Category: Technology Author : Duncan Riley Posted: July 30, 2008
Tags : cuil, fail, helen keller
New search engine Cuil is pushing tasteless blind jokes into search results for Helen Keller.
A search for Helen Keller on Cuil delivers “Helen Keller jokes” as a recommended primary search tab. Following the link displays jokes (on Cuil itself) such as “how did helen keller burn the side of her face? she answered the iron. how did she burn the other side? they called back.”
On the first page of results, Cuil’s “category” option bundles Helen Keller into “American child actors” and “American Anarchists” without explanation.
Could Cuil’s target market be adolescent boys who may like this sort of rubbish, or is it simply a case of Cuil being perhaps so fundamentally flawed as a search engine that it risks the wrath of the disability lobby?
Jul 30, 2008
Helen Keller was a staunch, extreme left socialist during her adult life, and the play The Miracle Worker is put on in a lot of middle/high schools in the US.
Sometimes Cuil is just that smart.
Aug 1, 2008
Thanks for making this point. I work for Helen Keller International and was a bit dismayed to see how highly these jokes were featured in the search results – and even had their own tab. It really does an injustice to an incredible woman who spent her life trying to improve the lives of those who were disadvantaged.
Thanks,
Aug 6, 2008
Yeah, hugely insensitve. Just like the Ads by Google at the top of the very page where this criticism was posted.
Ads that are purportedly relevant to the topic that say, “All Blinds 25% – 85% Off”.
Information isn't sensitive nor insensitive. That's in the eye of the reader. Give me all the info, I'll decide what
merits my attention. And then, once it has my attention, if it garners my indignation, well I can take it up with the
site owner, not the search engine.