Announcing GopherCluster v 0.1
------------------------------

We're proud to announce the availability of document clustering for
GopherVR.  With GopherCluster you can visualize large collections of
documents in 3D navigatable scene.  You can easily see the relationships
between documents with this method.

The GopherCluster software runs on your Unix Gopher server.  It
processes queries to pre-existing search items, classifies the
matching documents into clusters and produces a 3D scene.  You
navigate this scene with GopherVR.  GopherCluster provides more
information about search results than is possible in traditional
relevance-ranked searches. 


What is document clustering?  

Document Clustering is a method of grouping and visualizing related
documents.  To do this, you break a collection of documents into a
number of related groups, called clusters.  You can group documents
manually (by creating a directory structure) or you can run an
algorithm that finds related documents based on the content of the
document.


Why is this useful?

To understand the benefit of document clustering consider searching a
recipe database.  Your search for 'salmon' turns up a large variety of
dishes.  None, however are quite what you want, plus the things you
really want are scattered through the list of items.

A cluster search however finds _clusters_ of documents instead of
individual documents.  With a 3D user interface you can easily see
where the best set of documents are.  Plus, some documents are
included in the cluster that do not contain the word 'salmon'.  These
documents are very similar to the ones that you found, so they are
automatically presented to you.

The key factors to consider here are:

 1) The search is precise, it shows you a cluster of documents that
    matches your search quite well first.

 2) The search has high recall, it shows you documents that are
    related to your search that you might not have considered.

See the screen shots, or try out the actual item to really get a feel
for how this helps you find information.


How can I try it out?

  You can try out a clustering search by connecting to the following URL.
  Note that you'll want to have a GopherVR client to see the keen 3D
  graphics.

    <URL:gopher://arcwelder.micro.umn.edu/11/Projects/VR/Cluster>


  GopherVR clients are available for the Macintosh and Unix from:

     <URL:ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/gopher>
     <URL:gopher://boombox.micro.umn.edu/gopher>
  

  If you want to run your own GopherCluster server, you can get the
  software from:

     <URL:gopher://boombox.micro.umn.edu/11/gopher/Unix/GopherCluster>
     <URL:ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/gopher/Unix/GopherCluster>


