Create data subset...?

I am trying to find the best way to create a subset of data that will define what other users are able to view.

Basically, the 'web manager' role will somehow define a subset of a content type that other roles will then be able to view (on a map) and edit the field data.

The solution could be as simple as using views to create a subset of the data, then set publish/unpublish for the content. The 'web user' role can then be set up to only view published content. The problem is that I currently have 20,000+ items in this content, and will increase in the future. It is not feasible to have the web manager select each item individually to 'publish' for example. Is there a way to automatically publish (or unpublish) the views results?

It may be possible to add a new field, such as 'web_user' and set the value to 'yes' for each content item that should be accessible by the web users. But the problem listed above remains that it is not possible to set the field value for all content items that satisfy the view query at once (or is it?).

Another possible solution is to use views to create a subset of data, then make a new database table of content titles and link this new table back to the original table to view/edit the other field information.

I have also played around with the idea of using RSS feeds to accomplish this. The problem I am having is RSS feeds do not seem to be able to inherit exposed filters. At least, I have not been able to figure out how to make it work.

I am not committed to any of these approaches. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.