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metacraP: PuttiNG the torch to seveN straw-meN
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Color:
Size:
Programmability:
Reliability
The conceit that competing interests can come to an easy
accord on a common vocabulary totally ignores the power of or-
ganizing principles in a marketplace.
2.6 Metrics influence results
Agreeing to a common yardstick for measuring the important
stuff in any domain necessarily privileges the items that score
high on that metric, regardless of those items’ overall suitability.
IQ tests privilege people who are good at IQ tests, Nielsen Ratings
privilege
30-
and
60-minute
TV
shows
(which
is
why
MTV
doesn’t show videos any more — Nielsen couldn’t generate ratings
for 3-minute mini-programs, and so MTV couldn’t demonstrate
the value of advertising on its network), raw megahertz scores
privilege Intel’s CISC chips over Motorola’s RISC chips.
Ranking axes are mutually exclusive: software that scores high
for security scores low for convenience, desserts that score high
for decadence score low for healthiness. Every player in a meta-
data standards body wants to emphasize their high-scoring axes
and de-emphasize (or, if possible, ignore altogether) their low-
scoring axes.
It’s wishful thinking to believe that a group of people compet-
ing to advance their agendas will be universally pleased with any
hierarchy of knowledge. The best that we can hope for is a
detente
in which everyone is equally miserable.
Content 2nd gal final.indd 101
7/4/08 9:57:00 AM