The providence of provenance

Abstract

For many years and under various names, provenance has been modelled, theorised about, standardised and implemented in various ways; it has become part of mainstream database research. Moreover, the topic has now infected nearly every branch of computer science: provenance is a problem for everyone. But what exactly is the problem? And has the copious research had any real effect on how we use databases or, more generally, how we use computers. This is a brief attempt to summarise the research on provenance and what practical impact it has had. Although much of the research has yet to come to market, there is an increasing interest in the topic from industry; moreover, it has had a surprising impact in tangential areas such as data integration and data citation. However, we are still lacking basic tools to deal with provenance and we need a culture shift if ever we are to make full use of the technology that has already been developed. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.