Does Cloud Computing Mean our Info is Really in the Clouds?

Sort of... Cloud computing is a safe, easy way to back up your technological information, data and documents. It also allows you to access your information from multiple technological devices such as, computers, iPads, cell phones, etc. Cloud computing maintains a safety and accessibility to our "need to know" data at all times. How does cloud computing work? Cloud computing is web-based. What does this mean? It means that the information is held somewhere in between our various devices. This is a blessing to many technological dependent humans who rely on having their information available at all times. Cloud computing also allows those same people to rest assure that their informations safety is not depending on one particular device. Have you ever had all your information stored on a USB drive and then had it break or decide to lose its function? I have! It is the most frustrating feeling as a professional to know that you are going to have to redo hours of work that was once already done. Even beyond that, sometimes there is information you simply cannot get back once it's lost; pictures, signed documents, etc. What does this mean for educators? It allows us to rest assure that our work is safely stored in the "clouds;" a web-based data storage system that will continuously back up our hard work and information. No longer do we need to repeatedly back-up our data on all our technological devices in hopes to salvage it. Instead, our information is sent throughout our devices, always being backed-up, forever at the tips of our fingers with just one click of a button. Cool? I think so...

Web 2.0 goes hand-in-hand with Cloud computing. There are various applications that are offered on web 2.0. Some of these are, blogger, google docs, presentation and reader, survey monkey, flickr, youtube, yodio, teamviewer, dropbox, Facebook and twitter. Most people have heard of these applications. However, are they really applications? There is no need to download them onto your computer or cell phone, right? At anytime a person can sign on to their personal blogger, Facebook, or google documents account and access their personal documents and work. With the various technological devices available now days, you can access your information from your cell phone, iPad or or computer. Like I said earlier, cloud computing is forever backing-up our work. Web 2.0 does similar work. There is no need to download our documents and software onto our technological devices, instead these applications are held in the "clouds" making them accessible from anywhere.