Some months back a friend/co-conspirator of mine took me out for frozen yogurt to tell me one thing: "I've landed my dream job as an editor!". Then another thing: "It's called OpenFile.ca and it's the future of hyperlocal news!".
I must say that as I ate my frozen yogurt, I was a bit skeptical. If you follow V.I.A. closely or you know me personally then you're probably aware that I'm not a cheerleader for everything in Vancouver and that you really must show me that something is awesome and why it's awesome and why it's a good thing for our city before I'll get on board and want to tell other people about it. Sending me an e-mail that says "[Your Company Name Here] is awesome!" along with a press release is not going to get me to stand behind you and report your story; I either have to come across it (usually on my own) and love it or experience it's value before I can really stand behind anything.
So I went back to my office and as the yogurt melted in my stomach I signed up for an account at OpenFile.ca. The Toronto version was the only one that was live at the time but I was able to sign in and submit some story ideas and get an understanding of how and why this system that they've been running successfully out east for a while now may, in fact, actually be the answer to hyperlocal news in Vancouver. If you attended the Remixology 3 event at W2 on Friday night then you heard the director of CBC Radio 3, Steve Pratt, quote the author of the book Macro Wikinomics, Don Tapscott, who asked "Why didn't Sony Music invent iTunes, why didn't NBC invent Youtube, why didn't the New York Times invent Craigslist and why didn't Encyclopedia Brittanica invent Wikipedia?". The answer is that media has consistently failed when presented with a paradign shift because it often sticks to old business models instead of adapting or inventing new ones. Old media is often edged out by new companies who recognize the need for a rehaul and who have the vision to create all new businesses to come in and fill a need.
Not coincidentally, as Remixology 3 was also a launch party for OpenFile.ca, the aforementioned talk with Steve Pratt was moderated by my aforementioned friend who bought me yogurt and told me about OpenFile.ca and her new job as the editor of OpenFile Vancouver. Below is an introduction written by this friend, Karen Pinchin, about OpenFile.ca which will be launching in late November. The yogurt has had time to digest and I sincerely believe that they will be filling our (new) needs concerning hyperlocal news quite perfectly for many years to come!
Telling Vancouver's story through your stories
Posted by Karen Pinchin on Monday, November 8, 2010
Everybody has their first "Vancouver" moment. Mine was nearly three years ago, walking across the Burrard Bridge towards downtown from my new apartment in Kitsilano. It was one of those absurdly perfect days where the mountains tower over the city in high-definition against an unnaturally blue sky and sunlight turns English Bay's apartment buildings into shining sculpture.
Strangely, since living here and working as a reporter and editor (even in one of those shining downtown buildings for Maclean's), that moment rarely crosses my mind. Because that's not why, after searching for one half my life, I've chosen to call this city my home.
In fact, it's the baffling array of communities and characters that makes this city so amazing, and so unique, and such a perfect fit with OpenFile's mandate. From Main Street punks to Kitsilano community gardeners, from East Van slam poets to Mount Pleasant software designers, from Yaletown fashionistas to Downtown Eastside potlucks, Vancouver is so many multitudes in one.
As a writer and someone whose career has been dedicated to finding and telling stories, this city's endless supply of interested and interesting people, community groups and small businesses is an amazing place to find tales worth telling.
An important thing one eventually learns about the mountains is that photographs never do them justice, and you'll soon forget they're even there. It's one of the universe's cruellest jokes: even the most spectacular natural beauty becomes pedestrian after a while.
For OpenFile Vancouver, our guiding mandate will be to find and tell the stories that never get old, stories of change, conflict, innovative thinking and community involvement where you live, work and play. The only way we can do that is with your help.
Sign up for the site and open a file. Using the strength of the Internet and the humanity of recognizing that everyone has a story to tell, I want to start building a constellation of stories, something that hopes to live up to the people and places that make this city so amazing. While I may not know you personally (yet), I want to hear your story, and I want to assign that story to a local professional journalist who will get paid fairly for his or her work.
I used to think people who referred to Vancouver as the "best place to live" were exaggerating. I'm grateful to have learned that they weren't.
