This seems like an astoundingly good idea that would turn any operating system that implemented system-wide tagging into the ultimate lawyers’ platform:
One of the greatest features introduced by Gmail was the move from folders to tags as a way to organize e-mails. Then Thunderbird added and expanded on the same feature, and blogging software has jumped on the tagging bandwagon, as well.
As an organizational tool, tagging is incredibly useful. It does away with the need to store everything in a hierarchy or database and gives the user the ability to instantly find all relevant information.
So why not allow system-wide tagging? In other words, I would love to be able to tag everything related to a subject. Say I am working on a project–the Smith project, a blog post related to Exaile–and want to find everything related to it. What if I could search by the “Smith” or “Exaile” tag and pull up every e-mail, contact, task, appointment, and–this is the key–document, image, mp3 file, etc. on my computer or network?
In other words, take one of the best features of Web 2.0, the ability to organize with tags, and integrate it into the operating system.
Edit: Looks like there are already a few tools like this out there. For Linux, MetaTracker will be incorporated into the next Ubuntu release, 7.10. For Windows, Tag2Find offers similar features. I haven’t tried either out, yet, so I’m not sure they are a full solution, but I’m eager to give them a shot.
Sam Glover is a business and consumer rights lawyer and the creator of Lawyerist.
