The graphic to the left is from Fast Company and I urge you to go to their site to see it in its legible fullness. I thought it worth sharing because I’m guessing some readers out there who visited Pottermore.com yesterday to see what all the fuss was about may have left the graphics of dancing owls, paper spiders, and opening gates scratching their heads. Why would whomever is behind this — Ms. Rowling? Bloomsbury/Scholastic? Warner Bros? Universal? — invest so much money into this kind of animation/CGI? [An excellent summary of what Pottermore will offer readers in October can be read here.]

The answer, I think, is a combination of money and control, the latter of which will bring us back to money. And, eventually, total author control.

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The Three High Points as I see it with first thought commentaries from the Hogwarts Professors:

(1) “The Experience of Reading”

Ms. Rowling gives as her premise to the Pottermore venture this thought about what reading is: “Just as the experience of reading requires that the imaginations of the author and reader work together to create the story, so Pottermore will be built in part by you the reader.” For a given or premise of an argument, this is rather a radical thought.
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At the beginning of nearly every Potter Pundit segment in the Leaky Cauldron’s PotterCast show, Travis Prinzi, our host and moderator, makes the point that the program is a forum for serious  readers who are the real ‘Pundits.’ The talking heads on the program are only representatives of this much larger group. He says that not only to defer the inevitable Gilderoy Gang jokes, but because it’s the simple truth. The folks listening to those shows and reading our books (that would be you all) are the ones generating the conversation topics and the greater part of the discussion.

Recognizing that, allow me to share below the jump three CFPs or ‘Calls for Papers’ to a new essay collection and to two exciting conferences planned for 2012. They were sent to me with the sincere and formulaic request that I participate and with the hope that I would pass it on to you. You’ve got a Harry Potter essay in the drawer or an idea you’d like to expand and share with other serious readers. Time to get a round Tuit and start writing!

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I hope to see you in Orlando, Florida, 13-17 July, for the second edition of the Leaky Cauldron’s Leaky Con. You can read all about it and sign up here, if you haven’t already. It promises to be a Fandom spectacular, especially because of the movie release that will happen mid-conference and the presence of Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which all but guarantees a crowd of Harry Potter mecca pilgrims. As has been true of every conference since Nimbus 2003 (HPEF), also in Orlando, there are rumors that The Presence Herself will make an appearance.

But I wouldn’t count on that.

What you can count on will be two talks by me about subjects that will excite serious readers. Elizabeth Baird-Hardy will be there as well and we’re hoping that Travis Prinzi will join us for a co-ed, ad hoc Potter Pundits panel and maybe a podCast for The Hog’s Head. To read about my talks, make the jump! To see them, travel to Orlando —

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UPDATE: A longer version of this post is available at the International Business Times’ Book page.

I have been buried in owls about the PotterMore.com web site that Ms. Rowling will be launching Thursday. You can read about it at Entertainment Weekly, the BuzzFeed, and there is a good conversation already in progress at The Hog’s Head. An excellent summary of the ‘best guesses’ of what this new site will be about, seven guesses gathered from the global speculation the teaser announcements have inspired, can be found at ‘The Week.’

I’m confident the Hogwarts Professors will have more to say about PotterMore on Thursday, as we will about the movie franchise’s last installment in July. I want to note one thing now, though, and that is we have been assured that the new site’s launch is not the occasion for the announcement of a new Hogwarts saga book publication.

My two responses, consequently, to the new web site are “so what?” and “please don’t patronize me.”

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