<
https://www.positive.news/society/i-am-not-a-typo-campaign-autocorrect-inclusivity/>
"We’re not ones for taking sides when it comes to politics, so we’d never
accuse Priti Patel of being wrong – but a spellchecker just might.
‘Priti’ is among the 41% of names of babies born in recent years that are
routinely flagged as errors. Now a campaign –
I Am Not A Typo – is calling on
tech giants to ‘correct autocorrect’ in the name of equality and to better
reflect a modern, multicultural UK.
“My name is Dhruti. Not Drutee, Dirty, or even Dorito. And yet these are all
words my name has been changed to, often because of an autocorrect decision or
a rushed message,” says writer and journalist Dhruti Shah, who is backing the
cause.
“My first name isn’t even that long – only six characters – yet when it comes
up as an error or it’s mangled and considered an unknown entity, it’s like
saying that it’s not just your name that’s wrong, but you are.”
Research behind the campaign found that almost 5,500 names given to boys and
girls in England and Wales in 2021 alone received the wavy red line treatment
courtesy of Microsoft’s UK English dictionary.
They include names of African, Asian and Eastern European origin, as well as
favourite monikers from Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Popular names like Ottilie – given to more than 1,700 girls between 2017-2021 –
and Eesa, given to almost 1,500 boys, were deemed typos. Even the name Dua hit
a bum note with spell checkers, as did Rafe, Esmae and Seren."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
