Firing a flash gun in synch with webcam shutter

Hi All, Could someone direct me to a place or project where requests for ideas are canvassed? I would like to see a way to synchronise a flashgun with a web-cam. This could lead to a much better result from web-cam photography in low light situations. I know that the Digital camera manufacturers of DSLRs have (Win/Mac) software to fire the camera from a computer, so something in the Open Source realm could be a real boon. Andrew Greig