Enabling Transnational Collection, Notification, and Sharing of Information

We describe efforts towards, and results of, a transnational collaboration between universities, government agencies, and an international organization in applying information technology (IT) to a problem of international concern: detecting and monitoring activities related to the transnational movement of illicit drugs. Starting from a general vision of how IT could assist in achieving this objective, we have agreed on likely user scenarios, infrastructure requirements and specifications for a prototype system whose initial focus is on collecting and sharing information related to the migration of individuals across borders. Albeit on a reduced scale, this system concretely exemplifies how information about potentially drug-related activities can be collected and accessed in different languages by privileged users through natural dialogue communication, and how it can be shared in a timely fashion to promote regional and international cooperation on solving the drug problem.