txtkit is an Open Source visual text mining tool for exploring large amounts of multilingual texts. It's a multiuser-application which mainly focuses on the process of reading and reasoning as a series of decisions and events. To expand this single perspective activity txtkit collects all of the users mining data and uses them to create content recommendations through collaborative filtering. The software requires Mac OS X 10.3 and Internet access.

The txtkit interface is divided into two parts: txtshell (shell interface) and txtvbot (visual bot). txtshell provides several commands to browse, to read and to select text, whilst txtvbot displays the user activity in real-time. The visualization is based on the users actions, statistical information about the data as well as collaborative filtering schemes. That is the reason why the complexity of its visual output is according to the increasing number of users! You can use txtvbot and txtshell individually, but through an alternating perception you will merge visual and textual cognition processes in order to empower abductive reasoning in digital contexts.

Main parts of txtkit are: an integrated parsing programm, a mysql database running on a server and the txtkit client divided in txtshell (terminal application) and txtvbot (for cocoa opengl). After you have installed txtkit on your computer you will be automatically connected with the txtkit database. Due to its integrated parsing module, you can parse and use every text you like. txtkit has an open and variable architecture which allows you to add multiple sources in different languages on different servers. Our servers offer four sources at the moment: Hans Ulrich Reck (german & english), Lev Manovich (english), "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig (english). If you like to know how you can share your own files, please check the Do-It-Yourself parsing section.

txtkit was commissioned by Prof. Hans Ulrich Reck - project director with Prof. Georg Trogemann of KIT (Kunst. Informatik. Theorie.), a research project based at the Art and Media Studies department at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. KIT is a part of the KUBIM programme. KUBIM can be seen within the larger context of concepts and programmes in Germany to help build the global "Information Society".

Under the umbrella of the Bund-Länder-Kommission für Bildungsplanung und Forschungsförderung (BLK), a joint body of the Federal Government and the Länder for educational planning and research funding, kubim was launched in Spring 2000 to develop and test innovative models for the creative and competent use of new media-technologies in cultural education and training.

KUBIM is financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMB+F) and Länder Ministries for Education or Science and Culture.

The aim of the KIT project was to investigate the potential of the new technologies with regard to visual arts, design and theoretical research. SW/OfCD was inquired to develop a prototype which introduces new methods for exploring and dealing with large textual sources.

txtkit research and development started in March 2002 and was finished in January 2004.