What Kinds of Plugins, etc. Would I Need to Create This Site?

WP does most of this by default. You can create the users you want and send them their passwords – alternatively you can allow people to subscribe and then have them put in a request to become an author. You can go in yourself and “upgrade” them. “Authors” can upload images, edit posts, etc.

If you want further role customization, you can get Role Manager or Role Scoper.

Thanks for the tip about Role Manager. I think that could help. But there are a few other things that I’m looking for. I can explain a little further what I want…

I don’t expect my targeted users to be able to know how to use WordPress, at least not from the panel that we usually use. Is there any kind of plugin that creates a sort of interactive “front end” where users can post, insert a photo or video, add tags, and publish? They’d need to register to get a username and password from my site. But then they could provide as much content as they like.

Maybe that sounds like a tall order. I don’t know. There are so many clever plugins out there, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s already one like this one!

maybe wait until the buddypress version for normal wp blogs is out (meaning not wp mu). Sounds exactly like what you want. check it out…