Believe it or not - this is actually the second incantation of the "Carnival of Journalism." I put some of the history behind the Carnival here: http://carnivalofjournalism.com/about/ (the history part starts after "I'll see you at the Carnival"

As you might gather from that history lesson of the JCARN part of the inspiration for it was a frustration with Twitter. I love Twitter - but sometimes I want longer more in-depth conversation. Now we meet people through Twitter. But I used to make "digital friends" via my blog. It's a different kind of relationship (which can now overlap with Twitter) and I wanted to rekindle that feeling.

The original JCARN was closed to about 30 or us (we just happened to find each other) but this version is open. Anyone can join the Google Group and respond to the host question.

The main "closed" part is that as the founder I choose the host. This is mostly to keep decorum not to be a dictator.