What sort of program could find information online faster than a search engine? Elementary, my dear — a program created by Northwestern students that knows what you need before you ask.

A group of students and professors have developed a software tool, nicknamed “Watson,” that could improve the way people find information online. Watson would constantly search the Internet for information related to text documents and other files on a user’s computer.

This system differs from search engines such as Google because it generates queries automatically. Watson also would store information about to generate results based on users’ preferences.

Jay Budzik, who developed the software when he was a graduate student at NU and now works as at DevLab, a resource for students and faculty wishing to develop computer software, gave the example of a parent searching for a toy. If the user frequently accesses information related to construction, the program would remember and might suggest a toy construction set.

Budzik said he originally came up with the idea for Watson when working on an program that would answer questions by consulting the Web. He said he wanted a system to answer questions as vague as, “Where do I take my kids?”

“People started asking very elliptical and ambiguous questions,” Budzik said. “The only solution to understand what was being asked was to have more context.”

Current search technologies often intimidate users by returning a “laundry list” of irrelevant results, said Christine Mason, chief executive officer of Open Road Technologies, the company with the rights to license Watson.

“You waste a lot of time linking through to commercial results when you’re looking for unbiased information,” Mason said. “Or perhaps you are looking for a transaction, and you’re getting a fan site.”

The Watson software currently is being tested with focus groups. Mason said since Open Road is a young company, it will market the consumer version of the software in partnership with a larger corporation.

Open Road also plans to develop versions of the software for other corporations, who could use the program to scan its internal databases. Mason said such a tool would be useful to monitor key words, prevent liability and ensure compliance with government regulations.

Budzik said test users have expressed privacy concerns about Watson, but added that their fears are unfounded. The program would not store information about people online, only on their hard drives — and Watson also can be turned off.

Budzik, who also is Open Road’s chief technology officer, said he appreciates how the company helped him market his creation. When he first conceived of Watson, he was working with NU’s InfoLab, an information technology development program. The project was passed on to NU’s DevLab, a group that helps make research programs more user-friendly. Now Open Road plans to sell the software as its premiere product.

“One of the really exciting things about this whole process is that we went from an idea to prototype to product,” Budzik said. “It’s such a rare opportunity that an inventor has that chance.”