunch of ASINs and you need to scrape all product information for each one of them. As far as Visual Web Ripper is concerned, an input data source can be used to provide a list of input values to a data extraction project. A data extraction project will be run once for each row of input values.

An input data source is normally used in one of these scenarios:

    To provide a list of input values for a web form
    To provide a list of start URLs
    To provide input values for Fixed Value elements
    To provide input values for scripts

Visual Web Ripper supports the following input data sources:

    SQL Server Database
    MySQL Database
    OleDB Database
    CSV File
    Script (A script can be used to provide data from almost any data source)

To see it in action you can download a sample project that uses an input CSV file with Amazon ASIN codes to generate Amazon start URLs and extract some product data. Place both the project file and the input CSV file in the default Visual Web Ripper project folder (My Documents\Visual Web Ripper\Projects).

For further information please look at the manual topic, explaining how to use an input data source to generate start URLs.


Source: http://extract-web-data.com/visual-web-ripper-using-external-input-data-sources/

Scraping Amazon.com with Screen Scraper

Let’s look how to use Screen Scraper for scraping Amazon products having a list of asins in external database.

Screen Scraper is designed to be interoperable with all sorts of databases and web-languages. There is even a data-manager that allows one to make a connection to a database (MySQL, Amazon RDS, MS SQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, etc), and then the scripting in screen-scraper is agnostic to the type of database.

Let’s go through a sample scrape project you can see it at work. I don’t know how well you know Screen Scraper, but I assume you have it installed, and a MySQL database you can use. You need to:

    Make sure screen-scraper is not running as workbench or server
    Put the Amazon (Scraping Session).sss file in the “screen-scraper enterprise edition/import” directory.
    Put the mysql-connector-java-5.1.22-bin.jar file in the “screen-scraper enterprise edition/lib/ext” directory.
    Create a MySQL database for the scrape to use, and import the amazon.sql file.
    Put the amazon.db.config file in the “screen-scraper enterprise edition/input” directory and edit it to contain proper settings to connect to your database.
    Start the screen scraper workbench

Since this is a very simple scrape, you just want to run it in the workbench (most of the time you want to run scrapes in server mode). Start the workbench, and you will see the Amazon scrape in there, and you can just click the “play” button.

Note that a breakpoint comes up for each item. It would be easy to save the scraped details to a database table or file if you want. Also see in the database the “id_status” changes as each item is scraped.

When the scrape is run, it looks in the database for products marked “not scraped”, so when you want to re-run the scrapes, you need to:

UPDATE asin
SET `id_status` = 0

Have a nice scraping! ))

P.S. We thank Jason Bellows from Ekiwi, LLC for such a great tutorial.


Source: http://extract-web-data.com/scraping-amazon-com-with-screen-scraper/

Using External Input Data in Off-the-shelf Web Scrapers

There is a question I’ve wanted to shed some light upon for a long time already: “What if I need to scrape several URL’s based on data in some external database?“.

For example, recently one of our visitors asked a very good question (thanks, Ed):

    “I have a large list of amazon.com asin. I would like to scrape 10 or so fields for each asin. Is there any web scraping software available that can read each asin from a database and form the destination url to be scraped like http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/{asin} and scrape the data?”

This question impelled me to investigate this matter. I contacted several web scraper developers, and they kindly provided me with detailed answers that allowed me to bring the following summary to your attention:
Visual Web Ripper

An input data source can be used to provide a list of input values to a data extraction project. A data extraction project will be run once for each row of input values. You can find the additional information here.
Web Content Extractor

You can use the -at”filename” command line option to add new URLs from TXT or CSV file:

    WCExtractor.exe projectfile -at”filename” -s

projectfile: the file name of the project (*.wcepr) to open.
filename – the file name of the CSV or TXT file that contains URLs separated by newlines.
-s – starts the extraction process

You can find some options and examples here.
Mozenda

Since Mozenda is cloud-based, the external data needs to be loaded up into the user’s Mozenda account. That data can then be easily used as part of the data extracting process. You can construct URLs, search for strings that match your inputs, or carry through several data fields from an input collection and add data to it as part of your output. The easiest way to get input data from an external source is to use the API to populate data into a Mozenda collection (in the user’s account). You can also input data in the Mozenda web console by importing a .csv file or importing one through our agent building tool.

Once the data is loaded into the cloud, you simply initiate building a Mozenda web agent and refer to that Data list. By using the Load page action and the variable from the inputs, you can construct a URL like http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/%asin%.
Helium Scraper

Here is a video showing how to do this with Helium Scraper:


The video shows how to use the input data as URLs and as search terms. There are many other ways you could use this data, way too many to fit in a video. Also, if you know SQL, you could run a query to get the data directly from an external MS Access database like
SELECT * FROM [MyTable] IN "C:\MyDatabase.mdb"

Note that the database needs to be a “.mdb” file.
WebSundew Data Extractor
Basically this allows using input data from external data sources. This may be CSV, Excel file or a Database (MySQL, MSSQL, etc). Here you can see how to do this in the case of an external file, but you can do it with a database in a similar way (you just need to write an SQL script that returns the necessary data).
In addition to passing URLs from the external sources you can pass other input parameters as well (input fields, for example).
Screen Scraper

Screen Scraper is really designed to be interoperable with all sorts of databases. We have composed a separate article where you can find a tutorial and a sample project about scraping Amazon products based on a list of their ASINs.


Source: http://extract-web-data.com/using-external-input-data-in-off-the-shelf-web-scrapers/

Advantages of Data Mining in Various Businesses

Data mining techniques have advantages for several types of businesses, as well as there are more to be discovered over time. Since the era of the computer, things have been changing pretty quickly and every new step in the technology is equivalent to a revolution. Communication itself has not been enough. As compared to the present times, the data analyzers in the past have not achieved the chance to go further with the data they have in hand. Today, this data isn't used for selling more of a product but to foresee future risks as well as prevent them.

All are benefiting from modern these techniques even from smaller to large enterprises. They can now predict the outcome of a particular marketing campaign by analyzing them. However, in order for these techniques to be successful, the data must be arranged accurately. If your data is disseminated, you need to bring it in a meeting and then feed into the systems for the algorithms to figure it out. To put it shortly, no matter how small or big your business might be you always need to have the right system when collecting data from your customers, transactions and all business activities.

