Advances in self-organising maps

This is the third Workshop on Self-Organising Maps (WSOM) and its related techniques. The previous two were held in Helsinki (1997 and 1999) and confIrmed the vitality of the SOM as one of the most popular and powerful concepts for unsupervised pattern recognition and data visualisation. These meetings not only acted as a showcase for the latest advances in SOM theory and for illustrating its vast range of applicability, but also as venues where much informal and fruitful interaction could take place. It is interesting to observe the development of the original SOM, and this remarkable progress confrrms the originality and insight of Teuvo Kohonen's pioneering work. With the range and quality of the papers in this volume, the stage is set for another very successful meeting. This volume is a permanent record of all the contributions presented during WSOM'OI held at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside, 13 - 15 June, 2001. The University is the newest of England's universities but it is situated in the heart of one of our oldest cities - founded by the Romans and overlooked by the towering mass of its medieval cathedral. Primarily Lincoln has always been a centre for the rich agricultural heartland of England; however, it was the birthplace, 186 years ago, of George Boole. So WSOM'OI is continuing Lincoln's long and honourable tradition of advancing scientific understanding.