I like the idea of an in-game information source. (Though I guess really the problem right now is that everybody is so busy creating the game, they forget to post regular updates.)
I have seen sign posts used as well, if you look at some games the newspaper got abused because every time I logged on I got inundated with an annoying spread of promotions(Playfish) . It should be somewhat passive so if someone does not care about events they do not have to know, just new newbies know about it.
Should contain postings of events that happen within the game. I hope there would be a "help needed" section where I can put up an "everyone having a hard time with the {random} quest, please meet me at {random} street for discussion!" post. That could encourage some socializing of sorts.