The Corpus by Brigham Young University, with all of its data is a bit overwhelming. First off, its interface makes it difficult for users to find what they are looking for. In a simple search, one word out of context can add to ones total search results, instead of narrowing them down.

The challenge with the internet and the data mining applications is that to find exactly what one is looking for is difficult. There is a vast amount of information available for people to search for and discover. However, there is a lot of “noise” that gets in the way of finding just exactly what one is looking for. The problem with research is that one either gets too little information or there is an overflow of information.

When I typed in “Mozart” into the Corpus Time Magazine search engine 168 results came up. The interface was too difficult to navigate. What could be a useful too ended up being too bland and overwhelming to use. Unlike the Pro-Quest interface and search engine, I had to dig through all the results to find what I was looking for. In fact, I wasn’t even looking for anything specific. If someone is blindly going to this search engine, they will get lost and find not direction in their knowledge discoveries.

Academic and curiosity research aside, data mining isn’t just occurring when students are scrambling to find sources for a research papers. No, data mining has reached a whole knew level where during the 2012 election, both candidates (Mitt Romney and Barack Obama) spent millions of data in sophisticated data mining.

Now, data mining can become even more consumer specialized. Candidates can now see what television shows you watch, where you shop, what you eat, your volunteerism, your donations, etc to figure out ones “political identity.” However, what is the line drawn between just “research” and “privacy”?

That being said, data mining has become even more sophisticated since the interface use of the corpus from Brigham Young.