Can Everyblock find a business model in open source?

The site is headlined by Adrian Holovaty (right), best-known for Django and the Chicago Crime Google Maps mashup. It was funded in 2007 by a $1.1 million Knight Foundation grant.

Like many other online news start-ups Everyblock has gone about life backward, starting with "wouldn't it be cool if" and only later seeking a way to spin money from it.

The idea of "custom news" sounds delicious, but when you actually search a neighborhood there may be little to find. Real estate listings and police calls. Links to news stories and business reviews on other Web sites.

Obviously it's reporters on the ground who put things into context, but can Everyblock generate enough revenue from such searches to pay reporters? No. So what else could you do? Link to blogs by address?

Where I live in Atlanta there are neighborhood associations with their own Web sites. They hold monthly meetings and exchange news. Can you really generate a lot of money integrating Everyblock into those Web sites? The answer to that question is no.

I have long believed that journalism consists of organizing and advocating a place, industry or lifestyle. Everyblock does neither. It does little more than what Google itself can do, with the addition of a few more online resources.

The idea behind Everyblock seems to be that it will be a resource to local publications that will bring their own business models to the party. But few have a model that works. Most of them don't want partners.

The most effective way to really bring news into the 21st century is to start with the business model, not the content. Once someone does that sites like Everyblock will have a future. Not before. Making them open source doesn't matter until that happens.