Advantages of Data Mining For Businesses

Businesses can truly benefit from its latest techniques; however, in the future, data mining techniques are expected to be even more concise and effective than they are today. Here are the essential techniques that you need to understand:

· Big companies providing the free web based email services can use data mining techniques to catch spam emails from their customer's inboxes. Their software uses a technique to assess whether an email is a spam or not. These techniques are first tested and validated before they are finally used. This is to ensure they are producing the correct results.

· Large retail stores and even shopping malls could make use of these techniques by registering and recording the transactions made by their customers. When customers are buying particular sets of product, it can give them a good understanding of placing these items in the aisle. If they want to change the order and placement of the item on weekends, it could be found out after analyzing the data on their database.

· Companies manufacturing edible or drinkable products could easily use data mining techniques to increase their sales in a particular area and launch new products based on the information they've obtained. That's why the conventional statistical analysis is rigid in scenarios wherein consumer behavior is in question. However, these techniques still manages to give you good analysis for any situations.

· In call centers, the human interaction is at its peak because people are talking with another people at all times. Customers respond differently when they talk to a female representative as opposed to talking to a male representative. The response of customers to an infomercial is different from their response to an ad in the newspaper. Data could be used for the benefit of the business and is best understood with the use of data mining techniques.

· Data mining techniques are also being used in sports today for analyzing the performances of players in the field. Any game could be analyzed with the help of these techniques; even the behaviors of players could be changed on the field through this.

In short, data mining techniques are giving the organizations, enterprises and smaller businesses the power of focusing on their most productive areas. These techniques also allow stores and companies to innovate their current selling techniques by unveiling the hidden trends of their customer's behavior, background, price of the products, placement, closeness to the related products and many more.




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Advantages-of-Data-Mining-in-Various-Businesses&id=7568546

How Is Data Capture Used Effectively in 2013?

Firstly, a brief introduction for those who don't know what it is, data capture is a method of extracting information from forms and surveys that have been filled out by people either by hand or digitally. So if someone has filled in a survey or form, they can be scanned and captured and the extracted information used for its original purpose, for research, and using an actual data capture service can save a considerable amount of time doing the work by hand.

That's the basic gist of what data capture is whether for forms, surveys or other documents that need their data entracting and although there has been a standard use for data capture since it was picked up as a useful and popular service but it is also being used for many other reasons in 2013.

Along with general marketing and research techniques, the data capture of forms has had to change and adapt to changing attitudes throughout the world. In 2012 and into 2013 more and more business cards are being captured and their details including phone numbers, email addresses and other important are captured and put into databases so they can be used effectively in the future for a mixture of mailing lists and email marketing. However there's another side of business card capture where a lot of restaurants and entertainment establishments are offering a raffle for those who leave their business cards behind in a jar so that the eventual winner wins a prize and they can use all data from business card for marketing purposes. You may think it's a difficult and expensive process to capture business card data due to their different layouts and order, but it's a lot simpler than it seems especially using automated or automatic data capture.

Form data capture has also now been picked up by health organisations such as the NHS in order to survey patients and staff on their opinions on their service. As one of the most scrutinised and monitored service providers in the UK, they need to stay on the top of their game as all times and this is one way of checking up on the satisfaction of their users. However they receive thousands of these feedback forms at any given moment so can't all be input manually so they outsource in order to gather this information into easily manageable data and presentations so they can browse through the data with ease and get down to the bottom of any problems or see where they are exceeding expectations.

As such, data capture has become a service that extends beyond market research companies and marketing firms, but is now an essential tool in order to gain an insight into issues as well as for general feedback. As the businesses across the world are subject to more scrutiny and higher expectations, it's almost become a requirement to be the best you possibly can be and even more besides. Going the extra mile.

People as a whole are still more likely to fill out a paper-based form than one sent to them online or if they're given a link to go to. So whilst some things change over time such as the use of this particular service, some things don't, however the results provided are more accurate than ever before, in 2013 and beyond.

Form data capture has changed in its overall methods, however with that and the improvement of automated technology prices have lowered with them. These days no matter what sector you're in, data capture of forms of all varieties is an essential weapon to have in your arsenal.




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Is-Data-Capture-Used-Effectively-in-2013?&id=7853300

Professional Data Entry Services - Ensure Maximum Security for Data

Though a lot of people have concerns about it, professional data entry services can actually ensure maximum security for your data. This is in addition to the quality and cost benefits that outsourcing provides anyway. The precautionary measures for data protection would begin from the time you provide your documents/files for entry to the service provider till completion of the project and delivery of the final output to you. Whether performed onshore or offshore, the security measures are stringent and effective. You only have to make sure you outsource to the right service provider. Making use of the free trials offered by different business process outsourcing companies would help you choose right.

BPO Company Measures for Data Protection and Confidentiality

• Data Remains on Central Servers - The company would ensure that all data remains on the central servers and also that all processing is done only on these servers. No text or images would leave the servers. The company's data entry operators cannot download or print any of this data.

• Original Documents Are Not Circulated - The source files or documents (hard copies) which you give to the service provider is not distributed as such to their staff. This source material is scanned with the help of high speed document scanners. The data would be keyed from scanned images or extracted utilizing text recognition techniques.

• Source Documents Safely Disposed Of - After use, your source documents would be disposed of in a secure manner. Whenever necessary, the BPO company would get assistance from a certified document destruction company. Such measures would keep your sensitive documents from falling into the hands of unauthorized personnel.

• Confidentiality - All staff would be required to sign confidentiality agreements. They would also be apprised of information protection policies that they would have to abide by. In addition, the different projects of various clients would be handled in segregated areas.

• Security Checks - Surprise security checks would be carried out to ensure that there is adherence to data security requirements when performing data entry services.

• IT Security - All computers used for the project would be password protected. These computers would additionally be provided with international quality anti-virus protection and advanced firewalls. The anti-virus software would be updated promptly.

• Backup - Regular backups would be done of information stored in the system. The backup data would be locked away securely.

• Other Measures - Other advanced measures that would be taken for information protection include maintenance of a material and personnel movement register, firewalls and intrusion detection, 24/7 security manning the company's premises, and 256 bit AES encryption.

Take Full Advantage of It

Take advantage of professional data entry services and ensure maximum security for your data. When considering a particular company to outsource to, do ask them about their security measures in addition to their pricing and turnaround.

Managed Outsource Solutions (MOS), a US based data entry company provides a wide range of affordable data entry services.



Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Professional-Data-Entry-Services---Ensure-Maximum-Security-for-Data&id=6961870

Data Mining, Visual Analytics, and The Human Component!

