Patron Saint of Mediaburn
Press Release 06-006
Ben Franklin Web Portal Brings the Man to the Masses
Driven by search-engine technology, site highlights three centuries of revolutionary influence
January 9, 2006
In time for the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth, a Web portal (http://ben.clusty.com)
based on clustering technology is offering a new method to separate
useful Franklin facts from the normal flood of online information.
Developed and curated by Vivísimo, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa., the
portal uses the company's unique clustering search engine. The
underlying algorithms filter and index results to create clusters that
are easier to navigate than numerous pages of "hits."
Curators manage the portal, which is a comprehensive, searchable
resource of the iconic statesman's writings and quotations, along with
a targeted search engine and tools for teachers. By adding the words
Images or "pictures" to a search, users can access related visuals.
The clustering component, known publicly by the name Clusty.com,
works with any set of electronic documents, and as applications have
arisen, developers have applied it to languages ranging from Arabic to
Korean. The clustering is gaining wider recognition as it evolves, and
the portal expands upon such evolution by highlighting the benefits of
combining this automated technology with curation.
Franklin was an important figure not only in U.S. history, but also
for science and engineering. From studies of electricity, weather and
ocean currents to his development of the lightning rod, double
spectacles (bifocals) and the odometer, many of his innovations and
discoveries were groundbreaking.
A vast wealth of material on Ben Franklin exists on the Internet,
but standard searches do not differentiate between references to the
man and references to countless objects and entities named in his
honor. The curators of the Web portal have simplified such searches by
managing the results to weed out distracting references - from high
schools to retailers - unrelated to Franklin himself.
Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Raul Valdes-Perez and
graduate students Chris Palmer and Jerome Pesenti created the
underlying clustering algorithms in the early 1990s - with support from
the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Pa.'s appropriately named Ben
Franklin economic development initiative. The researchers founded
Vivísimo and improved upon the technology, furthering the engine's
development with NSF Small Business Innovation Research grants.
Since its development, various users have applied the software to
both institutional and World-Wide Web searches. Most recently, the U.S.
General Services Administration chose Vivísimo's platform for a
re-launch of the FirstGov.gov search, the U.S. government's official
search gateway for government web pages.
NSF's monetary support for Valdes-Perez's work began more than a
decade ago with funding from the Directorate for Computer &
Information Science & Engineering and continued with grants from
the Directorate for Engineering.
As Franklin himself has noted, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."
In addition to NSF support, the portal effort has been aided by the
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Libraries, the Carnegie Science Center and
Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center.
-NSF-
Media Contacts
Joshua A. Chamot, NSF (703) 292-7730 jchamot@nsf.gov
Stacy Monarko, Vivísimo (412) 422-2499 pr@vivisimo.com
Anne Watzman, Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute (412) 268-3830 aw16@andrew.cmu.edu
Program Contacts
Sara B. Nerlove, NSF (703) 292-7077 snerlove@nsf.gov
Juan E. Figueroa, NSF (703) 292-7054 jfiguero@nsf.gov
Ephraim P. Glinert, NSF (703) 292-8930 eglinert@nsf.gov
Principal Investigators
Raul Valdes-Perez, Vivísimo (412) 422-2499 valdes@vivisimo.com
Related Websites
Vivísimo Website: http://vivisimo.com/
Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by artist David Martin (1737-1797).
8:34:05 PM 
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