eDiscovery Daily Blog

• April 21, 2016

As I fly back home to flooded Houston after an enjoyable and successful ACEDS conference (and try to type this while the guy in front of me insists on reclining his seat), it’s worth noting that other stuff is going on too.  One notable item from this week is that EDRM released (or should I say re-released) its Glossary of Terms.

While the Glossary existed before, it wasn’t previously available in a downloadable PDF format.  Now it is.  It doesn’t just provide terms from “A” to “Z” – it provides terms from “1” – i.e., SEC Rule 10b(5) – to “.E” – i.e., .Ex01 File.  317 total pages of defined terms in all, with some described in just a sentence and others described over as much as a page.  The Glossary not only provides a detailed definition of each term, it also identifies the source of that term and its definition.  Examples:

• While you might think “Bag and Tag” (page 24) is what I did with my luggage when I got to the airport today, it’s actually defined as “The process of receiving, recording, and securing client source data as evidence. The first link in the chain of custody.” (come to think of it, that’s pretty similar)
• While you might think that “Comic Mode” (page 54) is something that a comedian goes into before a show, it’s actually defined as “Human-readable data, recorded on a strip of film which can be read when the film is moved horizontally to the reader.”
• While you might think that a “Family Range” (page 114) is land owned by a wealthy Texas rancher, it’s actually defined as “the range of documents from the first Bates production number assigned to the first page of the top most parent document through the last Bates production number assigned to the last page of the last child document.”

Get the idea?

In downloadable and easily searchable form, it can serve as a handy reference if you run across a term that you’re not familiar with during your discovery activities.

EDRM also provides six specialized glossaries that you can reference for specific subsets (these terms and others are also included in the main downloadable glossary).  They are:

• EDRM Collection Standards Glossary: The EDRM Collection Standards Glossary is a glossary of terms defined as part of the EDRM Collection Standards.
• EDRM Metrics Glossary: The EDRM Metrics Glossary contains definitions for terms used in connection with the updated EDRM Metrics Model published in June 2013.
• EDRM Search Glossary: The EDRM Search Glossary is a list of terms related to searching ESI.
• EDRM Search Guide Glossary: The EDRM Search Guide Glossary is part of the EDRM Search Guide. The EDRM Search Guide focuses on the search, retrieval and production of ESI within the larger e-discovery process described in the EDRM Model.
• IGRM Glossary: The IGRM Glossary consists of commonly used Information Governance terms.
• The Grossman-Cormack Glossary of Technology-Assisted Review: Developed by Maura Grossman of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Gordon Cormack of the University of Waterloo, the Grossman-Cormack Glossary of Technology-Assisted Review contains definitions for terms used in connect with the discovery processes referred to by various terms including Computer Assisted Review, Technology Assisted Review, and Predictive Coding.

All of the glossaries are available here to the general public.  If you think the glossary is missing any terms that need to be defined, you can also go here to submit a definition to EDRM.

Over the next few days, I will have some observations from the ACEDS conference.  But, that can wait until tomorrow – this guy in front of me is making it really hard to type.  :o(

So, what do you think?  Have you downloaded the EDRM glossary yet?  Please share any comments you might have with us or let us know if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.