With all the massive amounts of data we are collecting from the Internet, well, it is just amazing the things we can do with it all. Of course, those concerned about privacy, well, you can understand why organizations like the Electronic Freedom Foundation is often fit to be tied. Still, think of all the good that can become of all this data? Let me explain.

You see, with the right use of visual analytics and various data mining strategies, we will be able to do nearly anything we need too. And, yes, I guess it goes without saying that I have a ton of thoughts on Visual Analytics of the Internet, Mobile Ad Hoc networking, and Social Networks along with some concepts for DARPAs plan for "crowd sourcing" innovation, it makes perfect sense to me, as each participant becomes basically a "neuron" and we use the natural neural network scheme.

What we need is a revolution in data mining visual analytics, so the other day I spent 20-minutes considering this and here are my thoughts. I propose an entirely new concept herein. Okay so let me explain my concept. But first let me briefly describe the bits and pieces of ideas and concepts I borrowed from to come up with this;

    There is an only UFO or Sci Fi tale I read, where the alien race said; "There is a whole new world waiting for you if you dare to take it,"
    Taking the "it" part of that line and calling "it" = "IT" as in Information Technologies.
    Next, combining that "IT" or "It entity" with that old Christian apocalyptic "mark of the beast" and the old computer system in Belgium 30-years ago claiming to be big enough to track every world transaction, also nick-named the beast.
    Then combining that concept with V. Bush's concept of "recording a life" or the later "life log theory" from Bell Labs.
    Then using the concept of the eRepublic, where government is nothing more than a networked website.
    Then considering the thought of Bill Gate's concepts in "the Road Ahead" where the digital nervous system of a corporation was completely and fully integrated.
    Combined with SAPs, and Oracles enterprise solutions
    Combined with Google's data bases
    Combined with the Pangaea Project for kids to collaborate in elementary school around the world and programming the AI computer, using a scheme designed by Carnegie Mellon to crowd source the teaching of an AI system. "eLearning Collaborative Networks like Quorum or Pangaea"
    Combined with IBMs newest mind map visualization recently in the news..
    Combined with these following thoughts of mine:

    My Book; "The Future of Truck Technologies," and 3D and 4D Transportation Computer Modeling; Page; 201.
    My Book; "Holographic Technologies," specifically; Data Visualization Schemes; Page 57 Chapter 5.
    My Article on 3D and 4D Mind Maps for Tracking and Analyzing.
    My Article on Mind Maps of the Future and Online style Think Tanks
    My Article on Stair Step Mentorship for Human Learning in the Future and Never Aging Societies.

Okay now let me explain the premise of my concept for Visual Analytics;

First, forget this whole idea of a 2D mind mapping concept or chart used to show links between terrorist players, cells, assets, acquaintances, etc., the way it is laid out currently - make it 3D, actually make it 4D and 5D where some layers can only be seen by a select few, and let's say a 6D level that can only be accessed by an AI super computer [why; because I don't trust humans, they can't be trusted, i.e. WikiLeak, leaker for instance].

Next ALL the data is stored within in the sphere. But to access the data on the outer side of the sphere, picture Earth's surface, the ball or sphere (with grids like a map of the globe) rolls around on a giant grid paper. When you want to look at a particular event, person, subject, or whatever, a particular point on the sphere's grid touches a corresponding point on the grid paper it rolls on, the grid paper it rolls on can wrap around and morph itself to the sphere or contour itself so the next corresponding piece of information on the surface can be accessed, rolling or spinning.

Picture a selectric typewriter ball on a shaft as a 2D model to consider this, now make it all 3D in your mind, and the paper molds around the sphere as it accesses, or in the case of a selectric typewriter it types. Now the Sphere is hollow inside containing layers, just like the earth, crust, mantel, and core. Information goes deep or across, every piece of information is connected, think about the earliest string theory models for this.

Great thing about my visualization concept is I believe all this math exists, even though in reality string theory is mostly bunk, but the math to get there makes this possible. As the information goes deep, think about the iPad touch screen, or the Microsoft restaurant "menu on a table" concept, or the depictions of Minority Reports, moving of the screens by way of motion gestures, I believe Lockheed also has this concept up and running for air-traffic control systems, prototype versions, perhaps the military is already using it, as it has massive applications for the net centric battlespace visualization too.

Okay so, some levels go through a frame-burst scenario taking you into another level, where the data generally stored at the almost infinite number of grid points and cross connected to every other is nothing more than a nucleus with additional data spinning around it. But the user cannot access all that information, without clearances, the AI system has access to all of it, while a sorting system is a series of search features within search features, with non-linked data also. You can't break into it; it's not connected to the users' interface at all, think of the hidden data as electrons unattached around the data. The data is known to exist but cannot be accessed that would be the 5D level, and 6D level no human may get too, but the data exists.

You know that surfer dude in Hawaii that came up with the "Grand Theory of the Universe" why not use his model for our visualization, in spherical form, again, the mathematics for all this already exists.

You see, what I need is a way to find people like me, I want to find these thinkers and innovators to take it all to the next level, and if the visualization is there, we can find; The Good Guys, Bad Guys, and the Future all at once. Why do I want a "Neural Network" visualization system in a sphere? It seems to me that this is how the brain does things, and what we are doing here is creating a Collective Brain, using each individual assigned to an "ever-expanding" unit of data, along a carrier or flow.

Remember when Microsoft Labs came out with that really cool way to travel through the Universe and look at all the celestial bodies along the way, using all the Hubble Pictures collected? It's kind of like that, you travel to the information, discover as you travel and it piques your curiosity as you go triggering your own brain waves, and splashing the users minds with chemical rewards as they go, as they discover more information, expanding their understanding as well, it just seems to me this is how it all works anyway.

Think of that old Sci Fiction concept where the Earth and our solar system are merely an atom of a chemical compound within a cell of the human body, all we can see is all the other compounds around us because everything is so small, thus, we cannot see the whole picture and what appears to be an entire universe would only be a few thousand cells close enough for us to see. And time itself is slow, as the electrons or planets moving around the atom appears to take a year to circle the nucleus instead of 10,000 times a second.

So, combining all these types of thoughts, this is how I envision how the future visualization tools would work.

Now then, using the whole concept of connecting the dots for information or even building an AI search feature scouring the system at speeds of terabytes a second, the AI computer can become the innovator, thanks to the user asking the question, and all the neurons (individual humans) with all their data putting in the information. You just need the best questions, you get instance answers.

