Zoo - Web search for children

Zoo is a search engine designed for children. Actually, it's not particularly designed for children at all, other than having the funky backdrop to the page, and the use of a simple font. What they really mean is that they've provided access to a subset of data from Google, Yahoo and Wikipedia, with news from ABC, Fox and Yahoo.

I can't say it really rocks my boat that much. They've just done a blanket block on certain terms in certain situations. For example, 'sex' is totally blocked. As is 'tits'. So much for youngsters who want to do research into biology and bird watching. Sure, that was a cheap shot at the search engine, but just because a searcher happens to be a child it doesn't per se mean that they're not going to have serious queries. Completely blocking the use of certain terms is a cheap cop out. All that it means is that a child is going to shrug and move to another search engine that does provide them with the information that they want. Stopping a child by saying 'NO' just isn't going to work.

Next area of concern, or irritation that I have with the engine is that it's not difficult to confuse it. And believe me, it's easily confused. I can run a search for 'homosexual images' and 'gay images' but not 'lesbian images'. However, I can do a search for 'images lesbian'. Work that one out if you can!

Another thing that really irritated me right from the start is that some of the results are 'sponsored'. Now I don't have any problem with search engines trying to make money - far from it. However, this really is NOT the way to do it, because you get the title of the page, a bit of description and then 'Sponsored by: <name of sponsor>' instead of a URL. As a result it's not always clear to see exactly where I'm going to go to when I click on the link. Finally, the search engine is only limited to banning sexual terms, so I could still do searches for ethnically derogative terms for example, without any difficulty.

Consequently, I really cannot see the point of this search engine at all.

Comments

[John Birch]

No - not great is it? And isn't the use of Comic Sans Serif a bit, well, patronising?

That said there is a sizable gap in the market for a search engine that really is for children. I mean there is Yahoo Kids but that is terribly American. Beyond that?

If you hve a child - particular of primary age - trying to do a project on the Red Sea (for example)is tough going. What he wants is something simple and straighforward. Like what you used to get in old children's encyclopedias. It is out there but its not easy to locate.

Our normal response is to start with the BBC.