Retirement - or something like it

This is a very hard post to write.

I have to withdraw from PR and most of my other activities.

It will  be hard to do.

For 18 months I have suffered from severe depression followed by Nocturnal Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

The pills make me very tired ... albeit the side effects are fun.

The work on Automated Public Relations has been sporadic and I hope, one day, to return to this area of research and to teaching, which I enjoy.

Meanwhile, listening to the racing results formulaic announcement of the winners of horse races is an interesting activity.

The racing authorities have to provide accurate and timely results (it's a PR job) and from it gambling practitioners pay out winnings and journalists develop stories ready to publish. This is the data used by betting offices world-wide. It is the sort of information that automated editorial can use instead of the journalist and PR practitioner. It can be used for automated payments and many other applications.  If the data is late or inaccurate, the effect is dramatic and has a ripple effect.

In the past one might have had time to correct an error. No more. The computers are faster that people.

This has has a huge impact on PR. The need to be ethical in the delivery of such data is critical. The information has to be timely and precise. If not, the value of PR is as nothing.

The same could be said of many other, if not most PR activities. This affects wealth in many directions.

PR has to be timely, precise and ethical.

The role of PR organisations such as CIPR has changed. Now, it has a policing role and to become a member may be a much harder in the future.

I shall, of course, watch, even if it is from the sidelines.