New approaches for a light scattering Internet information portal and categorization schemes for light scattering software

Light scattering is important in a number of scientific fields and thus the efficient collation and exchange of this information becomes essential. The Internet allows information to be easily shared but the required content may be distributed over a number of web pages and thus may be difficult to locate using standard search engines. In this paper the current state of the development of a new light scattering Internet information portal is described. The upcoming technical realization for the web pages as well as the benefits for the users is outlined. One of the key features of the portal will be the comprehensive list of light scattering programs. For this also approaches to categorize light scattering software are investigated. This can help to develop search tools enabling scientists to find the best fitting program to their scattering problem. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.