Data discovery and description service

Abstract

The subject disclosure relates to one or more computer-implemented processes for collecting, analyzing, and employing annotations of data sources. In particular, an annotation component is configured to receive annotations of data for a data source, wherein the respective annotations comprise different associations of a global terms with the data of the data source, a data store configured to store the annotations, and an interface component configured to render the data based on the annotations in response to a request for the data. In an aspect, storing information, the data also stores descriptions of the data sources and definitions of the global terms, and the interface component determines a subset of the information in the data store based on the annotations. A method is further provided comprising receiving a global term and determining data sources that have the global term associated with the data thereof based on the information in the data store.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving annotations, wherein the annotations include associations of global terms with data of data sources;   storing information, the information including, descriptions of the data sources, definitions of the global terms, and the annotations; and   determining a subset of the information based on the annotations.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the subset of information includes receiving a global term and determining data sources that have the global term associated with the data thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the subset of information includes receiving a data source and determining the global terms associated therewith. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the subset of information includes receiving a global term and determining data sources that have a related global term associated with the data thereof based on a definition of the global term. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the global terms convey properties of the data for respective data sources. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the global terms convey manners of use of the data respective data sources by a client. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the global terms convey manners in which to present the data of the respective data sources by a client. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the global terms convey meanings about the data for the respective data sources, wherein the meanings are recognized by at least two different clients. 
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 receiving annotations, wherein the annotations include associations of global terms with data of data sources;   storing information, the information including, descriptions of the data sources, definitions of the global terms, and the annotations;   generating subsets of the information in response to requests based on the annotations;   receiving selections of at least one of a data source, an annotation, or a global term included in the subsets; and   tracking the selections.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 determining a relationship between respective requests and respective selections; and   determining the subsets of the information based on the relationship.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 determining preferences for at least one of the data sources, the annotations, or the global terms in response to the tracking.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein tracking the selections includes tracking the types of clients affiliated with the selections. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 receiving ratings of at least one of the data sources or the annotations; and   employing the ratings to determine at least one of: a popularity of respective data sources, a popularity of respective annotations, a quality of respective data sources, or a quality of respective annotations.