Kno Your Audience.

I may be the only one who feels this way, but it appears as though the Web 2.0 misspelled name trend  has gone a bit too far. I first learned about the Kno when it was announced as a well funded, innovative tablet-like device start up for the education market. After extensively studying users with touch screen & tablet devices, as well as measuring on-screen reading and comprehension, I was interested and excited to what they come up with.

Yet when the product name Kno was announced, I let out a long and dramatic sigh. I admit that I am a bit of a stickler for linguistics, but I could not understand why would a company that promises to promote education through publishing educational text would intentionally misspell its product name? Especially referring to themselves in terms of ‘knowledge’? Where are the copy editors? Do they not ‘kno’ how to spell? This irony is poetic.

I should probably experience the software application for myself prior to making too many conclusions about its quality. Yet I can’t help but wonder if the folks at Kno leveraged actual educators in the development of their concept and name. Even if they did, they appear to be telling us, the general public, that they care more about distinguishing their product name in a Web 2.0 way than a quality (and grammatically rich) education.