Method and System for Collecting and Organizing Data Corresponding to an Event

1 - 21 . (canceled)

22 . A method of searching data using one or more indexes comprising:

(a) identifying a plurality of computer environments coupled to a network;

(b) searching the plurality of computer environments for data that matches a first predetermined criterion;

(c) copying the matching data to a memory location;

(d) converting the matching data to a uniform format;

(e) creating one or more indexes of the matching data; and

(f) providing an interface to a user that allows the user to search the matching data using the one or more indexes.

23 . The method of claim 22 wherein the creating one or more indexes of the matching data comprises creating one or more search documents containing information about the matching data.

24 . The method of claim 23 wherein the one or more search documents are created in a predetermined format.

25 . The method of claim 24 wherein the search documents are stored in a database.

26 . The method of claim 22 wherein creating one or more indexes of the matching data comprises searching the matching data for particular term and creating a search document including a list of documents containing the particular term.

27 . The method of claim 26 wherein the list of documents containing the particular term further comprises the storage location of those documents.

28 . The method of claim 26 wherein the one or more indexes rank a plurality of particular terms based on the relevance of the particular terms.

29 . The method of claim 22 wherein the creating one or more indexes comprises creating an index of content and an index of metadata.

30 . The method of claim 22 wherein the creating one or more indexes comprises indexing only a predetermined portion of a document.

31 . The method of claim 30 wherein the predetermined portion comprises the title.

32 . The method of claim 22 wherein the creating one or more indexes comprises indexing only a predetermined file type.

33 . The method of claim 22 further comprising ranking documents in an index based on predetermined criteria.

34 . The method of claim 33 wherein the predetermined criteria is the number of times a particular document has been viewed.

35 . A method of searching files comprising:

(a) identifying a plurality of computer environments coupled to a network;

(b) searching the plurality of computer environments for files that match a predetermined criteria;

(c) converting matching files to a predetermined format;

(d) creating one or more indexes of the matching files; and

(e) providing an interface to a user allowing the user to search the matching files using the one or more indexes.

36 . The method of claim 35 wherein the predetermined criteria is a file type.

37 . The method of claim 35 wherein the one or more indexes comprises a content index.

38 . The method of claim 37 wherein the one or more indexes comprises a metadata index.

39 . The method of claim 35 wherein the index contains each word included in each file.

40 . The method of claim 35 wherein the index includes predetermined terms.

41 . The method of claim 40 wherein the index further includes each file containing predetermined terms and the storage location of that file.

42 . The method of claim 35 wherein the creating one or more indexes of matching files comprises creating a search document for each matching file containing data about each matching file.

43 . The method of claim 35 further comprising ranking terms in an index.

44 . A system for searching data comprising:

(a) means for identifying a plurality of computer environments coupled to a network;

(b) means for searching the plurality of computer environments for data;

(c) means for copying the data to a memory location;

(d) means for creating one or more indexes of the data; and

(e) means for searching the data using the one or more indexes.

45 - 65 . (canceled)