Okay so, take this concept one step further; the AI super computer's operation is a "brain wave" and that brain wave is assigned a number, you can have as many brain waves, as the internet has IP addresses, with whatever scheme for that you choose. And your query can search the former queries too. The user's questions are as important as the data itself.

Thus, it helps us find the innovators, the question askers, once we know that, we have the opportunity for unlimited instant knowledge. Data visualization can take us there, and it removes all the fog of uncertainty, and answers most all the questions we could ever hope to ask, and comes up with its own questions as well. Does this make sense?

This is the type of visualization I need to faster access information, and I can solve all the problems, even the ones humans refuse to solve, or doom themselves to repeateth. That's my preliminary thought on this - may we start such a dialogue on the topic? If so, email me, and I hope you enjoyed today's dialogue?

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net - Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Mining,-Visual-Analytics,-and-The-Human-Component!&id=4817019

Data Mining As a Process

The data mining process is also known as knowledge discovery. It can be defined as the process of analyzing data from different perspectives and then summarizing the data into useful information in order to improve the revenue and cut the costs. The process enables categorization of data and the summary of the relationships is identified. When viewed in technical terms, the process can be defined as finding correlations or patterns in large relational databases. In this article, we look at how data mining works its innovations, the needed technological infrastructures and the tools such as phone validation.

Data mining is a relatively new term used in the data collection field. The process is very old but has evolved over the time. Companies have been able to use computers to shift over the large amounts of data for many years. The process has been used widely by the marketing firms in conducting market research. Through analysis, it is possible to define the regularity of customers shopping. How the items are bought. It is also possible to collect information needed for the establishment of revenue increase platform. Nowadays, what aides the process is the affordable and easy disk storage, computer processing power and applications developed.

Data extraction is commonly used by the companies that are after maintaining a stronger customer focus no matter where they are engaged. Most companies are engaged in retail, marketing, finance or communication. Through this process, it is possible to determine the different relationships between the varying factors. The varying factors include staffing, product positioning, pricing, social demographics, and market competition.

A data-mining program can be used. It is important note that the data mining applications vary in types. Some of the types include machine learning, statistical, and neural networks. The program is interested in any of the following four types of relationships: clusters (in this case the data is grouped in relation to the consumer preferences or logical relationships), classes (in this the data is stored and finds its use in the location of data in the per-determined groups), sequential patterns (in this case the data is used to estimate the behavioral patterns and patterns), and associations (data is used to identify associations).

In knowledge discovery, there are different levels of data analysis and they include genetic algorithms, artificial neural networks, nearest neighbor method, data visualization, decision trees, and rule induction. The level of analysis used depends on the data that is visualized and the output needed.

Nowadays, data extraction programs are readily available in different sizes from PC platforms, mainframe, and client/server. In the enterprise-wide uses, size ranges from the 10 GB to more than 11 TB. It is important to note that two crucial technological drivers are needed and are query complexity and, database size. When more data is needed to be processed and maintained, then a more powerful system is needed that can handle complex and greater queries.

With the emergence of professional data mining companies, the costs associated with process such as web data extraction, web scraping, web crawling and web data mining have greatly being made affordable.




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Mining-As-a-Process&id=7181033

Collecting Data With Web Scrapers

There is a large amount of data available only through websites. However, as many people have found out, trying to copy data into a usable database or spreadsheet directly out of a website can be a tiring process. Data entry from internet sources can quickly become cost prohibitive as the required hours add up. Clearly, an automated method for collating information from HTML-based sites can offer huge management cost savings.

Web scrapers are programs that are able to aggregate information from the internet. They are capable of navigating the web, assessing the contents of a site, and then pulling data points and placing them into a structured, working database or spreadsheet. Many companies and services will use programs to web scrape, such as comparing prices, performing online research, or tracking changes to online content.

Let's take a look at how web scrapers can aid data collection and management for a variety of purposes.

Improving On Manual Entry Methods

Using a computer's copy and paste function or simply typing text from a site is extremely inefficient and costly. Web scrapers are able to navigate through a series of websites, make decisions on what is important data, and then copy the info into a structured database, spreadsheet, or other program. Software packages include the ability to record macros by having a user perform a routine once and then have the computer remember and automate those actions. Every user can effectively act as their own programmer to expand the capabilities to process websites. These applications can also interface with databases in order to automatically manage information as it is pulled from a website.

Aggregating Information

There are a number of instances where material stored in websites can be manipulated and stored. For example, a clothing company that is looking to bring their line of apparel to retailers can go online for the contact information of retailers in their area and then present that information to sales personnel to generate leads. Many businesses can perform market research on prices and product availability by analyzing online catalogues.

Data Management

Managing figures and numbers is best done through spreadsheets and databases; however, information on a website formatted with HTML is not readily accessible for such purposes. While websites are excellent for displaying facts and figures, they fall short when they need to be analyzed, sorted, or otherwise manipulated. Ultimately, web scrapers are able to take the output that is intended for display to a person and change it to numbers that can be used by a computer. Furthermore, by automating this process with software applications and macros, entry costs are severely reduced.

This type of data management is also effective at merging different information sources. If a company were to purchase research or statistical information, it could be scraped in order to format the information into a database. This is also highly effective at taking a legacy system's contents and incorporating them into today's systems.

Overall, a web scraper is a cost effective user tool for data manipulation and management.

Chris Harmen is a writer who enjoys researching web scrape methods for data collection and available web scraper programs.





Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Collecting-Data-With-Web-Scrapers&id=4223877

Some of the Main Techniques For Data Mining

Data mining is the process of extracting relationships from large data sets. It is an area of Computer Science that has received significant commercial interest. In this article I will detail a few of the most common methods of data mining analysis.

Association rule discovery: Association rule discovery methods are used to extract associations from data sets. Traditionally, the technique was developed on supermarket purchase data. An association rule is a rule of the form X -> Y. An example of this may be "If a customer purchases milk this implies (->) that the customer will also purchase bread". An association rule has associated with it a support and a confidence value. The support is the percentage of all entries (or transactions in this case) that have all the items. For example, the percentage of all transactions in which milk and bread were purchased. The confidence is the percentage of the transactions that satisfy the left hand side of the rule that also satisfy the right hand side of the rule. For example, in this case, the confidence would be the percentage of purchases that purchased milk which also purchased bread. Association discovery methods will extract all possible association rules from a data set for which the user has specified a minimum support and confidence.

