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Computers like to count; apparently so do humans. Almost invariably they can count the wrong things, in the sense of counting objects that have little bearing on the conclusion or analysis they believe they are advancing. The trick is to convince oneself that what one is counting is actually a plausible avatar, or more sadly a proxy, for something else--for example number of citations as a proxy for quality. In the case of Meta's Oversight Board, apparently it might be focused on the number of its recommendations that may have been implemented (the context of quality of the implementation remains mysterious but tat is common within large bureaucracies web to this sort of quantitative merits based reporting). That appears to be the gist of the Oversight Board's 2024 Annual Report, just distributed, which was meant to highlight the Board's "impact in fostering platform accountability, protecting free speech, and driving changes to Meta's policies and practices during the biggest election year in modern history."
This is wonderful; it is more wonderful the more completely one is a resident of the self-referencing universe that constitutes both Meta and the Meta Oversight Boards galaxy of knowledge, made significant by the premises and outlooks around which they can construct the cognitive universe within which it operates and into which it invites all of its users.
Bravo. And really one can't fault them. The contemporary mania for "impact" is about the only thing that has survived the overthrowing of a global convergence based globalization. The metrics of impact may vary but from business and human rights to international criminal law impacts is what matters most to people, especially people and their collectives that mean to matter more. Beyond that there is little more to be said but this: the object of all of this effort is not about the thing tat is the purpose of the organization; it is about the strategic engagement with those things in ways that make the collective matter. What matters now is mattering. One is far more interested in impact in all its glory, , perhaps more than the bodies and actions and events on which the collective may have risen to whatever level of glory it means to describe. At some point, of course, the detachment of "impact" from the means to its realization might well become problematic--perhaps not to the impacts devouring collective, but to those in whose serve they are meant to act. In any case, and in equal measure for all other impacts feeding collectives--Avē Imperātor, moritūrī tē salūtant--"meta"-phorically, of course.
But judge for yourselves. The Press Release follows.The full report is available as a PDF here. The Report Website may be accessed HERE.
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