Wikia launching human-powered search

Wikia is building a human-ranked search engine and mini-Wiki, with a social network angle. Initially the engine will crawl and index the Web, and give users algorithmically generated results. But users will be able to rank results up or down, which will have a strong influence on further results.

 

Users will be able to contribute mini-articles that live at the top of search pages. As on any Wiki, people will be able to edit and comment on the articles.

 

Users will be able to find other contributors to work on the search engine with them, behind the scenes from the masses who just want results. They will also be able to attach their profiles to particular search results, indicating if they are an expert in what the search is about.

 

The main idea behind the mini-Wiki project is Wikia (and Wikipedia) co-founder Jimmy Wales` belief that it's necessary for the public to take control of search, which he sees as a shared need and thus a shared resource.