eDJ Survey On Predictive Coding And Debate Over PC-TAR Term

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Barry Murphy. Published: 2012-01-12 09:16:44  A recent Forbes blog by by Amanda Jones & Ben Kerschberg pointed out how technology-assisted review in eDiscovery can increase review accuracy and decrease overall review costs.  The article mainly refers to the use of predictive coding, but touches on what has been called “technology assisted review.”  Last month, Jason Velasco here at eDJ offered up the acronym PC-TAR (predictive coding – technology-assisted review) to avoid controversy.The immediate feedback on the PC-TAR term was positive.  Readers seem to like the neutrality of it.  However, there are those in the industry that view predictive coding and technology-assisted review as different things, or that see predictive coding as simply a type of technology assisted review.  For anyone immediately thinking that it’s only vendors with this feeling, you’re wrong…there are vendors with such a view, but there are real eDiscovery professionals that feel this way, too.Perhaps some of this results from Recommind’s 2011 patent of the company’s version of predictive coding and attempted trademarking of the term.  In fact, it’s more of a semantic argument.  And, there are good points on both sides.  One can make a very good argument that simply using linear review software is technology-assisted review.  It is also possible to argue that we all know that “technology-assisted review” is really just another way to say predictive coding (for vendors that want to differentiate their offerings).At eDJ, we like the input of our readers.  We are partial to the PC-TAR terminology (probably because Jason Velasco invented it), but not married to it if most people really think these are separate topics.  Please weigh in on the debate.  Either comment here on this blog post or email us to let us know what you think.  We will report back before LegalTech with what we learn.In even better news, eDJ has launched a survey to understand how broadly PC-TAR has been in use and some of the attitudes toward it (note: the survey is geared more toward the use of predictive coding).  As a thank you for your participation, you will be entered into a drawing for a $250 gift card.  You can find the survey here.  We hope to share some of those results before LegalTech, too.