Increased interest among education and public outreach specialists in coordinating the task of "Communicating Astronomy to the Public" led to a conference of that name in Washington DC, following an earlier conference in Tenerife the previous year. One outcome of the conference was the Washington Charter, which is to help foster such public education through statements of principles of action for funding agencies, professional astronomical societies, universities/laboratories/research-organizations, and individual researchers, respectively.
Another outcome was the fonnation of a Working Group on the subject within the Union-wide Activities Division of the International Astronomical Union. Information about
both outcomes can be found at http://www.communicatingastronomy.org.
