Human Search Engines....

Wikipedia defines a human search engine as:
"..a search engine that utilizes human participation to filter the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request. The goal is to provide users with a limited number of relevant results, as opposed to traditional search engines that often return a large number of results that may or may not be relevant."

Some examples of human search engines:

Bessed - built on a blogging platform
ChaCha - Cha means "search" in Chinese
Mahalo - according to their site, "search results only include great links"

Apparently, when search engines use humans to index pages, the results are more relevant. I can't say that I have tried any of them extensively, but maybe next time you are frustrated with Google, these are some alternatives.


I don't think Ms. Dewey is a human powered search engine, but check out the intro. It is powered by Microsoft Live Search. Also, if you are idle for 30 seconds or so, she yells at you. She's actually quite a character...hit the Best of Dewey button and she will probably put on a little show...