At Legal Tech in New York Craig Ball, one of my most avid readers, kept telling me privately, and slyly during one of our panels together, that most people under 50 (40?) have never heard of the Borg. At one event he asked everyone to raise their hand if they knew who the Borg were. Of course, I don’t write for most people, I write for you, part of a very esteemed group of highly skilled and very cultured e-discovery professionals. But, the show of hands at Legal Tech, or rather lack of same, convinced me that some of you may be a bit confused by my many analogies here to the Borg. It is possible that you do not know about the Star Trek Borg, much less Locutus.

You do not really need to know about this famous Star Trek villian in the Next Generation and Voyager, in order to understand that my reference to Borg here is intended to refer to a type of machine learning (CAR or TAR) search procedure, one that relies on random selection and fully-automated processes. I prefer a multimodal hybrid approach, where human judgment is utilized to train and supplement the machine learning, and full reliance is not place on the computer. But, if you read this blog, you already know that. Still, you may not know and fear (and respect) the evil Borg as I do. So while I am busy this weekend dreaming up and writing the final episode to my nine-part SciFi Saga, Journey into the Borg Hive, here are a few fun YouTube videos I dug up. They will give background to Borg neophytes, or provide a good refresher for long time Star Trek fans like me. Enjoy!

There are a million more like this on YouTube. Also suggest you buy some of the Star Trek tv series reruns and the many great Trek movies. I for one cannot wait for Into Darkness, the new Star Trek movie (trailer below) due out this summer. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may inspire one or two new Star Trek analogies, both here and throughout the e-discovery universe. Electronic discovery is the final frontier of the law, a speciality where everyday we do the seemingly impossible and boldly go where no man has gone before.

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