Thoughts on Google Docs

As with Delicious (see previous blog post), the online sharing of resources has become increasingly favoured. One only has to consider the popularity of Wikipedia, which attracts users on a worldwide scale, or the level of interest generated by the controversial website WikiLeaks.

As well as enabling individuals to share information of personal interest, or documents that they have written, the storing of information online ensures its safekeeping. Files and resources are commonly saved on an individual’s computer. Unless these are backed up, the failure of that particular computer could cause such information to be lost. Saving work through a website such as Google Docs ensures that documents do not rely completely on personal computers, USBs or back up CDs.

Furthermore, documents stored on Google Docs can be accessed from any computer with internet access, allowing personal documents to be read and edited without the need to carry a personal laptop or USB.

Google Docs has been of use to me during this module in two ways. Firstly it has ensured peace of mind that my work is backed up in the safest way possible. Secondly it has allowed me to access it from computers other than my personal laptop.

In the future I would hope to extend my use of Google Docs to sharing work with others online, as I have not needed to do so during the course of my project. Google Docs would be of particular benefit to any collaborative projects where the authors cannot always work together.