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This document delves into data clustering, an unsupervised learning algorithm that identifies distinct groups in datasets. It describes how clustering can uncover similar user interests, buying patterns, and is applicable to fields like computational biology. Techniques for clustering blogs based on word frequencies are discussed, including the use of RSS feeds. The text also highlights strategies for processing and analyzing resulting data patterns to enhance search applications, both on the web and within enterprises.
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The College of Saint Rose CIS 460 – Search and Information Retrieval David Goldschmidt, Ph.D. Discovering groups{week 03} from Programming Collective Intelligence by Toby Segaran, O’Reilly Media, 2007, ISBN 978-0-596-52932-1
Data clustering (i) • A cluster is a group of related things • Automatic detection of clustersis a powerful data discovery tool • Detect similar user interests,buying patterns, clickthroughpatterns, etc. • Also applicable to the sciences • In computational biology, find groups(or clusters) of genes that exhibit similar behavior
Data clustering (ii) • Data clustering is an example ofan unsupervised learning algorithm... • ...which is an AI technique for discovering structure within one or more datasets • The key goal is to find the distinct group(s) that exist within a given dataset • We don’t know what we’ll find
Data clustering (iii) We need to first identify a common setof numerical attributes that we can compare to see how similar they are. Can we do anything with word frequencies?
Clustering blogs via feeds (i) • If we cluster blogs based on theirword frequencies, maybe we canidentify groups of blogs that are... • ...similar in terms of blog content • ...similar in terms of writing style • ...of interest for searching, cataloging, etc.
Clustering blogs via feeds (ii) • A feed is a simple XML document containing information about a blog and its entries • Reader apps enable usersto read multiple blogs ina single window • Click below to check outthe Google Reader blog:
Clustering blogs via feeds (iii) • Check out these feeds: • http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/index.rdf • http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml • http://www.tmz.com/rss.xml • http://scienceblogs.com/sample/combined.xml • http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/feed/rss.xml
Clustering blogs via feeds (iv) • Techniques for avoiding stop words: • Ignore words on a predefined stop list • Select words from within a predefined rangeof occurrence percentages • Lower bound of 10% • Upper bound of 50% • Tune as necessary
What next? • Study the resulting blog data • Identify any patterns in the data • Which blogs are very similar? • Which blogs are very different? • How can these techniques beapplied to other types of search? • Web search? • Enterprise search?