E-Discovery Glossary

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Native Format Electronic documents have an associated file structure defined by the original creating application. This file structure is referred to as the "native format" of the document. Because viewing or searching documents in the native format may require the original application (for example, viewing a Microsoft Word document may require the Microsoft Word application), documents may be converted to a neutral format as part of the record acquisition or archive process. "Static" formats (often called "imaged formats"), such as TIFF or PDF, are designed to retain an image of the document as it would look viewed in the original creating application but do not allow metadata to be viewed or the document information to be manipulated. In the conversion to static format, the metadata can be processed, preserved and electronically associated with the static format file. However, with technology advancements, tools and applications are becoming increasingly available to allow viewing and searching of documents in their native format, while still preserving all metadata.

Native Format Review Review of ESI in its current "native" format using either an application capable of supporting native format review or the original application in which the ESI was created.

Natural Language Search A manner of searching that permits the use of plain language without special connectors or precise terminology, such as "Where can I find information on William Shakespeare"" as opposed to formulating a search statement (such as "information" and "William Shakespeare"). See Boolean Search.

Near Deduplication Identification and grouping or tagging of electronic files with "near duplicate" similarities, yet some differences in terms of content or metadata, or both for example, document versions, emails sent to multiple custodians, different parts of email chains, or similar proposals sent to several clients.

NearLine Data A term used to refer to ESI or a robotic storage device (robotic library) that houses removable media, uses robotic arms to access the media, and uses multiple read/write devices to store and retrieve records. Examples include optical discs.

NearLine Data Storage Storage in a system that is not a direct part of the network in daily use, but that can be accessed through the network. There is usually a small time lag between the request for ESI stored in nearline media and its being made available to an application or enduser. Making nearline data available will not require human intervention (as opposed to "offline" data which can only be made available through human actions).

Network A group of two or more computers and other devices connected together ("networked") for the exchange and sharing of ESI and resources. A localarea network (LAN) refers to connected computers and devices geographically close together (i.e. in the same building). A widearea network (WAN) refers generally to a network of PCs or other devices, remote to each other, connected by telecommunications lines. Typically, a WAN may connect two or more LANs together.

Network Gear Refers to the actual hardware used in the operation of networks – for example routers, switches and hubs.

Neural Network Neural networks are made up of interconnected processing elements called units, which respond in parallel to a set of input signals given to each.

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology a federal technology agency that works with industry to develop and apply technology measurements and standards.

NIST List A hash database of computer file types developed by NIST to identify those generated by a system and those generated by a user.

Node Any device connected to a network. PCs, servers, and printers are all nodes on the network.

NonApparent Data Data not normally seen on a printed version of ESI whether "printed" to paper or image, such as tiff or pdf, e.g. spreadsheet formulas. See Embedded Metadata and Metadata.

NonInterlace When each line of a video image is scanned separately. Older CRT computer monitors use noninterlaced video.

NOS (Network Operating System) See Operating System.

Normalization The process the process of reformatting data so that it is stored in a standardized form, such as setting the date and time stamp of a specific volume of ESI to a specific zone, often GMT, to permit advanced processing of the ESI, such as deduplication. See also Coordinated Universal Time.

Notes Server See Lotus Domino.

NSF Lotus Notes container file (i.e. database.nsf); can be either an email database or the traditional type of fielded database. See Lotus Domino.

NTFS (New Technology File System) A highperformance and selfhealing file system proprietary to Microsoft, used in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista Operating Systems, that supports filelevel security, compression and auditing. It also supports large volumes and powerful storage solution such as RAID. An important feature of NTFS is the ability to encrypt files and folders to protect sensitive data.

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Object In personal computing, an object is a representation of something that a user can work with to perform a task and can appear as text or an icon. In a highlevel method of programming called objectoriented programming (OOP), an object is a freestanding block of code that defines the properties of some thing.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) A technology process that translates and converts printed matter on an image into a format that a computer can manipulate (ASCII codes, for example) and, therefore, renders that matter text searchable. OCR software evaluates scanned data for shapes it recognizes as letters or numerals. All OCR systems include an optical scanner for reading text, and software for analyzing images. Most OCR systems use a combination of hardware (specialized circuit boards) and software to recognize characters, although some inexpensive systems operate entirely through software. Advanced OCR systems can read text in a large variety of fonts, but still have difficulty with handwritten text. OCR technology relies upon the quality of the imaged material, the conversion accuracy of the software, and the quality control process of the provider. The process is generally acknowledged to be between 80 and 99 percent accurate. See HRS and ICR.

Official Record Owner See Record Owner.

OffLine Data The storage of ESI outside the network in daily use (e.g., on backup tapes) that is only accessible through the offline storage system, not the network.

OffLine Storage ESI maintained or archived on removable disc (optical, compact, etc.) or magnetic tape used for making disasterrecovery copies of records for which retrieval is unlikely. Accessibility to offline media usually requires manual intervention and is much slower than online or nearline storage depending on the storage facility. The major difference between nearline data and offline data is that offline data lacks an intelligent disc subsystem, and is not connected to a computer, network, or any other readilyaccessible system.

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) A feature in Microsoft´s Windows that allows each section of a compound document to call up its own editing tools or special display features. This allows for combining diverse elements in compound documents. See also Compound Document.

OnLine Review The culling process produces a dataset of potentially responsive documents that are then reviewed for a final selection of relevant or responsive documents and assertion of privilege exception as appropriate. Online Review enables the culled dataset to be accessed via PC or other terminal device via a local network or remotely via the Internet. Often, the OnLine Review process is facilitated by specialized software that provides additional features and functions which may include: collaborative access of multiple reviewers, security, user logging, search and retrieval, document coding, redaction, and privilege logging.

OnLine Storage The storage of ESI as fully accessible information in daily use on the network or elsewhere.

Online/OnLine Connected (to a network).

Ontology A collection of categories and their relationships to other categories and to words. An ontology is one of the methods used to find related documents when given a specific query.

Operating System (OS) An Operating system provides the software platform that directs the overall activity of a computer, network or system, and on which all other software programs and applications can run. In many ways, choice of an operating system will effect which applications can be run. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disc and controlling peripheral devices such as disc drives and printers. For large systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers becoming a traffic cop to makes sure different programs and users running at the same time do not interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system. Examples of operating systems are UNIX, DOS, Windows, LINUX, Macintosh, and IBM´s VM. Operating systems can be classified in a number of ways, including: multiuser (allows two or more users to run programs at the same time some operating systems permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users); multiprocessing (supports running a program on more than one CPU); multitasking (allows more than one program to run concurrently); multithreading (allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently); and real time (instantly responds to input generalpurpose operating systems, such as DOS and UNIX, are not realtime).

Optical Discs Computer media similar to a compact disc that cannot be rewritten. An optical drive uses a laser to read the ESI.

Optical Jukebox See "Jukebox."

OST A Microsoft Outlook information store that is used to save folder information that can be accessed offline.

Outlook See Microsoft Outlook.

Overinclusive When referring to data sets returned by some method of query, search, filter or cull, results that are returned overly broad.

Overwrite To record or copy new data over existing data, as in when a file or directory is updated. Data that is overwritten cannot be retrieved.