For the average human web crawler, the algorithms that power what is searched and seen on the web seem to be black boxes of magical machinery — but there's usually a meat-based observer pulling some strings behind the scenes. As The New York Times observes, computer algorithms are increasingly being guided with a human touch, necessary for giving subtle context for human language that can elude even the most powerful machines like IBM's Watson. Even Twitter, the Times reports, "uses a far-flung army of contract workers" to interpret trending search terms; these Twitter "judges" were able, for example, to recognize that Mitt Romney's comments about "Big Bird" during last year's presidential debate were about politics and not really about Sesame Street.