Recently, Michael Roach’s of Law Technology News tapped us for our thoughts on “buzzwords” for his article Vendor Perspectives on This Year’s E-Discovery Buzzword. Needless to say, it got us thinking about the future lexicon of EDD and thought we should share our list and look for comments and additions from our readership here.
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High On Our Buzz-worthy Scale:
Cloud discovery: We are confident that this is the year that ‘cloud-discovery’ overtakes ‘e-discovery.” More data residing on cloud servers with the expansion of corporate social media, cloud-based email, Google docs, Microsoft 360, etc. Wasn’t too long ago that discovery became e-discovery. We are likely to see the progression continue as “electronic” becomes archaic.
Social media discovery: The things that make social media popular –the instant and shared nature of the communications– creates new challenges within organizations for preservation and discovery. This will be a hotbed of discussion and thought in 2012. Be Prepared >
Machine learning: One application of machine learning is making it possible for computers to assist in the relevancy review process by recognizing responsive documents in e-discovery. Thanks to a lot of smart research, the application of advanced machine learning algorithms in e-discovery shows promise to be as effective as human reviewers.
Multi-tenant and mobile-enabled: The true test of whether applications are built on pure cloud architecture, these will surely make their way into the legal technology vocabulary.
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The Buzz Is Over:
Predictive coding: This term has always promised much more than it ever could deliver…though it sure sounds great. A more accurate description might be “technology-assisted review,” but this is still too vague to be very meaningful.
ECA or Early Case Assessment: This is a perfect example of silly marketing jargon used within the industry. From the moment you are retained on a case, you are (or should be) making a clear, thoughtful case assessments for your client. Is that EARLY? Isn’t it just TIMELY? Maybe some lawyers can magically assess a case before it even materializes? Are there LATE case assessments? Or maybe TARDY case assessments? We think it’s time to officially put this one to rest.
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Nextpoint Updates for 2012
We just released a bevy of customizable review features in Discovery Cloud. Soon, we will also be introducing analytical machine learning in Discovery Cloud, which will address the growing interest in technology-assisted review and attorney-less review. And as mentioned in our previous post, we will be “shattering the old production paradigm.” Stay tuned…
What do you think are going to become the “buzzwords” in the world of discovery 2012? We welcome your feedback and additions to this list.
