The world of text mining is simultaneously a minefield and a gold mine. Text Mining is a rapidly developing applications field and an area of scientific research, using techniques from well-established scientific fields such as data mining, machine learning, information retrieval, natural language processing, case-based reasoning, statistics and knowledge management. The book contains the papers presented during the 1st International Workshop on Text Mining and its Applications held at the University of Patras, which was the launch event of the activities of NEMIS, a network of excellence in the area of text mining and its applications. The conference maintained a balance between theoretical issues and descriptions of case studies to promote synergy between theory and practice in the field of Text Mining. Topics of interest included document processing and visualization techniques, web mining, text mining and knowledge management, as well as user aspects and relations to official statistics.