Testing Various Data Models?

If we were to find a sponsor for a competition where the winner would be a named data model and the primary criteria would be related to the cost tor an institution choosing to use that data model (including costs if there is a lack of quality or breach of security or difficulty in maintinaing it, ...), what should that competition include?

I would very much like to see such a competition because my intuition, without sufficient scientifically gathered emperical data, is that the relational model ought to be retired. I realize there are logical arguments for doing so, but even my own logical arguments don't prove to me that any other model (particularly those modeled on mathematical graphs or di-graphs) is any better, only that each has merits and demerits. I would like some real data - how could we collect such?

Thanks. --dawn Received on Tue Mar 09 2004 - 12:12:04 CST