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).
