About IANAT:

I am not a typo is a collective aiming to create social change so no one feels like an oversight. We look at the link between identity and technology, challenging tech giants to adapt.

Our names are the most important words in our lives – part of our identity. But we have noticed that while all names are created equal, the technology that shapes our world does not treat them like that. Some are more equal than others.

Starting with our first UK-based campaign – challenging tech giants to change their name dictionaries, so that all first names are treated equally by our technology. We want to create a world that sees and supports all of us.

One Minute Brief of the Day:

Create posters to promote #IAmNotATypo - a collective aiming to create social change so no one feels like an oversight

Because huge numbers of names popular in the UK are wrong, according to our devices’ English (UK) dictionaries. The names deemed wrong indicate that our devices don’t reflect a multi-cultural UK.

And guess what? They are disproportionately African and Asian in origin. Some are Eastern European. Some are Scottish, Welsh or Irish. This doesn’t reflect a diverse, inclusive society.

Esmae – all 398 of her born in England and Wales in 2021 – is wrong, apparently. Same for the 447 born in 2020, 501 born in 2019, 480 born in 2018 and 502 born in 2017. That’s 2,328 in the last five years. That’s compared to 36 instances of the name Nigel in that time.

Show people why our devices should reflect a diverse, inclusive society!

Please tweet your entries to @OneMinuteBriefs @IAmNotATypo with the hashtag #IAmNotATypo

Deadline 6pm BST. Remember to include your Twitter handle in the top-left corner of your entries.

We’d also love to see you share your entries as posts and stories on Instagram too. Tag @OneMinuteBriefs and @iamnotatypo on there too.