How 1 Question is Changing the Programming Conversation

It started as a straightforward question presented on State of Control, the AVNation podcast I co-host with Tim Albright: Who owns the code?

As you often find in cases where you get a group of experts together talking about what they do day in and day out, the response was passionate, interesting and informative.  And like any good question, it brought up so many more.

In fact, the conversation, and the episode, was so popular that Commercial Integrator reached out to us about doing a webcast on the same topic that delved deeper and provided practical information for programmers, integrators and consultants about how code ownership works, the impact of legislation and best practices for articulating who owns what of the programming code in a given A/V project.  If you weren’t able to attend, check out the archive.

I was pleased to join Troy Morgan, also a guest on our code episode of A State of Control, on the webcast.  Together we shared the nitty gritty about who owns the code: sample contracts, expectations and stories from the field.  We talked more specifically about code, copyright and the stakes of the various players in an A/V project.

You know that an event like this was successful when the questions and feedback that you receive as a presenter get you thinking about the topic in new ways.  I was struck by feedback from a consultant who attended the webcast about whether there is a uniform best practices list for writing code.  I address this question and its importance in the ongoing code conversation in more detail over on Commercial Integrator.

Here, I would like to ask you, what is your take?  Understanding what we do about code- its utility to end users, its importance to consultants and integrators for delivering what their clients want and its product value for programmers, if we were to structure an industry-wide standard or best practices list, who would take the helm?  And what essential question would you include in the conversation?

Because as we all know, it only takes one question to change everything.