CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Human search engine

search engine that uses human participation to filter the search results

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 26, 2025
Entity authorityQ256900 ↗
Source-derived summary

A human search engine was a search engine that used human participation to filter the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request. The goal was to provide users with a limited number of relevant results, as opposed to traditional search engines that often return many results that may or may not be relevant.

Examples of defunct human search engines include ApexKB, ChaCha, DMOZ, Mahalo.com, NowNow (from Amazon.com), Sproose, and Webhelp.

See also

Human-based computation

Human flesh search engine

Social search

References

""Human-Powered" Search Engine ChaCha Gets $10 Million — Digital Media Wire". www.dmwmedia.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-12. Retrieved 2008-01-01.

"Wikipedia to launch human search engine - Editors Weblog". www.editorsweblog.org. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Human search engine” as search engine that uses human participation to filter the search results. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Human, search and engine.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2008, 2007—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Human, search and engine providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Human search engine”, the useful work is to connect “search engine that uses human participation to filter the search results” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 26, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q256900. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 2007.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Human search engine”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Human search engine primary sources, Human search engine archive and Human research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Human search engine”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Human search engine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.