One strong kid!

Kiddle, a customised search engine for children powered by Google, packs a punch

It's a common phenomenon to marvel how a certain seven-year-old child is much more at ease with a smartphone, while your thirty-year-old self is not. As smart gadgets and newer websites take technology to younger audiences every day, it becomes difficult to keep a check on what children hunt for or information they recreive on the internet.

A major step in addressing this problem is Kiddle, a customised search engine for children, which includes features such as safe search, children-oriented results, big thumbnails, large fonts, and modified privacy settings.

Upon entering the site, which uses Google safe search, one finds Kiddle written in a colourful Google-like style, set against a colourful alien planet surface. There is also a red droid alien waiting to answer all your queries. The search interface is largely the same but the results are clearly modified for younger audiences.

On its "About" page, Kiddle also explains the logic behind its search results. Safe sites and pages written specifically for kids, handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors, would usually be featured in the first three results. The next rung would include safe, trusted sites which have content written in a way so children can understand.

But, here comes the tricky part. If the child types something "unsuitable", a message comes up saying, "Oops, looks like your query contained some bad words. Please try again!" But a bit of imagination, and the bot shows its rusty parts. While, the key words Game of Thrones would lead to results like "Kid's review of Game of Thrones" and "Parents' review of Game of thrones", a search with Debbie Does Dallas (a 1978 American adult film) shows enough links to defeat the entire purpose.

One question that lingers, however, is about giving parents the choice to customise Kiddle's search and site preferences such that the slightest chances of slippages can be taken care of?

While the internet is more than just Google and its search engines, no matter how huge a space they hold, the idea of a customised search engine for children packs some serious punch.