Nieman Journalism Lab authors propose an "open-source" identity for new journalism

In, What newsrooms can learn from open-source and maker culture, Neiman Journalism Lab authors Nikki Usher and Seth C. Lewis propose quite a leap in the identity of new journalism: journalists become "code writers" and their stories an open-source platform, with stories permeable to participatory additions from the community of readers including images, comments, etc. They propose that "sprinkling open-source juice" into journalism could change the entire way that journalistic databases and distribution systems function.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/10/what-newsrooms-can-learn-from-open-source-and-maker-culture/

I had never thought of the idea of using "hacker culture" or theory as a metaphor to advance journalism. What do you think of this idea of participatory journalism at the cellular levels of technology used to produce stories?

Here are Usher and Lewis' lede and nutgraf:

“'Newsosaur' blogger and media consultant Alan Mutter some time ago suggested that journalism has to become a lot more like Silicon Valley. Newspapers are too risk-averse, he said, and so they “need some fresh DNA that will make them think and act more like techies and less like, well, newspaper people.”

While Smith generally agreed with Mutter’s premise — of course Silicon Valley could bring a little dynamism to newspapers and journalism — he offered a caveat: The technology sector that Smith knew a decade ago was more about hacking-in-the-open and building cool stuff for others to enjoy, with a secondary emphasis on making money. Now the inverse is true: Silicon Valley is much less about the ideals of the open web, and much more about (as another observer has put it) short-sighted technology for the sake of “big exits and big profits.

So it’s a bit of a mistake, we think, to go down the route of saying that journalism needs to become like Silicon Valley, in part because Silicon Valley is not simply a world of innovation, but also a highly competitive, secretive, and unstable metaphor. (Think: Groupon IPO, or even The Social Network.)"