"Many of you know that there is a growing class of weblogs that speak to each other through 'news aggregators;' the one you're reading right now is one of them. When I post an item here, some unknown number of other weblog authors read that item on a customized web page, from which they can post the item on their own weblog. It makes for a very fast and efficient way of disseminating news and opinion.

This strikes me -- in theory, at least -- as an excellent way for professional news gatherers to distribute information to paying clients. I know a ton of un- and semi-employed journos all over the world, and it would be an interesting exercise to get them filing real news for pay.

Here's what would be required to make that work:

• a multiuser weblog that
• allows for content categorization and
• which generates material for a news aggregator that
• can be kept out of the public eye.

An electronic commerce addition might be interesting too, so that sites could subscribe on a monthly or annual basis, or that casual readers could see an abstract and pay on a per-story basis. Given the prior lack of success for micropayments, I wouldn't expect anyone to rush to develop that last one. There are other ways outside the weblog mechanism to handle subscriptions, so this might be a blind alley." [Over the Edge]

I've had similar thoughts that are colored by my own bias - libraries. It makes perfect sense that the next generation of news aggregators should have an authentication mechanism built in. As with the web in general, your content had better be pretty damn good (or unique) if you expect people to make even the smallest of micropayments for it, but as we continue barreling down the road of focused markets (as opposed to mass markets), there probably are a few sites that each of us would pay a nominal fee to receive in our aggregators (based on individual preferences, of course).

Often, though, people just don't want to pay or the subscription fee is too high. That's where libraries could come in. Many libraries already provide remote access to their databases for their residents, and there's no reason that couldn't translate over into aggregators. Historically, remote access has been based on archives, but such a model could work for current issues, too. Lots of people still come into the public library to read the daily paper (especially seniors), so why shouldn't we be able to provide that same access in a personal aggregator? We subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and authenticate your library barcode number against our database, which in turn gets individual WSJ posts into your aggregator.

Or what about the library paying for a subscription to an online serial that makes it available to residents. Theoretically, a user with a valid library barcode would go to the library's web site, enter the barcode, and be authenticated through to the full version. But what if that journal provided an RSS feed? Abstracts are available to everyone, but if your barcode number is entered in your aggregator, when you click through on a link, you see the full story. Think about what a great service this would be for medical libraries to provide to their physicians!

Or here's another idea - what about an AP or Reuters made up of bloggers. Newspapers could subscribe to the service and pick up stories, and so could libraries. In a way, the concept isn't that far removed from NewsIsFree, to which the library would then subscribe.

I know we're not at that point yet, and most folks won't pay to view blogs, but if there's any future there, it's in the aggregator. Once you're hooked reading blogs and serials (magazines and newspapers) online, you reach a point where an aggregator becomes a necessity in order to keep up. That's why I believe they'll play such a big part of our information lives in the future, especially as we become more and more mobile. As with the print world, libraries can be a major player in providing access there, too.