Using Google Docs

Google docs is an online word processor which allows you to create, edit, format etc., documents with other users collaboratively and concurrently. It does this by the use of Cloud Computing - see previous blog entry for more on Cloud Computing- and it allows you to collaborate with other users in something known as 'real time'. 

This is a term used to refer to a computer's level of responsiveness which a user perceives as adequately instantaneous or which makes it possible for the computer to keep up with some sort of external process. In looking up an example of this other than Google Docs, I found the most perfect and accurate depiction of this concept on a site known as Worldometers whereby one can research World Population, Government and Economics, Society and Media, Environmental, Food, Water, Energy and Health statistics of which the data is to the millisecond and available virtually immediately! A few benefits of real-time processing is the efficiency and accuracy of it, one can get the exact, to-the-millisecond facts and figures about the data that they're researching, its benefits are beyond abundant and its potential uses in both businesses and organisations extremely profitable but a crucially important point is where the input data being process is coming from and the reliability of this source. 

Some of the features of Google Docs include (as stated in an overview of Google Docs by Google Support): 

• Uploading Word documents and converting them to Google documents 

• Adding flair and formatting to your documents by adjusting margins, spacing, fonts, and colors 

• Inviting other people to collaborate on a document with you, giving them edit, comment or view access 

• Collaborating online in real time and chatting with other collaborators — right from inside the document 

• Viewing your document's revision history and roll back to any previous version 

• Downloading a Google document to your desktop as a Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF, HTML or zip file 

• Translating a document to a different language Emailing your documents to other people as attachments 

Our assignment is to create a user guide/video/website for Google Docs and a few of our predominant objectives are to achieve a mature and professionally presented formatting to our user guide, to present a minimum of four features Google Docs has to offer, preferably unique and varied features, whilst using specialised vocabulary relevant to our topics, correct grammar and spelling usage, and finally, clear and precise information and/or instructions. 

I used this week's lesson to research ways in which I could film the screen of a computer in order to create a Google Docs tutorial-styled user video but each method I found to achieve this required software to be installed or program updates and on the whole, they were impractical and required time which could have been better spent on more reasonable and time-efficient presentation methods. Halfway through the lesson therefore, I made the alteration of creating a video not by recording the screen, but by taking screenshots of different features of Google Docs, compiling a video out of them and later adding a voice over walk-through. This is a simple method of carrying out this assignment yet effective and it will provide time to put greater consideration into the chosen features and how to best explain them and their functional uses, along with the configuration of the video itself. 

If I were to repeat this week's lesson, my main improvement to my learning would have to be to have made this transition quicker than I did because I wasted a half hour's worth of research on something that wasn't necessary to learn about in the end. I did however, in the process of this mistake, gain a great deal of knowledge about Google Docs as a program that I had not previously known so despite the negatives, a few positive points ensued. 

My main sources should you wish to find more information on these topics: 

Overview of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

What is Real Time?

The Cloud

"The cloud" is a frequently used term and one which many use but it's rarely fully understood. Though we all know that it is related to the internet and can act as some sort of storage, the full extent of its use is somewhat of a mystery to most of us. Today, we looked into the cloud in greater depth and learnt a lot more than we had previously known. 

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is storing and accessing data/programs over the internet  rather than on a computer's hard drive. It can also be servers which provide an online service such as Adobe Creative Cloud. The cloud is not a physical thing which often causes confusion for people, but really the term is simply a metaphor for the internet, which is simple and widely understood. It is a network of servers. And it can be accessed anywhere at anytime of your choice.

When is something considered 'cloud computing'?

For something to be considered cloud computing, the data/programs in question need to be accessed over the internet, or need to be synced with other data on the internet as opposed to using your computer's hard-drive. If you store data or run programs on your hard-drive, this becomes 'local storage and computing' and has no correlation to the cloud. 

What are the pros of cloud computing? Is it really that beneficial?

- Cloud computing is cost efficient. It is arguably the most cost efficient method of accessing and storing data to use, maintain and upgrade. When not using the cloud, companies spend a lot in terms of multiple users' licensing fees. In comparison, the cloud is available at much cheaper rates and save companies a lot of financial expense in IT related areas.  

- Cloud computing practically has unlimited storage. Storing and accessing data in the cloud provides almost unlimited storage capacity and so running out of storage space and increasing storage capacity - which takes time and money - becomes an unnecessary worry. 

- Backup and recovery is much easier and effective when dealing with the cloud than traditional data storage methods. 

- Accessibility to information. Once registered in the cloud, you can access your data from anywhere with an internet connection. The problems of time  zones and geographic location no longer exists.

- The advantage of quick deployment. Once you have opted for cloud computing, your entire system can be up and running in a time-span of a couple of minutes. 

And the cons? 

- All technology is vulnerable to technical issues and the cloud is not an exception to this fact. The cloud is prone to outages and many other technical malfunctions even with the best servers with high maintenance. 

- Complete reliance on the internet. In order to access the data on the cloud, you must have access to the internet which can of course be inaccessible depending on a number of variants. 

- Security risks. All data is adopted by a third-party cloud service provider which could of course potentially put the cloud user at a great risk. The only way around this is to choose a service provider with the utmost security but even then, you can never be fully sure that your data is safe. Similarly, you must accept the threat of external hack attacks so one must always keep J. Law's experience close at mind when using cloud computing. 

So overall, should I consider cloud computing?

In my personal opinion, cloud computing is the future, it's being used more and more and evolving at incredible rates. Innumerable industry experts have stated their belief as to the trend continuing to develop and thrive. Some of the biggest companies have already adopted it and rely fully on its advantages to bring in more money and attract potential customers.

My sources and more information:

The Beginner's Guide to the Cloud

What Is Cloud Computing?

The pros and cons of cloud computing

Thoughts on today's lesson:

If I were to repeat today's lesson, one thing I would change is that I didn't research the individual uses and benefits of the clouds to individuals rather than large corporations and businesses. I would also have looked more into the alternatives to cloud computing more such as local storage so that I could gain a wider perspective on how cloud computing will be the next big leap in IT.