System for gathering and summarizing internet information

A computer system for gathering and summarizing information, the computer system being operable on at least one computer having a software operating system, the computer system comprising:

• an agent hosting program for running under said software operating system;
• a plurality of agent programs operating with said agent hosting program, said plurality of agent programs including programs for collecting documents from respective information sources;
• wherein said plurality of agent programs operate according to a stored search ontology providing a map of each respective information source and a time interval between search updates for the information source;
• and
• an agent for applying a clustering algorithm to documents found in the search of the information sources;
• and
• a user interface agent for providing a display of results of a search of an information source and results of applying the clustering algorithm;
• and
• an agent program for interfacing said user interface agent, said agent for applying a clustering algorithm and said plurality of agent programs for collecting documents from respective information sources.