Bloghoo ?

Via Pharyngula, a creative idea from Voyage to Arcturus and Rhetorica:

Recent controversies regarding "legacy media"/"MSM" coverage of the U.S. Presidential campaign, especially the troubling memos regarding the President's experiences during the Vietnam War, have demonstrated a need for conventional media to draw on the vast, dispersed expertise of the blogosphere.

Can this Schumpeterian gale be harnessed? We believe it can. Amidst the jeering, we have formulated a constructive response -- a mechanism whereby a symbiotic relationship between blogging and traditional forms of journalism can be deliberately cultivated.

That mechanism is 411blog.net.

Reporters can use it to quickly authenticate highly technical or specialized story elements with subject-matter experts (SMEs) drawn from the best the blogosphere has to offer, including academics, business people, scientists, and lay experts of all kinds. SMEs on 411blog.net also offer reporters another important advantage: As bloggers in addition to subject experts, they are plugged in to the latest internet conversation regarding their subject areas.

Bloggers can use 411blog.net to nominate subject-matter experts, build trust with traditional media, and increase their standing in the blogosphere.

I had commented earlier about the proliferation of the so-called 'subject blogs', blogs not devoted to popular topics like politics and culture, but devoted to specific subjects. 411blog.net is a good idea to organize these blogs in a single place, much like Yahoo did in the early days. In fact, I may have even predicted this !