Linear Content Analysis: Big Problems, Big Costs
January 16, 2011
Another sacred cow is now headed toward the intellectual McDonald’s beef supplier. Most organizations producing content for commercial databases use a “relaxed linear method”. The idea is that certain steps work like Henry Ford’s assembly line and other processes are more in touch with the multi-modal, do-it-when-you-can approach.
There’s an interesting write up by Clearwell Systems about the utility of relaxed methods of document processing. Heck, forget relaxed. The information in the blog post suggests that the scrum and online game method may be the optimal way to make sense out of content.
The write up is “Reinventing Review in Electronic Discovery,” and it is tailored to the legal eagle and litigation support world. But the implications of the information may have considerable value to those working in other types of research. There are some references to the close-to-the-vest US government reports about content processing as well as some academic research.
The passage that I noted was:
Of course, fundamentally changing linear review with specific technologies that radically changes the review workflow is an approach worth considering. While offering such aids, it must be remembered that human judgment is still needed and the process must incorporate both increasing their knowledge as well as their ability to apply judgment.
My take is that multi-path work methods, technology, and regular humans are needed to make sense out of certain types of content. Humans alone can’t do the job particularly well or economically. Lawyers like the billable work too.
Stephen E Arnold, January 16, 2011
Freebie unlike law firms and eDiscovery system vendors
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