While many newspapers are being headless chickens about their future, the Guardian is doing the best thing – experimenting with openness.

The problem is that this particular angle could reduce the Guardian to a Reuters or AP – providing raw content for others to package and display to readers. If it is to be more than a source, it has to lure readers from single stories to its own territory so it can cross-sell stories and content to them. And then try to make money from that…

UPDATE – Tony Hirst has used the Guardian’s and other data to map MPs’ expense claims across the country – neatly showing the power of open datasets and the internet.