Is (Your) Database Research Having Impact?

Abstract

Is your research having real impact? The ultimate test of the research done by this community is how it impacts society. Perhaps the most important metric of this impact is acceptance in the marketplace, i.e. incorporation into products that bring value to the purchaser. Merely publishing papers and getting them referenced has no intrinsic value unless the ideas therein are eventually used by someone. So let us ask ourselves candidly – is (my) database research having (positive) impact? Concisely: Are they buying my stuff? Have the “hot topics” of the past withstood the test of time by actually being used in products that sold? If so, what characteristics were instrumental in their success? And if not, why did something that got so many people excited fail to gain traction with users? Perhaps more importantly, what can we learn from our track record of the past in order to have better impact in the future? How can we better serve our user community by solving their real problems, not the ones we may imagine?