DROPS

Document

Position

How Human-Centric Are Our Graph Data Abstractions?

Authors: Angela Bonifati, Anastasia Dimou, Stefania Dumbrava, George Fletcher, Katja Hose, George Konstantinidis, Jose Emilio Labra Gayo, Wim Martens, Nina Pardal, Liat Peterfreund, Katherine Thornton, Maria-Esther Vidal, and Hannes Voigt

Published in: TGDK, Volume 4, Issue 2 (2024): Special Issue on Data Management for (Knowledge) Graphs. Transactions on Graph Data and Knowledge, Volume 4, Issue 2

Abstract

Graph data abstractions are often assumed to be intuitive, but experience shows that they are not equally understandable or usable in practice. In this vision and challenges paper, we examine the human-centricity of contemporary graph data abstractions through four lenses: researchability, usability, teachability, and societal impact. Drawing on diverse real-world use cases, ranging from clinical data and collaborative knowledge bases to biological and pangenomic graphs, we distill insights from database research, human-computer interaction, and education. Based on this analysis, we identify open research challenges that must be addressed to make graph abstractions easier to study, use, learn, and reason about.

Cite as

Angela Bonifati, Anastasia Dimou, Stefania Dumbrava, George Fletcher, Katja Hose, George Konstantinidis, Jose Emilio Labra Gayo, Wim Martens, Nina Pardal, Liat Peterfreund, Katherine Thornton, Maria-Esther Vidal, and Hannes Voigt. How Human-Centric Are Our Graph Data Abstractions?. In Special Issue on Data Management for (Knowledge) Graphs. Transactions on Graph Data and Knowledge (TGDK), Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 2:1-2:31, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@Article{bonifati_et_al:TGDK.4.2.2,
  author =	{Bonifati, Angela and Dimou, Anastasia and Dumbrava, Stefania and Fletcher, George and Hose, Katja and Konstantinidis, George and Gayo, Jose Emilio Labra and Martens, Wim and Pardal, Nina and Peterfreund, Liat and Thornton, Katherine and Vidal, Maria-Esther and Voigt, Hannes},
  title =	{{How Human-Centric Are Our Graph Data Abstractions?}},
  journal =	{Transactions on Graph Data and Knowledge},
  pages =	{2:1--2:31},
  ISSN =	{2942-7517},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{4},
  number =	{2},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/TGDK.4.2.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-275837},
  doi =		{10.4230/TGDK.4.2.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: graph data abstractions, property graphs, RDF, human-centric data management, usability, computing education}
}

Search Results

Documents authored by Pardal, Nina

How Human-Centric Are Our Graph Data Abstractions?

Abstract

Cite as

Thanks for your feedback!

Could not send message