COMAD 2005 PANELS
Panel P1
Core Database Research:
Is it relevant anymore?
DURATION: 1.5 Hours
ABSTRACT:
Traditionally
database research has concentrated on performance, scalability, and has assumed
a DB-centric view of the world where database systems were deployed as a whole
system. The advent of Internet has not only brought forward a user-centric view
of the world but also has forced database and other systems to play the role of
a component as part of a larger system/infrastructure. This has necessitated support for newer types
of data structures (e.g., HTML/XML), their storage, and processing as well as
schema-less databases and other related topics including information
exploration.
In
addition, there have been a number of new areas that are being addressed by the
database community. They include mining (stream, text, web, …), stream data
processing, information integration, semantic webs, non-traditional information
management (e.g., bio, environmental, …). We are also witnessing a coming
together of sorts of information retrieval and database research.
This panel will try to sort out the role
of database research as we see it today and the relevance of traditional
techniques as well as new techniques that are being pursued. Also, as the role
of a DBMS as a component in a large system is becoming equally important, the
panel will also address this aspect.
PANELISTS:
Prof. Sharma Chakravarthy,
U. Texas-Arlington (Moderator)
Prof. H. V. Jagadish, U. Michigan-Ann Arbor and NUS
Singapore
Prof. Anthony Tung, NUS Singapore
Dr. V. Govindarajan, Aztec Software, Bangalore
Dr. S. Seshadri, Cosmix, USA
Panel P2
Database Research for Social
Empowerment:
Does it exist?
DURATION: 1.5 Hours
ABSTRACT:
This panel addresses the question of
"socially relevant" *research* issues in database technology. Is
database research influenced by social and cultural contexts? If so, what kind
of research questions exist in disadvantaged contexts? If not, then does it
mean that the socio-cultural context has absolutely no relevance to database
research? What drives research in
databases? What would it take to build a vibrant database research setup in
marginalized contexts?
These questions will be debated by a set of four panelists,
who are known for their work in various areas of database research. They would
be taking a stance on the larger question and give their views on whether it is
pertinent or counter-productive to focus database research onto specific
socio-cultural contexts.
PANELISTS:
Prof. Srinath Srinivasa, IIIT Bangalore (Moderator)
Prof. Sunita Sarawagi, IIT
Bombay
Prof. P. Krishna Reddy, IIIT Hyderabad
Prof. Vikram Pudi, IIIT
Hyderabad
A. Kumaran, IISc Bangalore