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“4137X˙CH01˙Akerkar” — 2007/9/17 — 10:57 — page1—#1
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Introduction to Web Intelligence
Introduction to Web Intelligence
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1.1 Historical Perspective
When the Chinese pounded linen to make paper, they unwittingly provided a medium for
spreading and storing knowledge. Then five and a half centuries ago, a German goldsmith
named Gutenberg invented the printing press. Who could have predicted the impact of the
printing press, which was initially devoted to publishing religious books, to be so great? Who
could have imagined that books, once owned by the few and treasured as symbols of wealth
and power, would one day be accessible to everyone? The Guten ...