virtual networks

Hi as I have mentioned before I am building a community based web site, a bit like a news paperin as much as it will deal with local issues and areas of interest such as local history or food and drink etc, many people will be contributing to the site with stories and articles specific to thier area of expertise. I need some way to link us all together as we do not have offices and all will be working from home in our spare time. Now just to make this a little more difficult I need you to bear in mind that some of the contributors are not that computer literate so it needs to be a simple to set up and use as possible oh and cheap VERY CHEAP.
Thanks