Journal 1; Computing in the clouds Nets-2 & 5

Johnson, D. (2009). Computing in the clouds. International society for technology and education, 37(4), Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200912#pg18

This journal is all about explaining what cloud computing is about and the opportunities in which you can utilize online access to different tools. This article explains how it’s beneficial to keep all your information on one network and the benefits of not having to hold all your information on your hard drive, so this offers you the chance to have less information on your computer which will make it run a lot faster or own a computer with a smaller hard drive. (Which can be a lot cheaper) The benefits that I get from the article is that you can work on any of your documents from any computer that you have access to, which can be helpful because many times you have documents saved only to your computer and unless you put it on a thumb drive or hard drive and bring it with you, your pretty much up a creek if you need it. I can see what a great tool this would be for school and kids because some kids don’t even have access to computers in their home or can’t afford thumb drives and it puts them in the same playing field as their fellow classmates. The other benefit to this cloud computing is the fact that you can’t really lose your data. The Internet is so reliable compared to your home computer, which can suddenly die for some random reason. I’ve lost information, pictures, and files that way and this is a way around that problem. The scary part of this whole idea though is that all your information is out there on the web. As safe as sites can be, there’s always someone out there that can get into it. I find security to be a huge barrier for myself and other people and the reason some won’t soon or ever jump on the cloud computing bandwagon.

QUESTION 1: How can children in schools benefit from cloud computing?

I think children who are introduced to cloud computing can benefit in many ways because they can have access to many more tools through the Internet without having to purchase them. Additionally it’s a huge financial savings for not only the parents but also a time saver for the schools because they don’t have to create a different e-mail for every student.

QUESTION 2: If this continues to really catch on, will it continue to be free to the public? Truthfully I have no idea. I know that Google will continue to be free, because they already benefit so much financially with everyone using their web browser. But in the long run, my prediction is that it will become something that might cost money and security will be a selling point. I’m not for the whole cloud computing, but interested in seeing where it leads in the future.