Hi,
It appears that some people have arrived at the wrong conclusion
about what I do for Parkinson's on the Internet and why I do it.
This is a bit surprising given I have consistently said I am donating
my services and will continue to do so, and have politely declined
any request to tender on a commercial basis.
To remove any possibility of confusion, I hope you will forgive me if
I spell it out very clearly my position, and post this to a number of
different forums so no one will be under any doubt.
For those of you who don't know anything about me,
http://www.coles.org.uk has a little bit about what resources I run
etc.
Anyway, on with The Very Clear Statement.....
I have no desire to start making money out of my Parkinson's
activities. The company I work for has no desire to make any money.
If people threw money at us, we'd probably refuse it.
You may ask why I am I so clear about this? For a number of reasons:
- for me or NIP to make money would put me in a difficult position
as a trustee of the Adrienne Coles Memorial Trust
(http://www.coles.org.uk)
- the Charity market holds no interest for NIP - any work in that field
will distract us from our core focus, for much less reward
- I do what I do out of personal commitment. I don't talk about it
much, to be honest I don't think its something I should or need to
mention often. Most of us who volunteer our efforts for Parkinson's
are are here for personal reasons.
To suggest my activities are for commercial gain is to insult both me
personally, my colleagues NIP who have given their time to help me
when I needed it, and to the owners/directors of NIP who have very
kindly placed whatever resources I needed at my disposal to help
improve the quantity and quality of PD resources on the Internet.
If anything, my Parkinson's related activities are carried out at a
considerable cost, both to me and NIP. Merlin (which hosts the
archive and other things) is no small machine, and was bought with my
personal money. The trust recently gave £4,000 to a part of the PDS.
Were NIP's services provided on a commercial basis the costs per year
would be into 5 or 6 figures. If this was market development funding,
it would have to be a really huge market (which it isn't).
I'm here because Parkinson's killed my mother, because my Father and
I spent a lot of time trying to help the PDS recover from a terrible
period in its history, and because I (foolishly perhaps) feel that
using my expertise and resources to assist Parkinson's Disease
activity on the Internet is the best thing I can do for the cause at
this time.
Before anyone extrapolates that to thinking I've got aspirations to
extend my involvement into the working of Parkinson's organisations,
its pretty clear to me that remaining focused is essential, not only
to remain effective, but because I'm due to become rather busy in Feb
(baby on the way).
I hope this clears up any confusion once and for all, and any
whispering can now cease.
Simon
--
--------- My opinions are my own, NIP's opinions are theirs ----------
Simon J. Coles Email: [log in to unmask]
New Information Paradigms Work Phone: +44 1344 753703
http://www.nipltd.com/ Work Fax: +44 1344 753742
=============== Life is too precious to take seriously ===============
