Chapter 2 (MDM) | Part I Introduction 27 © 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Chapter 1 Introduction Defining the Area Multimedia data mining, as the name suggests, presumably is a combi- nation of the two emerging areas: multimedia and data mining. However, multimedia data mining is not a research area that just simply combines the research of multimedia and data mining together. Instead, the multimedia data mining research focuses on the theme of merging multimedia and data mining research together to exploit the synergy between the two areas to promote the understanding and to advance the development of the knowl- edge discovery in multimedia data. Consequently, multimedia data mining exhibits itself as a unique and distinct research area that synergistically relies on the state-of-the-art research in multimedia and data mining but at the same time fundamentally differs from either multimedia or data mining or a simple combination of the two areas. Multimedia and data mining are two very interdisciplinary and multidis- ciplinary areas. Both areas started in early 1990s with only a very short history. Therefore, both areas are relatively young areas (in comparison, for example, with many well established areas in computer science such as op- erating systems, programming languages, and artificial intelligence). On the other hand, with substantial application demands, both areas have undergone independently and simultaneously rapid developments in recent years. Multimedia is a very diverse, interdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary re- search area1. The word multimedia refers to a combination of multiple media types together. Due to the advanced development of the computer and dig- ital technologies in early 1990s, multimedia began to emerge as a research area [87, 197]. As a research area, multimedia refers to the study and de- velopment of an effective and efficient multimedia system targeting a specific application. In this regard, the research in multimedia covers a very wide .
