Clicks to comprehension Globe Editorial WHAT'S NEXT for computer search engines? Google has put facts at the Web-surfing world's fingertips with searches based on keywords and page ranks. But new engines are emerging, and they're out to understand more about what people really want to know. It's a fascinating attempt to make the world better informed with fewer clicks - whether that means finding the nearest Indian restaurant or spotting trends in medical research being done in the world's many labs. In March, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, testified before Congress, saying, in part, that the future of the Web is a future of better data management. "Today you can see the data with your browser, but can't get other computer programs to manipulate or analyze it without going through a lot of manual effort yourself." In other words, people can easily read Web pages and gather data such as a price or an address. For a computer program, however, reading for meaning is harder. But it's not impossible. At the New York-based search company Hakia, staffers have created a "map of the language," as CEO Riza Berkan explained in an interview. And though the search engine is only 75 percent complete, it's up and running at www.hakia.com. In its search for "knowledge," Hakia doesn't just look for new Web pages, it looks for information it doesn't already know. One of Hakia's advantages, Berkan says, is that long questions and less popular queries will get more respect. But users can judge for themselves by going to the company's challenge page, where Hakia can be compared with other popular engines. Type in "What Senate bill did President Bush kill?" for example, and Hakia understands that "kill" means veto. The first item on the Google list finds a Web page with "kill" used in the more conventional sense. Type "cancer" into Hakia, and it comes up with a table of contents of links that include "healthcare facilities" and "clinical trials." The full site is due to launch next year. Another newcomer is Powerset in San Francisco, which is building a search engine based on the natural language technology developed by PARC, the company that developed laser printing. Powerset is still under wraps, but it is slowly inviting in groups of users. They serve as researchers who try queries and give the company feedback and suggestions. For example, one user mentioned that being color-blind made it tough to use the site. When the search engine goes public next year, Powerset expects to have thousands of users who have a stake in the search engine because they've helped develop it. What's next, apparently, are search engines that know what people mean. Posted at: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/10/07/clicks_to_comprehension/