communicate with other registered users of blog

hey guys.
if you are running a group blog, is there anyway keeping it in house with wordpress, to communicate relatively elegantly with the other authors/users/bloggers in the blog? i.e a common “notice board” at the dash board display or something else.

my alternate solution is to set up a forum, but like i said, i’m trying to keep it all in wordpress.

thanks.
Ronny.