Proposal: rel="payment"

Hi,

This is my first time posting on this list. I am one of the developers
of FireANT (http://GetFireANT.com), an media aggregator and RSS reader
geared toward videoblogs.

I wanted to propose an idea so that hopefully we can initiate a
brainstorm leading to a new namespace extension.

Peter Van Dijk of MeFeedia.com, Jay Dedman, and I were thinking a few
nights ago about how we could develop a way for blog content creators
(specifically videobloggers, but the idea is more general) to
potentially get paid for their work. I think we came up with a great
idea:

rel="payment"

Blog authors could include a link to a payment URL in their blog
entries using this syntax:

<a href="http://blahblah/payme.html" rel="payment">Pay Me</a>

The payment URL could link to a PayPal page, BitPass, DropCash, or
some other payment method... maybe even a page with your mailing
address so someone could send a check the old fashioned way. Heck, it
could be a page that let's you donate to a "save the whales"
foundation or to your Cafe Press store. That part is up to the author
to set up a payment URL that works for them.

Aggregators like FireANT, MeFeedia, and others could support this by
displaying a "payment button" that links to the specified payment URL
if the rel="payment" syntax is discovered within the RSS item level
<description> or <content:encoded> elements.

This is simple and flexible, and I think will be easy for blog authors
to implement.

However, an XML namespace would be a better and more elegant solution
and easier for aggregators to deal with. But if blog authors could use
something like rel="payment" now, it will create a nice foundation for
evangelizing a namespace and getting support from blog software
developers and RSS/ATOM folks.

So I wanted to throw out the idea for comments to see what you think
and explore how we might be able to work together to propose a
namespace.

For more background, see Jay's post on the subject:
http://www.momentshowing.net/momentshowing/2005/07/video_relpaymen.html

Let's open the discussion.

A few things to note:

- This is not payment as a form of restricted access. It is an
optional payment after the fact of downloading. Perhaps it is more
like a "donation" but we felt "payment" was a more general term.

- This should not entail lock-in to a specific payment protocol (i.e.
PayPal), and is not mediated through any one source (e.g. iTunes Music
Store). Flexibility is good.

- A namespace for this concept should likely be both channel level and
item level. A user may want to track click-through's per item to see
where payments are coming from. Another use case might be a blog entry
about a specific fundraising campaign (e.g. Tsunami Relief Fund). Or,
perhaps a product review would include an affilliate link to a URL
where the reader can purchase that product.

Of course, the ever-present-and-unchanging "tip jar" link in the blog
sidebar could be placed in the channel level. Again, flexibility is
good.


Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
Best regards,
Joshua Kinberg

http://GetFireANT.com




 
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