Some of you have heard about this thing called ‘The Cloud’ when it comes to storing and accessing information and media online – but perhaps are not exactly sure what it is? Lets break it down a little….
Human beings throughout time have been fascinated by the sky. Celestial references and mention of the world in the sky are found in various religions from “God above”, to “Zues” on his cloud dolling out thunderbolts. The enormity of the sky and its landscape of clouds has become a metaphor for that which is without limit.
It is this sentiment that lead to the term “cloud” in regard to computing. The cloud began as a reference to the shape of internet network diagrams, but has since been absorbed into pop/media culture to describe the vast and forever multiplying body of information called the internet.
If something is in the ‘cloud’, it is not stored locally on one computer but uploaded into cyberspace to be downloaded by anyone else with access.
For example, the blog you are reading is in the cloud, as is YouTube, Wikipedia and the .Me account that many of you may be utilising on a day to day basis. On the contrary, the Pages documents on your computer – ie your half yearly reports and other classroom tidbits that you have been working on are not.
Any valuable emerging technology can define its value by its level of connectivity – that is, its ability to connect you with information, other people or the physical world around you. In short, technology today derives its value from its ability to connect with the best of the cloud! Think iPhone over landline. Think iPad over (lugging around) your library!
The value of the cloud then can be understood by the increase in freedom that it allows. It does not matter where you connect to the cloud from, it only matters that you can connect. The advantages for education are obvious – it means that students, teachers and parents can access information at anytime, from any place without the constraints of physical location.
UPDATE TO POST - Came across this on the FastCompany site:
“The much-hyped cloud really is growing — so quickly, in fact, that this year’s New York conference is expected to draw 5,000 attendees, more than quadruple last year’s crowd. Even President Barack Obama has called for a switch to cloud computing, because it can stretch the $80 billion budget for federal technology spending. But you have to separate the interest from the reality: According to a recent Forrester survey, only 3% of companies have implemented cloud-hosted storage and servers. – ACL
(Surely this is a comment on the slow moving nature of tech adoption rather than the value of the option? – Ed)
Click through HERE for the Cloud Computing Expo! (PS, Just spotted, www.cloud.com domain currently up for sale! – Ed)
Until next time, work hard, inspire and explore!
Beyond Chalk Blog
