It strikes me that, after a story idea has made its way through the process laid out by OpenFile, the end result is information or “news” that is redundant.
More local stories about the Annex that weren’t published by the Toronto Star.
Is there anything exciting and new about that?
The NYT has already tried this, embedding reporters in various neighbourhoods across the city. It has not caught on fire.
And if the idea were to actually catch on, there’s nothing preventing The Star from doing the same and doing it better.
OpenFile ends up being just more blogTO and Torontoist, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but surely that’s not what readers are looking for to see expanded upon.

I read over the “why should I join OpenFile?” and see a lot of attention paid to the “process” as compared to creating something that is ultimately “different”.
http://openfile.ca/page/join
There’s so much on that page that could be questioned, such as if I had an idea for a good story wouldn’t I call the Toronto Star first? And if they don’t take it then OpenFile will publish the “leftovers” after it’s been “voted upon”? And will the “assigned reporter” do the story justice or will I still be dissatisfied?

But where it becomes most obvious that this idea hasn’t been thought through hardly at all before debuting the talents of a new web designer, comes in the section titled “Afterlife”.

“6. AFTERLIFE
The beauty of OpenFile is that our stories never really go away. We keep everything we publish in our archives so that members and contributors can supplement and update them as the story evolves. OpenFile members can post comments, add images and videos, and pitch follow-up stories. This way, we can create a permanent dialogue that endures as long as readers remain interested.”

This is simply what collaborative blogging has always been for years. Go to any established blog and you’ll find “archives” going back years. Stories, or blog posts, “never really go away” even after the owners abandon them. So what’s different about OpenFile? Will the owners continue to pay for hosting files in perpetuity even after the business has failed to make any money?
Blog posts too can always be commented upon and supplemented and updated, but again, so what? New stories are coming in all the time, which are also open to being supplemented and commented upon. How then do you get reader’s attention for this growing mountain of stories, that are still basically only of interest to the local population?
OpenFile needs to re-think the value of its mission. And realize that there are many, many sources for what they’re proposing. What’s needed is something new, a new view and new leadership.

can’t wait till someone actually throws out for discussion what the cost requirements are for the new journlism to cover one segment or swath of the news.

till then, just a thre card monte game.

“None of those concepts are new; what is new is the fact that so many of them — collaboration! curation! community! — are living together, and interacting together, in a single news outlet. ”

IMHO, OpenFile sounds like an incarnation of digitaljournal.com, examiner.com, NowPublic or even Spot.us.

I am all for experimentation in journalism but I don’t see how this model is any different than more well established websites. Sure, the process may be slightly different but in the end the collaboration aspect and community involvement are far from new ideas.

@Toby, @Gerry — Good questions. Venture funding for a project like this is notoriously hard to come by, at least at this point. But an experiment like OpenFile, if it’s successful (read: profitable), can be a boon to others who want to start similar projects — an element of an argument that online news, as a body, is worth funding. That’s one way that the proof-of-concept aspect of OpenFile can be particularly, and scalably, relevant.

This sort of approach needs to happen more and more across more cities. OpenFile was fortunate to get venture funded and have the cash to build this system. The question is: how can other local start-ups who want to execute so well on the “new media maxims” you mention do so without the tech dev cash?

I’m looking forward to reading more about what’s happening in this exciting city I still refer to as my hometown.