Cluster Analysis: Cluster analysis is the process of taking one or more numerical fields and assigning clusters their values. These clusters represent groups of points which are close to each other. For example, if you watch a documentary on space, you will see that galaxies contain a lot of stars and planets. There are many galaxies in space, however the stars and planets all occur in clusters that are the galaxies. That is, the stars and planets are not randomly located in space but are clumped together in groups that are galaxies. A cluster analysis method is used to find these sorts of groups. If a cluster analysis method was applied to the stars in space, it may find that each galaxy is a cluster and assign a unique cluster identification to each star in a given galaxy. This cluster identification then becomes another field in the data set and can be used in further data mining analysis. For example, you might use a cluster id field to form association rules to other fields in the data set.

Decision Trees: Decision trees are used to form a tree of decisions in a data set to help predict a value. For example, if you were looking at a data set that was used to predict weather a potential loan applicant would be a credit risk, a tree of decisions would be formed based on factors in the data set. The tree may contain decisions such as whether the applicant had defaulted on a loan before, the age of the applicant, whether the applicant was employed or not, the applicants income and the total repayments on the loan. You could then follow this tree of decisions to say for example, if an applicant has never defaulted on a loan before, the applicant is employed, their income is in the top 15 percentile for the country and the loan amount relatively low then there is a very low risk of default.

These are some of the more common techniques for data mining analysis amongst a large group of data mining techniques that a commonly applied to analyzing large data sets. These techniques have proved beneficial to gather useful information and relationships from data that may otherwise be too large to interpret well.



Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Some-of-the-Main-Techniques-For-Data-Mining&id=4210436

Data Management Services

In recent studies it has been revealed that any business activity has astonishing huge volumes of data, hence the ideas has to be organized well and can be easily gotten when need arises. Timely and accurate solutions are important in facilitating efficiency in any business activity. With the emerging professional outsourcing and data organizing companies nowadays many services are offered that matches the various kinds of managing the data collected and various business activities. This article looks at some of the benefits that accrue of offered by the professional data mining companies.

Entering of data

These kinds of services are quite significant since they help in converting the data that is needed in high ideal and format that is digitized. In internet some of this data can found that is original and handwritten. In printed paper documents and or text are not likely to contain electronic or needed formats. The best example in this context is books that need to be converted to e-books. In insurance companies they also depend on this process in processing the claims of insurance and at the same time apply to the law firms that offer support to analyze and process legal documents.

EDC

That is referred to as electronic data. This method is mostly used by clinical researchers and other related organization in medical. The electronic data and capture methods are used in the utilization in managing trials and research. The data mining and data management services are given in upcoming databases for studies. The ideas contained can easily be captured, other services being done and the survey taken.

Data changing

This is the process of converting data found in one format to another. Data extraction process often involves mining data from an existing system, formatting it, cleansing it and can be installed to enhance both availability and retrieving of information easily. Extensive testing and application are the requirements of this process. The service offered by data mining companies includes SGML conversion, XML conversion, CAD conversion, HTML conversion, image conversion.

Managing data service

In this service it involves the conversion of documents. It is where one character of a text may need to be converted to another. If we take an example it is easy to change image, video or audio file formats to other applications of the software that can be played or displayed. In indexing and scanning is where the services are mostly offered.

Data extraction and cleansing

Significant information and sequences from huge databases and websites extraction firms use this kind of service. The data harvested is supposed to be in a productive way and should be cleansed to increase the quality. Both manual and automated data cleansing services are offered by data mining organizations. This helps to ensure that there is accuracy, completeness and integrity of data. Also we keep in mind that data mining is never enough.

Web scraping, data extraction services, web extraction, imaging, catalog conversion, web data mining and others are the other management services offered by data mining organization. If your business organization needs such services here is one that can be of great significance that is web scraping and data mining




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Management-Services&id=7131758

Data Mining and the Tough Personal Information Privacy Sell Considered

Everyone come on in and have a seat, we will be starting this discussion a little behind schedule due to the fact we have a full-house here today. If anyone has a spare seat next to them, will you please raise your hands, we need to get some of these folks in back a seat. The reservations are sold out, but there should be a seat for everyone at today's discussion.

Okay everyone, I thank you and thanks for that great introduction, I just hope I can live up to all those verbal accolades.

Oh boy, not another controversial subject! Yes, well, surely you know me better than that by now, you've come to expect it. Okay so, today's topic is one about the data mining of; Internet Traffic, Online Searches, Smart Phone Data, and basically, storing all the personal data about your whole life. I know, you don't like this idea do you - or maybe you participate online in social online networks and most of your data is already there, and you've been loading up your blog with all sorts of information?

Now then, contemporary theory and real world observation of the virtual world predicts that for a fee, or for a trade in free services, products, discounts, or a chance to play in social online networks, employment opportunity leads, or the prospects of future business you and nearly everyone will give up some personal information.

So, once this data is collected, who will have access to it, who will use it, and how will they use it? All great questions, but first how can the collection of this data be sold to the users, and agreed upon in advance? Well, this can at times be very challenging; yes, very tough sell, well human psychology online suggests that if we give benefits people will trade away any given data of privacy.

Hold That Thought.

Let's digress a second, and have a reality check dialogue, and will come back to that point above soon enough, okay - okay agreed then.

The information online is important, and it is needed at various national security levels, this use of data is legitimate and worthy information can be gained in that regard. For instance, many Russian Spies were caught in the US using social online networks to recruit, make business contacts, and study the situation, makes perfect sense doesn't it? Okay so, that particular episode is either; an excuse to gather this data and analyze it, or it is a warning that we had better. Either way, it's a done deal, next topic.

And, there is the issue with foreign spies using the data to hurt American businesses, or American interests, or even to undermine the government, and we must understand that spies in the United States come from over 70 other nations. And let's not dismiss the home team challenge. What's that you ask? Well, we have a huge intelligence industrial complex and those who work in and around the spy business, often freelance on the side for Wall Street, corporations, or other interests. They have access to information, thus all that data mined data is at their disposal.

Is this a condemnation of sorts; No! I am merely stating facts and realities behind the curtain of created realities of course, without judgment, but this must be taken into consideration when we ask; who can we trust with all this information once it is collected, stored, and in a format which can be sorted? So, we need a way to protect this data for the appropriate sources and needs, without allowing it to be compromised - this must be our first order of business.

Let's Undigress and Go Back to the Original Topic at hand, shall we? Okay, deal.

Now then, what about large corporate collecting information; Proctor and Gamble, Ford, GM, Amazon, etc? They will certainly be buying this data from social networks, and in many cases you've already given up your rights to privacy merely by participating. Of course, all the data will help these companies refine their sorts using your preferences, thus, the products or services they pitch you will be highly targeted to your exact desires, needs, and demographics, which is a lot better than the current bombardment of Viagra Ads with disgusting titles, now in your inbox, deleted junk files.

