What do we want to accomplish? What is our mission statement?

[Roy]

There is an evolution that could happen with the newspaper / blog.
What is our vision of what we want this to be? Both now and in the
future. What sort of software / Blogware would be required to achieve
this?

[Downes]

Personally, I think we should be attempting to create a newspaper
cooperative for the Moncton region that can act as a free press that
can function as a way for people to learn about news, events and
opinion in the city.

I think the model should be one of open contribution and moderated
promotion or highlighting. By that, what I mean is:
- any person can contribute a story and (with certain constraints) all
stories may be read by all people, but also
- each day, a 'publication' is produced out of those contributions,
where the content of the publication is determined by the members
collectively

A simple example of such a process would be one where people submit
their stories, and then members vote on whether to include the story,
and the results of the vote determine placement in the newspaper.

Slightly more complex versions include:
- sections, so there are separate votes for news, sports,
entertainment, opinion
- syndication, so content from NB Media Coop or Rabble.ca can be
considered for inclusion in the

That's a starting point, for me, at least...

[Roy]

Stephen, I agree. Crowd sourcing builds volume within an ethical
framework. A number of respected editors review for "quality" -
libel, truth, etc.. The "new" news pushes back the older stuff which
is archived available by a searchable database. Videos, pictures of
whats happening, stories locally produced and other sources as you
mention.