Patent ID: 8126915

Claim:
A system for sharing information via annotations, comprising: a set of one or more model entity definitions, each specifying a plurality of logical fields encompassed by a corresponding model entity, wherein the logical fields are defined by at least one abstract data model, and wherein at least one of the logical fields maps to one or more physical fields in a data store; a query building interface allowing a first user to build a first abstract query composed using one or more logical fields and one or more conditional expressions, and further allowing the first user to view first query results received in response to issuing the first abstract query against the data store; and an annotation system allowing the first user to annotate a data object selected from the first query results, by operation of one or more computer processors, wherein the annotation system is configured to: responsive to a request from the first user to annotate the selected data object: create an annotation which contains metadata describing the selected data object; identify a first model entity encompassing a logical field corresponding to the selected data object; and annotate the identified first model entity with the created annotation, whereby the annotation is associated with all logical fields in the plurality of logical fields encompassed by the first model entity.