17. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer-program product comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, generate on a display device a graphical user interface (GUI) for modeling a data component, the GUI comprising: a data element modeling area that presents a predefined data component selected by a user for editing, the predefined data element configured for use by a sender system in identifying an information portion in electronic communications such that the information portion is automatically displayed and used by a receiver system to interpret contents of the electronic communications, the editing performed on the predefined data element and not on the information portion, the data element modeling area presenting semantic information for the selected data element, the receiver system using the semantic information to display and interpret the electronic communications, wherein an edited predefined data element is stored in a repository and accessed there by the receiver system; and a data type modeling area that, upon the user's selection, presents a data type on which the selected data element is based.
17. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer-program product comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, generate on a display device a graphical user interface (GUI) for modeling a data component, the GUI comprising: a data element modeling area that presents a predefined data component selected by a user for editing, the predefined data element configured for use by a sender system in identifying an information portion in electronic communications such that the information portion is automatically displayed and used by a receiver system to interpret contents of the electronic communications, the editing performed on the predefined data element and not on the information portion, the data element modeling area presenting semantic information for the selected data element, the receiver system using the semantic information to display and interpret the electronic communications, wherein an edited predefined data element is stored in a repository and accessed there by the receiver system; and a data type modeling area that, upon the user's selection, presents a data type on which the selected data element is based. 20. The computer-program product of claim 17 , wherein the data type modeling area further presents data type semantic information editable by the user.