“Banking” on clouds
I do not have personal experience using cloud technology in a school environment and while overseas teaching in Japan had little knowledge of the existence of such online software. Looking back it could have been beneficial then but I think as many others have pointed out, privacy issues would likely have been a barrier to taking advantage of the potentials. The school I was working at had very strict regulations and policies surrounding internet usage and uploading files to the internet and although I never tried (and it may be different now as these technologies become more prominent and known) I think the school would have not allowed students to use these services and I would have faced heavy resistance from the higher-ups. I would be interested to know how many schools have changed (or HAD to change) their policies to reflect an openness to cloud technologies and their use by students.
In my studies I use googledocs for coordinating research efforts with partners and classmates. It allows us to share interview notes, add relfections and share resources without excessive emailing and downloading and saving hundreds of “newest” versions. Also as others have pointed out the auto-save feature of googledocs has “saved” me on numerous occasions.
I see these cloud software and services like banks. We send our money to an institution, it gets sent all over the place but we expect our deposited balance to be there when we need to access it from various locations through various means; debit at a restaurant, cash from an ATM, withdrawl from a branch institution). We have began to treat data much of the same way. Depositing it into “banks” where it is stored and we can retrieve/use it again later. Some of us have more than one “bank” in which we store data or different types of data at different “banks”. Just as it was difficult for the bank to convince the first few people that they should give them their money and they would hold it, keep it safe and the people could retrieve it when needed, so it is with cloud technologies convincing businesses and skeptics of security and privacy of using online data storage. But I think eventually many businesses/schools/people will go this route because of ease and accessibilty. Just as almost all of us have a convenience card for easy access to our money, increased wireless access makes mobile devices the new debit card to our cloud “accounts” for all our cloud “banking” needs.
So why haven’t I made a full switch to cloud storage. I’ve kept my files under my mattress (actually USB or on my laptop) for so long that the thought of organizing them all and moving them is daunting. Also like others suggested a consistent INEXPENSIVE internet connection is hard to come-by so I still would not likely be acccessing files in places like on the bus.
One last thought on security; After watching the video of security at Google’s Data center facility it almost seems easier to rob a bank (although not suggesting either of these) 😉
Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 08: Files in the Cloud
mcquaid 2:58 pm on October 26, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey, Jay.
I liked your comparison of banking to cloud computing – entrusting your money / files to someone else and getting it when you need it… maybe from a bank across the globe! Your comparison had me thinking, though. I don’t care if I get the same $20 bill I gave my bank. I DO care if I get the same file back from Google that I gave them. I don’t care much what a bank does with my non-unique-to-me money. I DO care what happens to my personal files, pictures, and ideas, and where they end up, and if someone has a copy of them.
Perhaps cloud computing is more like running a mint or federal reserve… sending money “out there”, but not allowing copying or destruction of it?
Jay 3:06 pm on October 26, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yes these are definitely holes in my banking analogy and I agree it is essential with cloud services such as Google that a person gets back the exact, unique-to-them data that is uploaded and without the risk of it’s replication and non-consented distribution.
Everton Walker 7:32 pm on October 26, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Jay,
The bank example is a good one. It’s amazing how many persons trust the bank with millions of dollars but are skeptical about doing the same with information. Which is more important? I have a strong feeling that all the skeptics will eventually buy into the cloud idea. This definitely seems to be the way forward especially as persons are now investing in mobile devices.
Everton
David William Price 1:39 pm on October 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Banks have insurance. Money is replaceable. Data is unique.
hall 3:59 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
I like your comparison; that is so creative. I agree with you that bank and cloud technology are similar but to a certain extent. In my view, data can be sold without your knowledge but money is not so. Also in light of David’s view, money is insured but can data be insured? I f cloud technology collapse could we retrieve our data?
kstooshnov 11:37 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jay,
It is amusing to read your thoughts on cloud computing in terms of Japan and banks, as the country has a reputation for being ahead of the technological curve, as parodied in this Onion article, but trying to get a couple thousand yen from an ATM past the bank’s early closing hour (7 pm for most parts of Japan I visited) was next to impossible. Mobile phones could do so many things (I was there prior to the iPhone 3 world-wide release) and no doubt they are still turned off and tucked away in school bags across the country. If data is similar to money, using Japan’s model, we’d have ten to twenty USB drives dangling from our mobile phones. However, on the upside, if we lost our phone somewhere, it would most likely be waiting for us, untampered, at the nearby kōban/police station. A very unique place, ne?
Kairu