Week IX: Social Tools & Cloud Computing

This week's class taught us about GoogleDocs, cloud computing, and social bookmarking. GoogleDocs is a resource that I would like to start using more often. It is similar to a wiki in that different people can view the document just to read it or to alter it, and then save it so others can see it. I think this would be a great tool for a work schedule in a restaurant that changes often. It would also be great for group projects or sign-up sheets. I have wanted to use it in the past, but I get stuck because not all people have a Google account so they would have to make one. Some people are hesitant about doing this.

Cloud computing is something that I had never heard of prior to this week's class. This is a metaphor for the internet and is the purchasing of servers from companies that physically story the hardware to maintain all of the websites that consumers use regularly. Our email, for example, is not something that is stored inside of our computer. We rely on the websites we use and the companies that provide them to support our files and messages. Many of the larger companies do this through cloud computing which allows them to use as much space as they need when they need it. When usage goes down, so does their requirements of servers so they pay less.

GoogleDocs is something that anyone, regardless of their career, can use. I plan on using this in my practice for it will make many things more mainstreamed for my employees and myself. I do not plan on having a website in which I will need to use cloud computing but it is interesting to learn about it and understand how the internet works. I am glad to have learned about this.

I came across "sustainable cloud computing" when I was researching it. I came across an article by Ariel Schwartz from September 30, 2009 called "Can Cloud Computing Ever Truly Be Sustainable?". The article discusses how some companies try and be sustainable at their data centers by balancing their energy use, but the author questions whether or not this could ever be truly attained. I think this brings a good perspective to something that you don't intuitively think about when discussing cloud computing.