Abstract: The present invention provides a method of processing data having one of two types. In particular, the first type of data is formed from a respective data instance, whereas the second type is formed from a number of data elements. In particular, if the data is the first data type, the method includes defining one or more associations between the data instance and any one of a predetermined model, keywords and, other data instances, storing the data instance in a store and storing knowledge data representing the defined associations in the store. In contrast if the data is the second data type, the method includes defining a data instance, the data instance being formed from one or more of the data elements. The method outlined above for the first type of data is then performed for the defined data instance.