Method # 3--Cloud Computing

I’ve been using Gmail, Google Docs and a Google calendar for personal use, and I enjoy the convenience of being able to access these tools at both home and work.  Google docs has been helpful for me when switching from Mac/PC formats at home and work.  Google calendar has been a great organizer for our family calendar.  I love the ability to combine the calendars of my husband, daughter, myself and school.  Having all our dates on one calendar makes life so much easier for all of us.   I do, however, worry about privacy issues.  This is one of the main reasons I have avoided Facebook/My Space programs.  I want my personal life to be personal. I don’t really want myself that exposed to the world.   I appreciated Jenny Levine’s reminder that Google is a business and should we trust that what they are doing with the information they are gathering is always going to be in our best interest?  I think this is going to be one of the areas where libraries are really going to need to be educating our patrons (especially our younger patrons) on the pros/cons of cloud computing, as well as other 2.0 tools.

For my school library, I can envision many cloud computing benefits when  working with colleagues, students, and parents.  It will open up the library walls and allow more access to
library programs.  I think that this will be an amazing tool to keep connected
with colleagues on scheduling lessons in the library as well as planning lessons.  It is becoming harder and harder to find time to meet, but with Google Docs, we could be working together even if we’re not in the same space.   For students, I envision them colloborating on research projects together, but at their individual homes...sharing research, ideas and the actual project.   I can also see students in the library using google docs to create lists of what to read next type pages with peers adding on their favorites, as well as creating list of teacher favorites for students peruse.  I would love to have parents be able to add the library event dates from the library google calendar to their personal calendars, so they can see all that is going on in the library over the year, month, and week and can plan with those dates in mind.  This will also give them a clearer vision of our library program and it’s importance and impact on the school.

I think I am more cautious about cloud computing for myself.  While I am excited about  the many benefits to cloud computing such as taking time and place out of the equation,  I also see the problematic issues that surround relying on one place to store all our information and the security woes of giving businesses access to all our thoughts, interests, and data.  I look forward to learning more to help me balance the good and bad of the cloud, so I can make educated decisions for myself, my library and my patrons.