Method and system for sharing virtual collaboration objects

A system and machine-implemented method for creating and sharing virtual collaboration objects, including receiving a request from a user to create a virtual collaboration object, the request identifying one or more portions of each of one or more stored digital source objects for inclusion in the virtual collaboration object, where for at least one of the stored digital source objects, the one or more portions comprise less than the full stored digital source object, creating a metadata list in response to the request including the one or more stored digital source objects and portion information identifying the one or more portions of each of the one or more stored digital source objects, generating a collaboration object identifier (ID) corresponding to the virtual collaboration object, associating the metadata list with the collaboration object ID and providing a reference to the collaboration object ID for sharing with one or more other users.