Galaxy

Video tutorial available.

The Galaxy window appears when you initially open a dataset from the Projects window. You can also open a Galaxy by clicking on the Galaxy Galaxy buttonbutton on the IN-SPIRE main toolbar or from the main menu, select Tools > Galaxy.

Galaxy Window

The Galaxy is a plot of all of the documents in the dataset, showing the topical relationships between them. Proximity implies relatedness. Each document is represented by a dot, and the closer together two documents are plotted, the more similar is their topical content.

Understanding the Galaxy Symbols

In the Galaxy, the following symbols are used to show document status:

Unselected Document

An unselected document.

Selected Document

A selected document.

Document in Document Viewer

The document that is currently readable in the Document Viewer.

Document Viewed

A document that has been previously viewed in the Document Viewer but which is not now selected. A selected document that has been previously viewed is represented by a green "x".

Grouped Documents

Documents that have been grouped with Groups. In the Galaxy, a grouped document will be shown in the color of its group.

Document Title

Document title or file name shown by selecting a document with the +Ti (Titles) cursor. If the document is selected, the title will be green, as shown here; otherwise, the title will be the peak label color (usually white).

Peak Labels

Topics strong in this area of the Galaxy.

Cluster Centroid

A cluster centroid.

Probe Tool and Label

Probe arrow and resulting label.

Colors of many IN-SPIRE system items can be adjusted to suit your preferences and may vary from the examples shown above.

Interacting with the Galaxy

To work with the Galaxy visualization, you can use the IN-SPIRE toolbar, the Galaxy toolbar, and the Color Chooser menu (for display options).

Galaxy Toolbar

Galaxy Toolbar

Selecting and Viewing Documents

In addition to the methods below, the Galaxy also honors the keyboard shortcuts outlined in selecting items from a visualization.

Select Document Button and Cursor

To select documents individually
To select documents individually, use the arrow cursor. CTRL-click or SHIFT-click documents to add documents to the selected set.

To select all documents in an area
Click and drag a rectangle around the documents you want to select.
ALT-drag a rectangle around a document or documents you want to remove from the selected set.

 

To show Grouped documents in their group colors
Highlight the groups in the right sidebar.

To group some documents
First select the documents, then use Groups or use the Search tool. For a discussion of all the ways to create and modify groups by adding and subtracting members, see Sidebars: Groups.

Showing Document Titles

Show Document Titles Button

To be able to see document titles in Galaxy, click the Titles button and use the titles cursor to click on a document in the Galaxy.

This does not toggle titles on and off. It just lets you turn them on/off individually.

To clear (hide) a document title
Click on it using the +Ti cursor.

Reset Button

To hide all document titles

Click Reset All.

Showing What Terms Occur in an Area of the Galaxy

Probe tool

To see a list of terms and their frequency of occurrence in a particular area
Use the Probe tool to click on either Galaxy or ThemeView Classic in the area of interest. For more information, see Probe Tool.

Working with Clusters

A cluster centroid represents the mathematical center of the plot of all the documents that have been clustered together. To get oriented in a new dataset, it may be helpful to turn on cluster centroids.

To show/hide cluster centroids
If cluster centroids are visible, you can select documents by cluster instead of by area, which can be helpful when clusters overlap each other. Select SettingsSettings button> Hide/Show Cluster Centroids to make cluster centroids visible (the checkbox will be selected). The centroids will appear to be small circles.

Galaxy Peak Label Settings - Cluster Centroids

To turn off centroids, select SettingsSettings button> Hide/Show Cluster Centroids again.

Moving the mouse over a cluster centroid will highlight the documents in the cluster without selecting them. To add the documents in the cluster to the selected document set, CTRL-click on the cluster centroid. To remove the documents from the selected document set, ALT-click on the cluster centroid.

Homing in on Areas of Interest

Zoom Button and Cursor

To zoom in
Click anywhere in the Galaxy dataset display using the Zoom cursor. Each time you click, the view zooms in a little more.

To enlarge an area of the Galaxy
Using the Zoom cursor, click and drag a rectangle around the area of interest. Release the mouse button.

To zoom out
CTRL-click with the Zoom cursor. Each time you CTRL-click, the view zooms out a little more.

To reset to the original magnification, selections, or titles
CTRL-Shift-click with the Zoom cursor.

Reset Button

To revert to the default view options
Click the Reset All button.

Pan Cursor and Button

To pan the view
Using the Pan cursor, click and drag the Galaxy view.

To reset to original view coordinates, without affecting selections, or titles
CTRL-Shift-click anywhere in the Galaxy.

Changing the View

To change the color of most objects.

From the IN-SPIRE main toolbar choose Edit > Color Chooser. For how to use the color chooser, see Color Chooser.Galaxy settings options

To show the ThemeClouds on the Galaxy

ThemeClouds are the blue areas which indicate areas of document concentration, and by default they are visible. Turn them off or on by choosing SettingsSettings button> Show ThemeClouds.

To show/hide peak labels

Peak labels correspond to the labels on the peaks in ThemeView Classic. They are visible by default. If Peak Labels have been turned off, choose SettingsSettings button> Show Peak Labels to turn them on.

To make peak labels larger or smaller

Peak labels can be changed to a larger or smaller type. To increase the text font size of peak labels, choose SettingsSettings button> Larger Type. To decrease the text font size of peak labels, choose SettingsSettings button> Smaller Type.

Peak Label Settings

Peak labels are so called because they label the areas of document concentration in the Galaxy, which correspond to the peaks (and their labels) in Themeview Classic. The Peak Label settings, then, affect the number of labels and the number of terms in each label in both the Galaxy and ThemeView Classic. Choose SettingsSettings button> Peak Label Settings from either the Galaxy (or ThemeView Classic) to change them.