What’s going on — BIG and small:

• Updated the blog to WordPress 3.0 (Beta-1). Sure, it’s beta, but the next beta should be out within a few days, and the final version should be ready by the first of May.
• Updated the theme.
• Working on a list of bloggers to contact regarding their ideas, suggestions, support, and input.
• Working on a business model that will (ideally) make the co-op self-sufficient, and provide some modest compensation to contributors.
• Working on an editorial model that will allow staff and reader content to be submitted, edited, and available for use by the blogging community.
• Developing the list of categories for stories we will cover. A separate post on those will follow soon.
• Looking at the best options for licensing distributable content.
• Spreading the word. This may seem small, but it is probably the biggest thing that needs to be done.
• Whatever else needs to be done.

If you have ideas or suggestions, please comment here, or email info@blognewscoop.com

First, about bRight@Night. It is the show I do three times a week on Blog Talk Radio. Visit the show page linked above, and make sure to sign up for a reminder of when new shows are going to air. You can also go to the main page and access the chat room about 15 minutes before air time. Normally the show airs at 11pm Eastern Time. That is subject to change in the future.

Tonight’s live podcast will start at 11:30pm Eastern. I couldn’t schedule a 30 minute show at 11, thus the later start.

The topic tonight will be the Blog News Co-op. You can read about BNC, but the basic idea is this: Bloggers contributing original material and first hand reporting on stories that they cover. I would really like to get the input of other bloggers, and I hope you will join me tonight.

Thanks to Jenn Sierra at Fort Hard Knox for linking to this post and the pod cast.

Many things are needed, but a few stand out.

1. More than anything we need writers to submit original articles for use by other bloggers. If you have a story that you are interested in sharing be sure to sign up for an account and submit your article.
2. Editors. We would like to identify some authors who are willing to help polish and finalize submitted works.
3. Researchers, fact-checkers, photographers, illustrators, anything and everything that will help us find, follow, and report the stories of interest to other bloggers and readers.
4. Starting out I would like to find someone who is willing to create a more appropriate image for the top of the page.
5. I would also be helpful to hear the ideas that you might have. Please leave your comments and let me know what we need to do, and how we can do it!

Oh yeah, spread the word.

And that’s just not right.

Bloggers should be a natural resource. Why?

• There are thousands of us. We are in every part of the country and many parts of the world.
• We have a wide spectrum of backgrounds, interests, and areas of expertise.
• While nearly all bloggers work at something other than blogging for their 9-5, not all 9-5′s take place from 9-5, if you know what I mean.
• One thing that most bloggers have in common is that they like to write. That doesn’t make us all good writers, but it’s a start.
• If all goes according to plan (once there is more of a plan than what exists now) we will be able to cover a wide range of topics, stories, geographic areas, and more.

For now, this is pretty much a test post. More later.