We, in the database community, tend to have boolean logic deeply ingrained in the way we think. A consequence is that once a result set has been computed, we do not give it much further thought, at best ordering tuples in the result. Yet, from a user perspective, result presentation is crucial, and not just in terms of "eye-candy". This paper does a very nice job of identifying one specific problem in this broad space, and addressing it well.

The problem studied is one of attribute selection -- when screen real estate is insufficient to show all attributes at the same time, which ones should be shown? This is a well-posed question, and the paper suggests some reasonable choices that a system could automatically make.

The problem specification is narrow, and the solution may not be optimum. Nevertheless, this paper deserves attention because it establishes a beachhead in an important but poorly studied area -- that of results presentation. It shows how one can do quality work in this context. Hopefully many others will follow this lead.