Look, here is the deal...if we are going to collect data online, through social networks, and store all that the data, then we also need an excuse to collect the data first place, or the other option is not tell the public and collect it anyway, which we already probably realize that is now being done in some form or fashion. But let's for the sake of arguments say it isn't, then should we tell the public we are doing, or are going to do this. Yes, however if we do not tell the public they will eventually figure it out, and conspiracy theories will run rampant.

We already know this will occur because it has occurred in the past. Some say that when any data is collected from any individual, group, company, or agency, that all those involved should also be warned on all the collection of data, as it is being collected and by whom. Including the NSA, a government, or a Corporation which intends on using this data to either sell you more products, or for later use by their artificial intelligence data scanning tools.

Likewise, the user should be notified when cookies are being used in Internet searchers, and what benefits they will get, for instance; search features to help bring about more relevant information to you, which might be to your liking. Such as Amazon.com which tracks customer inquiries and brings back additional relevant results, most online shopping eCommerce sites do this, and there was a very nice expose on this in the Wall Street Journal recently.

Another digression if you will, and this one is to ask a pertinent question; If the government or a company collects the information, the user ought to know why, and who will be given access to this information in the future, so let's talk about that shall we? I thought you might like this side topic, good for you, it shows you also care about these things.

And as to that question, one theory is to use a system that allows certain trusted sources in government, or corporations which you do business with to see some data, then they won't be able to look without being seen, and therefore you will know which government agencies, and which corporations are looking at your data, and therefore there will be transparency, and there would have to be at that point justification for doing so. Or most likely folks would have a fit and then, a proverbial field day with the intrusion in the media.

Now then, one recent report from the government asks the dubious question; "How do we define the purpose for which the data will be used?"

Ah ha, another great question in this on-going saga indeed. It almost sounds as if they too were one of my concerned audience members, or even a colleague. Okay so, it is important not only to define the purpose of the data collection, but also to justify it, and it better be good. Hey, I see you are all smiling now. Good, because, it's going to get a bit more serious on some of my next points here.

Okay, and yes this brings about many challenges, and it is also important to note that there will be, ALWAYS more outlets for the data, which is collected, as time goes on. Therefore the consumer, investor, or citizen who allows their data to be compromised, stored for later use for important issues such as national security, or for corporations to help the consumer (in this case you) in their purchasing decisions, or for that company's planning for inventory, labor, or future marketing (most likely; again to whom; ha ha ha, yes you are catching on; You.

Thus, shouldn't you be involved at every step of the way; Ah, a resounding YES! I see from our audience today, and yes, I would have expected nothing less from you either. And as all this process takes place, eventually "YOU" are going to figure out that this data is out of control, and ends up everywhere. So, should you give away data easily?

No, and if it is that valuable, hold out for more. And then, you will be rewarded for the data, which is yours, that will be used on your behalf and potentially against you in some way in the future; even if it is only for additional marketing impressions on the websites you visit or as you walk down the hallway at the mall;

"Let's see a show of hands; who has seen Minority Report? Ah, most of you, indeed, if you haven't go see, it and you will understand what we are all saying up here, and others are saying in the various panel discussions this weekend."

Now you probably know this, but the very people who are working hard to protect your data are in fact the biggest purveyors of your information, that's right our government. And don't get me wrong, I am not anti-government, just want to keep it responsible, as much is humanly possible. Consider if you will all the data you give to the government and how much of that public record is available to everyone else;

    Tax forms to the IRS,
    Marriage licenses,
    Voting Registration,
    Selective Services Card,
    Property Taxes,
    Business Licenses,
    Etc.

The list is pretty long, and the more you do, the more information they have, and that means the more information is available; everywhere, about who; "YOU! That's who!" Good I am glad we are all clear on that one. Yes, indeed, all sorts of things, all this information is available at the county records office, through the IRS, or with various branches of OUR government. This is one reason we should all take notice to the future of privacy issues. Often out government, but it could be any first world government, claims it is protecting your privacy, but it has been the biggest purveyors of giving away our personal and private data throughout American history. Thus, there will a little bit of a problem with consumers, taxpayers, or citizens if they no longer trust the government for giving away such things as;

    Date of birth,
    Social Security number,
    Driver's license,
    Driving record,
    Taxable information,
    Etc., on and on.

And let's not kid ourselves here all this data is available on anyone, it's all on the web, much of it can be gotten free, some costs a little, never very much, and believe me there is a treasure trove of data on each one of us online. And that's before we look into all the other information being collected now.

Now then, here is one solution for the digital data realm, including smart phone communication data, perhaps we can control and monitor the packet flow of information, whereby all packets of info is tagged, and those looking at the data will also be tagged, with no exceptions. Therefore if someone in a government bureaucracy is looking at something they shouldn't be looking at, they will also be tagged as a person looking for the data.

Remember the big to do about someone going through Joe The Plumber's records in OH, or someone trying to release sealed documents on President Bush's DUI when he was in his 20s, or the fit of rage by Sara Palin when someone hacked her Yahoo Mail Account, or when someone at a Hawaii Hospital was rummaging through Barak Obama's certificate of showing up at the hospital as a baby, with mother in tow?

We need to know who is looking at the data, and their reason better be good, the person giving the data has a right-to-know. Just like the "right-to-know" laws at companies, if there are hazardous chemicals on the property. Let me speak on another point; Border Security. You see, we need to know both what is coming and going if we are to have secure borders.

You see, one thing they found with our border security is it is very important not only what comes over the border, which we do need to monitor, but it's also important to see what goes back over the border the other way. This is how authorities have been able to catch drug runners, because they're able to catch the underground economy and cash moving back to Mexico, and in holding those individuals, to find out whom they work for - just like border traffic - our information goes both ways, if we can monitor for both those ways, it keeps you happier, and our data safer.

Another question is; "How do we know the purpose for data being collected, and how can the consumer or citizen be sure that mass data releases will not occur, it's occurred in almost every agency, and usually the citizens are warned that their data was released or that the data base containing their information was breached, but that's after the fact, and it just proves that data is like water, and it's hard to contain. Information wants to be free, and it will always find a way to leak out, especially when it's in the midst of humans.

Okay, I see my time is running short here, let me go ahead and wrap it up and drive through a couple main points for you, then I'll open it up for questions, of which I don't doubt there will be many, that's good, and that means you've been paying attention here today.

