Kafkaesque
Sep. 12th, 2010 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutSpecifically, the stuff about Adrian Schoolcraft.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/414/right-to-remain-silent
Wow. Really creepy. In some ways, I want to blame cop culture, but I have to also admit that a huge chunk of this story has to be about what happens when you reward and punish based on metrics, especially metrics involving a computer. People do some bad crazy shit when a computer has some numbers that say thumbs up thumbs down -- especially when a little fudging can change those numbers and thus, those thumbs.
I used to say it was important to make sure you were measuring the right thing, that measuring the wrong thing was worse than useless. More and more, however, I am questioning whether measurement is ever a good idea. That desirable certainty is a little too desirable, and all too often, also fraudulent.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/414/right-to-remain-silent
Wow. Really creepy. In some ways, I want to blame cop culture, but I have to also admit that a huge chunk of this story has to be about what happens when you reward and punish based on metrics, especially metrics involving a computer. People do some bad crazy shit when a computer has some numbers that say thumbs up thumbs down -- especially when a little fudging can change those numbers and thus, those thumbs.
I used to say it was important to make sure you were measuring the right thing, that measuring the wrong thing was worse than useless. More and more, however, I am questioning whether measurement is ever a good idea. That desirable certainty is a little too desirable, and all too often, also fraudulent.