There is this ongoing debate about whether it is legitimate and desired to use information aggregation software like Mentations, RSS readers, Konfabulator, etc. in order to collect and display various data from the web. As the argument goes, if you separate the content from the context in which it was originally presented, you lose part of its meaning. I say, it depends ;^).
When you are dealing with prose (blogs being one form), in which one sentence builds upon another to form paragraphs, then the context (other sentences) is relatively important. Also, the context of how it is presented (the website design) also affects the user experience (meaning) but to a lesser extent. In the former instance, context is critical; in the latter, it is a nice-to-have. Given this view, I think that RSS readers are doing a decent job of trying to remain faithful to authors' intentions.
However, I think that RSS/Atom only scratches the surface for what is coming. The bigger story is WEB SERVICES and how smart aggregators are in distilling and presenting that sort of information. In this case, context is much less important since by definition, web services merely provide an API to access data versus providing the full user experience through related prose or design elements. This is where aggregators can provide true value-added by adding their own context to the content based upon user personalization criteria, both explicitly and implicitly derived. In fact, this functionality, coupled with social networking, machine learning, and collaborative filtering is what transforms an ordinary aggregator into a "personal intelligence agent". This is the sweet spot that Mentations is evolving to operate within.
In the end, I think it will come down to the necessity of needing to stay current with myriad data feeds in an information/net-driven society forcing a disassociation of the content from the context (i.e., via RSS or web services), thereby pushing the onus on the consumer to define the context. Hence, we will have a dramatic rise in popularity of information aggregator software and its eventual evolution into personal intelligence agents.
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