I’m at the Interactive Content Exchange conference this week and rather than blog all my notes (which are just scratches on paper at this point. Yes, paper) over the next couple weeks I’m going to pick out a few key themes from the panels I listened to and hopefully apply some experiences of my own to the mix. 

So far so good, though. No big surprises- and maybe that’s a good thing! There are common issues we  face as interactive developers including: revenue models on communities, the costs of producing content, advertising issues, broadband costs, digital rights and so on.

I’m looking forward to day two tomorrow – especially the “For the Kids” panel. Xenophile is doing some interesting things these days and I’m curious on their take on ARGs for kids.

Today is International Women’s Day and it’s the perfect day to share this fantastic speech from Ted.com about passion, writing, women and feminism by novelist Isabel Allende:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/204

It’s also a great day to thank my mentors and colleagues- a lot of them women- who have provided me great support and encouragement.

Have a great day!

JK Rowling has filed a lawsuit against a fan who intends to publish an unauthorized reference book based on the Harry Potter series.  The guide, as I understand it, began online as a fan site and was something that even Rowling gave praise for and used to connect with her fans.

Until he decided to publish his work in a book.

“Rowling said she was especially irked that the site’s owner and the lexicon’s would-be publisher, RDR Books, continued to insist that her acceptance of free, fan-based Web sites justified the efforts.”

RDR Books defends the publication as a legitimate literary activity. I don’t know much about the world of publishing, but a quick search for ‘unauthorized reference guide’ on Amazon turns up all kinds of goodies on Charmed, Ally McBeal and The Da Vinci Code for starters.

But this exerpt from Reuters was of interest to me- the fan who is a “a librarian, had spoken at Harry Potter academic conferences in Britain, Canada and the United States and that a timeline he created was used by Warner Bros. in DVD releases of the Harry Potter films.”

Is it justifiable for Rowling and Warner Brothers to use his content but he cannot use hers? This fan has probably done a lot to promote her work and it’s not likely she gave him any of her billions (yes, billions) of dollars for his time and effort. Maybe Rowling got too close to the fan site? Maybe she shouldn’t have acknowledged it at all. Or mabye she should have acquired the site? In any case, this is what I would do at this stage: I would authorize it, cut a deal for a percentage and give my proceeds to charity. But maybe that’s not how it works in the publishing world- I’m not sure.

In a related note, a few weeks ago I was working on something and I needed to grab a clip of a game for our archives. It was just for internal reference (nothing we’d post back to the site or make money on). I ended up on Youtube because I know that fans can put the best trailers and tributes together because they’re so passionate. And there it was, a complete video on how to play- complete with voice over and edits.

Your fans are your business.  They can be your PR department and in some cases- your content creators. Suing your fans or content creators is not good business.