It appears that we need to collect data for national security purposes research, planning, and for IT system for future upgrades. And collecting data for upgrades of an IT system, you really need to know about the bulk transfers of data and the time, which that data flows, and therefore it can be anonymized.

For national security issues, and for their research, that data will have anomalies in it, and there are problems with anomalies, because can project a false positives, and to get it right they have to continually refine it all. And although this may not sit well with most folks, nevertheless, we can find criminals this way, spies, terrorist cells, or those who work to undermine our system and stability of our nation.

With regards to government and the collection of data, we must understand that if there are bad humans in the world, and there are. And if many of those who shall seek power, may not be good people, and since information is power, you can see the problem, as that information and power will be used to help them promote their own agenda and rise in power, but it undermines the trust of the system of all the individuals in our society and civilization.

On the corporate front, they are going to try to collect as much data on you as they can, they've already started. After all, that's what the grocery stores are doing with their rewards program if you hadn't noticed. Not all the information they are collecting they will ever use, but they may sell it to third part affiliates, partners, or vendors, so that's at issue. Regulation will be needed in this regard, but the consumer should also have choices, but they ought to be wise about those choices and if they choose to give away personal information, they should know the risks, rewards, consequences, and challenges ahead.

Indeed, I thank you very much, and be sure to pick up a handout on your way out, if you didn't already get one, from the good looking blonde, Sherry, at the door. Thanks again, and let's take a 5-minute break, and then head into the question and answer session, deal?




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Mining-and-the-Tough-Personal-Information-Privacy-Sell-Considered&id=4868392

What Poker Data Mining Can Do for a Player

Anyone who wants to be more successful in many poker rooms online should take a look at what poker data mining can do. Poker data mining involves looking into all of the past hands in a series of poker games. This can be used to help with reviewing the ways how a player plays the game of poker. This will help to determine how well someone is working when trying to play this exciting game.

Poker data mining works in that a player will review all of the past hands that a player has gotten into. This includes taking a look at the individual hands that were involved. Every single card, bet and movement will be recorded in a hand.

All of the hands can be combined to help with figuring out the wins and losses in a game alongside all of the strategies that had been used throughout the course of a game. The analysis will be used to determine how well a player has gone in a game.

The review will be used to figure out the changes in one's winnings over the course of time. This can be used in conjunction with different types of things that are going on in a game and how the game is being played. This will be used to help figure out what is going on in a game and to see what should be done correctly and what should not be handled.

The data mining that is used is handled by a variety of different kinds of online poker sites. Many of these sites will allow its customers to buy information on various previous hands that they have gotten into. This is used by all of these places as a means of helping to figure out how well a player has done in a game.

Not all places are going to offer support for poker data mining. Some of these places will refuse to work with it due to how they might feel that poker data mining will give a player an unfair advantage over other players who are not willing to pay for it. The standards that these poker rooms will have are going to vary. It helps to review policies of different places when looking to use this service.

Poker data mining can prove to be a beneficial function for anyone to handle. Poker data mining can be smart because of how it can help to get anyone to figure out how one's hand histories are working in a poker room. It will be important to see that this is not accepted in all places though. Be sure to watch for this when playing the game of poker and looking to succeed in it.

The use of poker data mining as well as poker software is being increasingly used by many poker players in order to learn and improve their game.




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Poker-Data-Mining-Can-Do-for-a-Player&id=5563778

What You Need to Know About Popular Software - Data Mining Software

Simply put, data mining is the process of extracting hidden patterns from the organization's database. Over the years it has become a more and more important tool for adding value to the company's databases. Applications include business, medicine, science and engineering, and combating terrorism. This technique actually involves two very different processes, knowledge discovery and prediction. Knowledge discovery provides users with explicit information that in a sense is sitting in the database but has not been exposed. Prediction is an attempt to read into the future.

Data mining relies on the use of real-world data. To understand how this technology works we need first to review some basic concepts. Data are any facts whether numeric or textual that can be processed by a computer. The categories include operational, non-operational, and metadata. Operational or transactional elements include accounting, cost, inventory, and sales facts and figures. Non-operational elements include forecasts and information describing competitors and the industry as a whole. Metadata describes the data itself; it is required to set up and run the databases.

Data mining commonly performs four interrelated tasks: association rule learning, classification, clustering, and regression. Let's examine each in turn. Association rule learning, also known as market basket analysis, searches for relationships between variables. A classic example is a supermarket determining which products customers buy together. Customers who buy onions and potatoes often buy beef. Classification arranges data into predefined groups. This technology can do so in a sophisticated manner. In a related technique known as clustering the groups are not predefined. Regression involves data modeling.

It has been alleged that data mining has been used both in the United States and elsewhere to combat terrorism. As always in such cases, those who know don't say, and those who say don't know. One may surmise that these anti-terrorist applications look for unusual patterns. Many credit card holders have been contacted when their spending patterns changed substantially.

Data mining has become an important feature in many customer relationship management applications. For example, this technology enables companies to focus their marketing efforts on likely customers rather than trying to sell to everyone out there. Human resources applications help companies recruit and manage employees. We have already mentioned market basket analysis. Strategic enterprise management applications help a company transform corporate targets and goals into operational decisions such as hiring and factory scheduling.

Given its great power, many people are concerned with the human rights and privacy issues around data mining. Sophisticated applications could work its way around privacy safeguards. As the technology becomes more widespread and less expensive, these issues may become more urgent. As data is summarized the wrong conclusions can be drawn. This problem not only affects human rights but also the company's bottom line.



Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?What-You-Need-to-Know-About-Popular-Software---Data-Mining-Software&id=1920655

Know What the Truth Behind Data Mining Outsourcing Service

We came to that, what we call the information age where industries are like useful data needed for decision-making, the creation of products - among other essential uses for business. Information mining and converting them to useful information is a part of this trend that allows companies to reach their optimum potential. However, many companies that do not meet even one deal with data mining question because they are simply overwhelmed with other important tasks. This is where data mining outsourcing comes in.

There have been many definitions to introduced, but it can be simply explained as a process that involves sorting through large amounts of raw data to extract valuable information needed by industries and enterprises in various fields. In most cases this is done by professionals, professional organizations and financial analysts. He has seen considerable growth in the number of sectors or groups that enter my self.
There are a number of reasons why there is a rapid growth in data mining outsourcing service subscriptions. Some of them are presented below:

A wide range of services

Many companies are turning to information mining outsourcing, because they cover a wide range of services. These services include, but are not limited to data from web applications congregation database, collect contact information from different sites, extract data from websites using the software, the sort of stories from sources news, information and accumulate commercial competitors.

