What is Data mining?

Sorting through data to identify patterns and establish relationships. Data mining parameters include:

Association - looking for patterns where one event is connected to another event.
Sequence or path analysis - looking for patterns where one event leads to another later event.
Classification - looking for new patterns (May result in a change in the way the data is organized but that's ok).
Clustering - finding and visually documenting groups of facts not previously known.
Forecasting - discovering patterns in data that can lead to reasonable predictions about the future.