Long Time Coming

It is no surprise that since the development of the Internet print sales of the publication have gone south. The epitome of an encyclopedia is to get quick, accurate information about just any topic. Although I think the Internet is great, I find it sad that this "historic" information source will no longer be tangible. It doesn't surprise me that last year print editions only accounted for 15% of the company's revenue, and didn't cover what it cost to produce it.
The story is not all sad however, Britannica will still be selling a product online. The company has increasingly been selling their electronic edition and has been extremely well received by schools and institutions. One of the major positive attributes of the online edition is that the encyclopedia is continually updated and kept accurate. Although you'd have to be reading a very old copy, topics such as Persia (instead of Iran) would be outdated. To me, that's one o the cooler parts of having something like that outdated and unchanged. It wouldn't be useful for current factual information, but it's interesting, and sad to see a perspective gone. There will no longer be a time where you can look to this historical publication and see what was previously perceived as fact.

The Nature of P.R.

I find it comical that companies devote so much of their resources to public relations. An essential part of any large business, the power of good P.R. can make or break you in a tricky situation. For example, think of Toyota’s debacle with alleged sticky gas petals, or BP’s oil spill in the Gulf. Each company had their fair share of accusations against them, however they are no longer topics on the news. The dictionary definition of Public Relations is, “The professional maintenance of a favorable public image by an organization or a famous person.” So, is P.R. seen as a safety net for when things go wrong? Or if things go wrong?

The nature of a company or person actively seeking to make things better in the eye of the public before anything bad happens seems greasy to me. Who would want to take part in a business that is going to need defense for something they did incorrectly? Is that any better than a child who has done something wrong and has an excuse waiting for the adult? At the very least it’s interesting to see how companies handle a situation nobody would like to be in, and sometimes even look better at the end of it. That’s when P.R. turns into an “art.”