Thomas Vander Wal has written up an interesting post on recombining conversations split across multiple mediums. The problem:

We are seeing our communications move across channels, which can be good as this is fluid and keeping with our digital presence. More often than not we are seeing our communication streams fracture across channels. This fracturing becomes really apparent when we are trying to reconstruct our communication stream. I am finding this fracturing and attempting to stitch the stream back together becoming more and more common as for those who are moving into and across many applications and devices with their own messaging systems.

He also discusses several possible solutions. One he doesn’t mention is Google Desktop. Google Desktop will index everything on your PC including your instant messaging transcripts, your Gmail account, and all of the Web sites in your history. It strikes me as a pretty good option for conversation stitching.