Efficient and phased method of processing large collections of electronic data known as “best match first”™ for electronic discovery and other related applications

A method comprising:

• providing electronic data from a medium or a network;
• enabling the electronic data to be accessible to a processing engine;
• de-duplicating the electronic data;
• extracting the electronic data;
• loading the electronic data into a Lightweight File System, wherein the Lightweight File System performs rapid scanning of a plurality of tokens from the content and properties of the electronic data, and is aided by a query engine;
• determining, prior to indexing the electronic data, where to prioritize the electronic data in a processing queue by evaluating how well the electronic data matches a user specified criterion relative to other electronic data that have been processed based on inputs received from users relating to their review of the already processed other electronic data;
• indexing the electronic data;
• subjecting the electronic data to topical categorization to determine which topics are clearly represented in the electronic data;
• building discussions based upon the electronic data;
• and
• building a model of all the processed electronic data to measure and assess the source of high value information or gaps in the data with respect to different variables such as time and actor identity.