A poem on the Relational Data Model

We start off with a poem on the Relational Data Model, which truly transformed computing and our modern civilization!

The critical core of data applications,
Due to you, pointers we no longer chase.
Letting us get data with just declarations,
Incomparable you are in your grace.

Infusing a really revolutionary rigor,
Into a field that was fraught with pain.
Birthing a community filled with vigor,
And engaging our minds again and again.

Schools and banks, airlines and apps,
Almost all services benefit from you.
Yea, sans you, our economy might collapse,
'Tis indeed true and not just ballyhoo!

Rejecting you, some chose to walk away,
Hoping against hope you are not needed.
Repeating history and suffering dismay,
They crawled back to you and conceded.

Of all models, you, we did select,
To join forces with you was sensible.
For no matter what future we project,
You seem, in aggregate, indispensable.

Hello World!

So, I am finally joining the bandwagon of maintaining a research blog! Since my research interests revolve around data, this blog will carry articles and other posts that have something to do with data - how we store, query, analyze, understand, and more generally, use (and abuse!) data. From a "traditional" perspective, this would span the topics of data management (including databases), statistical machine learning, optimization, systems, and HCI. For those interested in tech blogs about data, there are many other excellent blogs as well (for example, this, this, and this). My posts are probably going to be a bit more eclectic. I expect to have five major kinds of posts (in no particular order):

1. Articles about my research in a language that is simpler/less technical than my papers.

2. Articles about other people's research that I find interesting/important.

3. Articles about general data applications and software that I find interesting/important.

4. Rants and raves about research events or my general experience as a researcher.

5. Poems about research in this field! :)

Better late than never to blog about data in this new golden age of data management and analysis! Feedback and discussions on my posts, online and offline, are always welcome. Thanks!