Advances in web intelligence and data mining

Today, in the middle of the ? rst decade of the 21st century, the Internet has become a major communication medium, where virtually any kind of content can be transferred instantly and reliably between individual users and entire - ganizations located in any part of the globe. The World Wide Web (WWW) has a tremendous e? ect on our daily activities at work and at home. Consequently, more e? ective and e? cient methods and technologies are needed to make the most of the Web’s nearly unlimited potential. The new Web-related research directions include intelligent methods usually associated with the ? elds of c- putational intelligence, soft computing, and data mining. AWIC, the “Atlantic Web Intelligence Conferences” continue to be a forum for exchange of new ideas and novel practical solutions in this new and exciting area. The conference was born as an initiative of the WIC-Poland and the WIC- Spain Research Centers, both belonging to the Web Intelligence Consortium – WIC (http://wi-consortium. org/). Prior to this year, three AWIC conferences have been held: in Madrid, Spain (2003), in Cancun, Mexico (2004), and in L´ od´ z, Poland (2005). AWIC 2006 took place in Beer-Sheva, Israel during June 5–7, 2006, organized locally by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The book presents state-of-the-art developments in the ? eld of computati- ally intelligent methods applied to various aspects and ways of Web exploration.