Let’s start the year with an example that is, at least superficially, on the light-hearted side: librarians creating fake patrons to check out important books that would otherwise be discarded for lack of popularity.
Underneath are two deep and important dysfunctions. The specific one — aiming to show people only what they are likely to want to see based on popularity — is how fake news spreads virally. The generic one is the idea that metrics provide a straight line to decisions with no thought or interpretation required along the way.
“The problem here isn’t the collection of data: it’s the blind adherence to data over human judgment, the use of data as a shackle rather than a tool.”
http://boingboing.net/2017/01/02/automated-book-culling-softwar.html