Many companies fall

Many industries benefit because it is fast and realistic. The information extracted by data mining service providers of outsourcing used in crucial decisions in the field of direct marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship management, health, scientific tests and other experimental work, telecommunications, financial services, and a whole lot more.

A lot of advantages

Subscribe data mining outsourcing services it's offers many benefits, as providers assures customers to render services to world standards. They strive to work with improved technologies, scalability, sophisticated infrastructure, resources, timeliness, cost, the system safer for the security of information and increased market coverage.

Outsourcing allows companies to focus their core business and can improve overall productivity. Not surprisingly, information mining outsourcing has been a first choice of many companies - to propel the business to higher profits.



Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Know-What-the-Truth-Behind-Data-Mining-Outsourcing-Service&id=5303589

Text Data Mining Can Be Profitable

There are billions of search terms performed on the internet every year,and the companies which make use of this vast amount of information are the ones who will be able to market effectively in the future. It is here that text data mining comes into its own, a technique which enables researchers to find patterns within groups of text which will enable them to make predictions as to how customers or other groups of people will act in the future. This article will take a look at text data mining and how we can help various groups of people to find the best things in the data analysis.

It is always a good idea to do some study of the text mining techniques before going on to text mining implementation, and this can be said to be especially true of the insurance industry where not only text mining but also generic data mining using in statistics can be a great help in determining profitability and also showing actuaries how to make future calculations.

Consultancy is an important part of text data mining, and the text mining consultant can bring a huge amount of knowledge to a company whatever the service or services that are providing, particularly if he has an extensive knowledge of text data mining technology and can help to build a system around it.

Of course it is not only commercial applications that can use text mining, because it also has used in security, in that it can help to track criminal intent on the Internet. There are also applications in the biomedical world, in order to help find clusters of data in the right way. But it is in the online world and in the field of marketing that text mining is being used extensively, particularly in customer relationship management [CRM] techniques, where the tools are among some of the most advanced.

Knowing how text mining algorithms work is essential for any consultant who works in this field, because it is an important tool in the marketing technique possibilities. By understanding how text data mining can help an organization a consultant or marketer can make great strides in profitability and this is something that most organizations would be glad for.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Text-Data-Mining-Can-Be-Profitable&id=2314536

Accelerating Accumulated Data Mining

We all have heard of Data Mining and we have all seen the abilities it can produce, but we also know how tedious the collection of data can be. It is the same for a little small company with a few customers as it is for a large company with millions of customers. Additionally how do you keep your data safe?

We have all heard of Identity Theft and the importance of secure data. But just because we have spent millions of dollars in IT work does not mean we know it is accurate? Things change fast you see; people get new telephone numbers, change addresses and jobs at least one of the three every three years. The chances of any database having accurate information is simply not possible.

Thus if we are data mining we need a way to verify which data sets are accurate and believe it or not the last set of data may not be the most accurate therefore we cannot simply discard the old data for the new data you see? We need ways to accelerate the accumulated data so we can run through it as fast as possible yet we must insure that our data mining techniques are taking into consideration miss matched data and incorrect data, along with inaccurate data.

Data Mining may have been over hyped a little and those business systems or even government data mining systems at the NSA; if they do not take into consideration these thoughts they are basically worthless and should not be considered you see? Think on this in 2006.




Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Accelerating-Accumulated-Data-Mining&id=202738

Data Entry - Why Are Data Entry Services So Cheap?

Data entry has become a requirement these days for a lot of company that need to have their physical data input in order to make digital files out of them. This is turn makes the documents more manageable and accessible and saves a lot of time and space whilst improving efficiency. So how can companies that offer data entry charge such a low rate for the services?

Well it can all depend on the type of data that is being input. For example, if the data that needs making digital is already from a document which has been typed and printed or typed using a typewriter then sophisticated software can be used in order to extract the data quickly and simply. This means that because the process is automated, this saves a lot of time and man power. Often this software will have been developed in-house or especially for the company themselves.

If the data is handwritten then it will need to be input manually, and this is where things can get a little more expensive. But amazingly, not by much. Data entry has become increasingly cheap over the last few years and the main reason for this is outsourcing. A lot of companies, whether admitting it or not, may be outsourcing the work to the east where the work can be done at that same level or quality for significantly less. A lot of companies are fine with admitting this, but others are not so sure, primarily because this may put people off the service. However in our experience, the data capture staff that we have used have excellent English skills and offer work done to a similar level to that of an English-language based company.

If you're not sure you like the idea of this and are looking at getting data entry or data capture completed, ask the company where they have their data captured from. Most companies will be honest and tell you, but it's usually fairly obvious by the rate that they charge for the data entry itself. Ask how long they have worked with the data capturing company for and also make sure to request a sample of their work and perhaps the data entry company will be willing to get a sample made especially for you. But make sure to look for companies which have secured the ISO 9001:2000 as this ensures that work is checked over by a third-party to ensure quality.



Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Entry---Why-Are-Data-Entry-Services-So-Cheap?&id=6193944

Effective Online Data Entry Services

The outsourcing market has many enthusiastic buyers who have paid a small amount to online data entry service providers. They carry the opinion that they have paid too low as against the work they have got done. Online services is helpful to a number of smaller business units who take these projects as their significant source of occupation.

Online data-entry services include data typing, product entry, web and mortgage research, data mining as well as extraction services. Service providers allot proficient workforce at your service who timely deliver best possible results. They have updated technology, guaranteeing 100% data security.

Few obvious benefits found by outsourcing online data entry:

    Business units receive quality online entry services from projects owners.
    Entering data is the first step for companies through which they get the understanding of the work that makes strategic decisions. The raw data represented by mere numbers soon turns to be a decision making factor accelerating the progress of the business.
    Systems used by these services are completely protected to maintain high level of security.
    As you increasingly obtain high quality of information the business executive of the company is expected to arrive at extraordinary decisions which influence progress in the company.
    Shortened turnaround time.
    Cutting down on cost by saving on operational overheads.

Companies are highly fascinated by the benefits of outsourcing your projects for these services, as it saves time as well as money.

Flourishing companies want to concentrate on their key business activities instead of exploring into such non-key business activities. They take a wise step of outsourcing their work to data-entry-services and keep themselves free for their core business functions.



Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Effective-Online-Data-Entry-Services&id=5681261