Other Activities

Other activities supported by the Round Table are widely open to experimentation. We plan two levels of experimentation: tests of approaches that are very likely to be adopted in the future, and tests of more tentative approaches. In both cases, the experimentation will be based on the periodical experience with the Elettra homepage as well as with the homepages of other facilities.

These are some tests of the first type:

• Collection of data for the database in a directly interactive mode, which should lead to real-time interactive update.
  
• Extension of the European Homepage into a World Homepage.
  
• Creation of a technical bulletin board for exchange of practical information on experimental techniques (for example, anyone with a problem could post a message and seek practical suggestions worldwide).
  
• Creation of a bulletin board for announcements of new results in an informal basis.
  
• Inclusion of worldwide search engines to seek information on synchrotron light and free electron lasers in the central homepage as well as in all homepages linked to the central homepage.
  

As far as more tentative approaches are concerned, we propose the following items:

• Organization of virtual conferences to supplement in the first place the regular Round Table meetings, and later - if the experiment is successful - other technical meetings.
  
• Creation of a general database on scientific literature concerning synchrotron light and free electron laser activities.
  
• Creation of a preprint library in the same domains.
  

These lists are by no means static: this type of communication technology is in very rapid evolution, so we will adapt our approach to take into account the future developments.