MICROSOFT has introduced an "inclusivity checker" to its operating system that, in a similar way to a spellchecker, seeks out “socioeconomic bias” in text.
A bias checker?
The new invention is essentially an “inclusivity checker”, a souped-up spellchecker for the latest version of Office 365 that offers users politically correct alternatives to terms it picks up on and perceives to be “problematic”.
Problematic in what way?
Phrases the checker feels might be potentially offensive to people based on age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender.
More than the average spellchecker then?
Microsoft Windows is the dominating operating system worldwide as of December, with a share of more than 70 per cent of the market across tablets, consoles and desktops and has long offered a function to check spelling, punctuation and grammar across its suite of programmes, but this is indeed taking it to another level.
Examples?
It recommends replacing terms such as “blacklist” and “whitelist” with “accepted list” or “allowed list” and also suggests using “postal worker” instead of “postman”. It sees Neil Armstrong's iconic moon-landing quote, “one giant leap for mankind” as being improved by changing it to “one giant leap for humankind” or “humanity”.
Any others?
Changing “dancer” to “performing artist”, “headmaster” to “principal”, “mistress” to “lover”, “manpower” to “workforce” and “master” to “expert”. And if you are going back in history and writing about, for example, Mrs Thatcher, it suggests calling her “Ms”.
How does it work?
When activated, spelling mistakes are underlined in red, grammatical errors in blue and “problematic” words with a purple line. The next step is up to the user.
What’s it all about?
Microsoft said in a statement that it “understands that not every Editor suggestion may be suitable for all users and all scenarios”, adding: “That’s why we let users be in control of their final output. Editor is a completely optional tool that users can turn on or off at any point. Editor does not make any autocorrections. The user has control over which suggestions they choose to use, if any. They will be able to turn on and off each one of them individually”.
What’s the reaction been?
Social media was, as ever, vocal and divided. One Microsoft user said it was “good to hear” as “a lot of people still use language that is problematic, but another said it was “truly unacceptable” and “a step on the way to automating mandatory political correctness”. Another said the new tool “will help eliminate scourges like Postman Pat, wrongly thought of as an innocuous children’s cartoon, while in reality being a bearer of patriarchal repression. Mail Carrier Pat will help alleviate this terrible wrong”.
Microsoft checks itself?
The tech giant made headlines in November at its annual conference when senior executives opened the event by stating their ethnicity, appearance, clothing and gender before speaking.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel