Formanyyearstheintersectionofcomputing anddataanalysiscontainedme- based statistics packages and not much else. Recently, statisticians have - braced computing, computer scientists have started using statistical theories and methods, and researchers in all corners have invented algorithms to nd structure in vast online datasets. Data analysts now have access to tools for exploratory data analysis, decision tree induction, causal induction, function - timation,constructingcustomizedreferencedistributions,andvisualization,and thereareintelligentassistantsto adviseonmatters ofdesignandanalysis.There aretoolsfortraditional,relativelysmallsamples,andalsoforenormousdatasets. In all, the scope for probing data in new and penetrating ways has never been so exciting. The IDA-99 conference brings together a wide variety of researchers c- cerned with extracting knowledge from data, including people from statistics, machine learning, neural networks, computer science, pattern recognition, da- base management, and other areas.The strategiesadopted by people from these areas are often di erent, and a synergy results if this is recognized.
The IDA series of conferences is intended to stimulate interaction between these di erent areas,sothatmorepowerfultoolsemergeforextractingknowledgefromdataand a better understanding is developed of the process of intelligent data analysis. The result is a conference that has a clear focus (one application area:intelligent data analysis) and a broad scope (many di erent methods and techniques).