Thing 17: Google Docs

Google Docs : wikis :: office software : web editing software

I can certainly see how having an online document could be more efficient for people who are working together on a project. It would be useful for committee work, preparing group presentations for conference and meetings or tracking budget information in a branch. I haven't been able to imagine useful applications for the general public in a library setting, unless we decided not to renew MS office and instead offered instructions for using cloud storage. There are better options there though: Open Office, for one, is more robust than Google Docs, and just as costly.

Cloud storage is a useful backup method for personal documents. I use it to back things up at home. I wouldn't want to have it me my primary method though (and I wouldn't be comfortable recommending it to others) because I would rather have control of my documents. I don't suppose Google's system is less reliable than my laptop or a flash drive, but if I were giving a presentation somewhere and the network or Google were down (it happens), that would be the end of the presentation (or at least the visual aids). If I'm simply using it for backup, the odds of something going wrong with my own device AND the cloud storage system are much lower.