We Don't Need No Education
Sourav Saha Bhowmick · 2019
Since the inception of data management research in the 70s, both academic and commercial efforts have been heavily skewed toward query paradigms that are based on textual query languages (e.g., SQL, XQuery, SPARQL). The underlying implicit (and sometimes explicit) assumption in this paradigm is that end users of data management services are skillful in formulating queries using these languages. In this talk, we question this assumption in the context of querying graph-structured data. Although it was broadly true in the first decades of data management, we emphasize that current users are often resistant to be "educated" with complex query languages. We advocate that graph querying services need to embody direct manipulation-style of interaction in order to empower users in wider communities to use them. Importantly, we highlight that such querying paradigm paves the way for enhanced usability, functionalities, and performance of graph querying frameworks.