All the news that's fit to link

(continued from previous page)

It's all certainly a step forward for efficiency. But on the flip side, aggregators--especially community-powered ones--can open up a new can of worms when it comes to reputability. Digg users have, on occasion, "dugg" a story to the front page only to realize that it contained inaccurate content or was intended as a prank in the first place.

Then there's the copyright issue. Link to something that's arguably (or actually) illegal, as Digg users famously did in the HD DVD crack code debacle a few months ago, and the parent site could find itself in hot water. Plus, aggregation services are treading a fine line if they use any kind of content from another source other than a simple link; reprint even a few paragraphs and the site might fall into the category of a content-stealing "scraper" site.

For NowPublic, which allows users to create their own news stories as well as contribute external links, photos and videos, this is a particularly crucial point. Brody, however, said that the community keeps it in check, Wikipedia-style. "We tend to catch everything very, very quickly," Brody said. "If it's illegal, it comes off. If it's copyright infringement, if it's defamatory...our community does a really good job of flagging that to our attention."

But perhaps the biggest problem with the growing phenomenon of the aggregator model is the fact that it could grow outdated as technology advances make personalization increasingly easy. The just-launched Newser, for example, uses a combination of editorial picking and choosing and an algorithmic engine to amass the links on its front page. Like Daylife, it's pretty. But the currently simple formats of personal RSS feed readers could easily take a turn for the aesthetically pleasing--something we're already seeing as more and more companies roll out widget-friendly "personalized home pages"--and render obsolete any aggregator that's not "customizable" enough for the increasingly all-about-me Web.

Not so long ago, the only way to customize online news would be to enter your ZIP code for some local headlines and nearby weather forecasts. That's already changed enormously, and it's still evolving. The creators of aggregation sites claim to understand that the push for customization is only going to grow stronger, and that they aim to be ready for it.

"The truth is, for the vast number of people under 35, their physical existence is becoming a smaller and smaller part of their lives," Brody said. "What we're moving to is this era of news where the 'hyperpersonal' is much more relevant, because it encompasses 'local' but it encompasses so much more. It's like a solar system around yourself."

It's still, understandably, a work in progress.

"(We want) to figure out how we turn news into your own personal bumper sticker or your own rock tour shirt that you wore in high school," Brody added. "When you wore that Metallica T-shirt, it was a statement about you."

[aidsnews]

I started a news feed this week for $0.00

It's a medical feed on AIDS, at aidsnews.blogspot.com -- where I select fewer than 10% of the stories coming in through several dozen RSS feeds. This is a great way for anyone to leverage their expertise to give a focused view of news. Readers can keep up with a specialty they need in a few minutes a day.

[AndrewRich]

Good luck with that

Google/Blogspot tend to shut down "aggregators" as they tend to be splogs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splog ). I strongly suggest you use an entirely separate Google account for your aggregator and anything else (Gmail, other Blogger blogs, etc.) because when they killed my aggregator blog it also took out everything else linked to that account.

[unboundedition]

Great Article

Caroline,

Wonderful read. Enjoyed it. We linked to it on our site, Unbound Edition, here: http://www.unboundedition.com/content/view/1840/54/

Additionally, we wrote on the subject on July 17: http://www.unboundedition.com/content/view/1482/54/

Hope you enjoy them.

Take care.