This big brother isn’t reading over your shoulder while you surf the Internet – he’s inside your computer.

Meet Watson 2.0, a new research toolbar for Windows invented by McCormick Prof. Kristian Hammond and Jay Budzik, a 2003 McCormick Ph.D. Unlike a search engine, Watson 2.0 “pro-actively searches” for information on the Internet without a user requesting the information, Budzik said.

“While you’re reading or writing, it reads with you and queries search engines,” Hammond said. “It knows what you might need.”

As an add-in, Watson 2.0 recognizes word combinations and phrases while users type and read in several Microsoft Office applications and Internet Explorer. Watson also accesses search engines to search for related topics.

“Instead of using a search box, Watson will be installed and information will be delivered automatically,” Budzik said. “It needs a search engine in the background, but with Watson, Google ceases to be a differentiator.”

Watson 2.0 will find information more specific to a user’s research and will also use internal software to “aggressively get rid of spam,” Hammond said.

For students, Watson 2.0 could mean not “having to search through garbage on Google,” said McCormick freshman Kris Collier.

“It’s another tool that gets you information faster and that’s progress,” Collier said.

Work on Watson 2.0 began seven years ago when Hammond started research on query building. This research was within the Intelligent Information Laboratory, part of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. Motorola invested in Watson in 2003, and Northwestern licensed the toolbar’s technology to Intellext, a software company.

Motorola gave Watson 2.0 to 60,000 of its employees, and several other companies have tested the toolbar, Budzik said. Intellext announced last month that Watson 2.0 was available to the public for temporary free download.

Eliminating unwanted links and narrowing research, the add-in finds information that users may not have thought to look for before, Budzik said. This information provides for more well-rounded research, he said.

“More often than not, there’s information out there that you just don’t know how to search for,” said Budzik, the chief technology officer for Intellext. “Watson is all about democratizing information and getting people the information they need. We want to make people smarter and more balanced in their opinions.”

The toolbar will “rid the world of the burden of search” and fill the gap between people and the information they need, Hammond said. Watson 2.0 “isn’t about laziness,” Budzik said.

“I think it’s difficult today to find what you need,” Budzik said. “Watson makes sure you don’t miss anything.”

Watson 2.0 allows users to focus more on their research rather than on the search process, Hammond said.

“Speed dial, calculators, automatic transmission – they allow us to focus on the real tasks rather than focusing on the technical responses for these tasks,” Hammond said.

NU’s Intelligent Information Laboratory, composed of 10 to 16 people, is also working on Beyond Broadcast, another project to help bring information to researchers.

Beyond Broadcast is a television prototype in development that scans programs a viewer watches to compile links of related information. For example, the system would provide links to recipes and grocery stores when a viewer watches a cooking show, Hammond said.

Watson 2.0 and Beyond Broadcast are the beginnings of a more people-oriented technological era, Hammond said.

“There is a new world coming,” Hammond said, “one that comes to you.”

Reach Margaret Matray at [email protected].