Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Research at the world's accelerator- (storage-ring and linac) based light sources is one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing fields of science. It frequently results in direct benefits to society, thereby demonstrating the value of the research with very concrete examples, but this is not widely understood or appreciated outside of the immediate user community. Our growing group of light source communicators from facilities in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, inspired by the Interactions.org Web site created by high-energy (elementary-particle) physics communicators, concluded that a light source community Web site (lightsources.org) would be the best tool for establishing effective collaboration between the communications offices of the world s light sources and to maximize the impact of our efforts. We envision lightsources.org to serve as a one-stop-shopping site for information about all aspects of light sources and the research they make possible. Audiences to be served include science communicators, the press, policy makers, the light source community, the wider scientific community, the science-interested public, and students and educators. Our proposal has been sent to the world's light source facility directors by J. Murray Gibson (APS) and William G. Stirling (ESRF). As a result, lightsources.org is now being supported by a growing list of facilities from Europe, North America, and Asia. We hope to launch lightsources.org before the end of 2004.