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K. Michael Reynolds, associate professor of criminal justice and project director of UCF's FINDER information sharing system, was invited to participate in a "collaboratory roundtable" on Nov. 7, 2006, at The Brookings Institution. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization is devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. The topic of the roundtable was "Web-Based Data Exchanges and Intermediaries: An Exploration of Issues and Opportunities."

The institution highlighted FINDER as an innovative community-based solution to real-world problems that demonstrates the power of leveraging community and university resources.

According to Reynolds, FINDER supports 138 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. "It has been recognized nationally as a exemplary model that incorporates affordability and participatory user-level management, with a unique embedded metric feature to collect information about outcomes," he explained.

Joining Reynolds at the roundtable event was FINDER co-founder Ernie Scott, who presented a live demonstration of system. Scott is a former member of the Orange County Sheriff's Office and currently works at UCF as a research assistant and adjunct instructor. He is also a recent graduate of UCF's Doctoral Program in Public Affairs; his dissertation focused on the FINDER system.

Reynolds said the primary goal of the roundtable was to develop a "community of practice" that eventually incorporates criminal justice, health, environment, environmental health, property and geographic information into a system of virtual data warehouses across the country. The meta-data would increase the ability of decision makers to formulate policies that maximize resources and benefit the global community.

... and in the Black Sea Region of Asia

In late October 2006, Reynolds traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia (formerly of the Soviet Union), to make presentations about FINDER to faculty members and students at the International Black Sea University and participants at the Third International Silk Road Symposium.

The topic of the symposium was "The Black Sea Region Countries and Prospective Relationships with the European Union."

"Georgia is seeking to expand its integration into the region and the European Union," Reynolds said. "I was invited to talk about FINDER and the integration of disparate information systems."

Reynolds said 35 countries were represented at the symposium, along with UNESCO and the United Nations.