I have a friend who has just got a brand new iphone. He has
very little understanding of computers and the internet, apart from searching
with Google. He asked me about understanding the cloud. While the Apple icloud
will do marvelous things easily for the time being he only understands this as
a backup.
To teach him some basics I decided to describe 3 tools Dropbox,
Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) and Dropbox. Each is similar and can be
used for sharing material and each has differences for which I find it useful
to recommend all 3. Each tool has many uses and there are several overlaps in
functionality – they can in their own ways do a lot of what the other tools do.
However understanding some of the critical differences of each makes for easier
solving of problems and use in particular situations. They all save time and
help solve problems when understood and used well. Below are some of the
reasons why I will make a preference for each – each has more features than I
know or could want to describe here.
Dropbox
Often the first point of call as a cloud tool. Primarily it’s
point of difference is for file sharing. It has wonderful ease of use for
creating separate files on all devices that sync. If you work on a document at
work and want to view it at home Dropbox will automatically update your home
computer Dropbox, with a copy online so you can view the “box” of files from
any other computer on the web. With Dropbox you no longer need a usb stick.
Simplicity to learn and use is its selling point and
widespread use. A critical advantage for me is that I can import from Dropbox
onto my iPad via goodreader for reading or annotating pdfs. Otherwise I only
use it because of its popularity and use by others for sharing files with me
for which I have to have a Dropbox account. Otherwise I think I would have
stayed with Google Drive.
Google Drive
Formerly Google Docs, Drive is an extension or upgrade of Docs
to make it a competitor to the popularity of Dropbox. Docs was (and still is) fantastic for the
sharing of documents either to individuals or making them visible on the web.
It was even better for joint editing of documents online. These can either be
created online or uploaded as work or excel documents and then downloaded again
if needed. Marvellous for collaborative
teaching or working or crowdsourcing ideas. And there is marvellous
integrations with many of the other Google tools and applications like gmail.
And that is also it’s problem for a newbie like my friend. He has to navigate
his way around the world of Google to understand where the useful parts fit in.
That is the beauty of Dropbox as it has the “1tool for 1 purpose” advantage
making it simple to start and learn. And my friend doesn’t even want a gmail
account – he has enough to think about in the new world of apple and the
iphone! Which is also where Evernote
fits in.
Evernote
For me Evernote has the advantage of 1 tool for 1 purpose
like Dropbox. For me it works in part
because I like to think and work in text – so it is not for everyone in this
regard. I write lots of notes, diaries, emails, blogs, recipes and so on. Evernote
is a way of organising all these materials. A critical difference is the overall
search; and the taggability of each artifact I make. By organising notes into
book and individually tagging each note with a set of topics (eg a recipe might
be tagged with French, vegetarian, dessert and a few other reference points).
The next point of difference is that for shareability I don’t need to require
of others that they have an Evernote account (as is needed for Dropbox or Google).
I can just send the link of what I want
to share and it opens for anyone in the browser. No need for downloading
either. If I want to send a recipe for my mother to look at she doesn’t need to
know anything apart from clicking on the link. Another advantage is how easy it
is to use on the iPad. The challenge with the iPad – as well as getting
documents on, is getting documents off once I have created or edited them. No
need to worry with Evernote as the documents I create just automatically sync
with the cloud (and with my pc). Previously I used to create most Docs on the iPad in Notability and then export them
to Dropbox. Or create them in Chronicle and export to Google Docs. Evernote
takes this step out and I don’t have to think about saving to the cloud – it just
happens. And furthermore I can add audio, pictures or video recordings to each
document (for example in a meeting or at a conference) making it my app of
choice now for writing down most things.
Other thoughts for teaching my beginner friend.
Of course each of these tools will adapt to compete with
each other and keep their own niche – for the time being they are a great place
and way to learn the cloud. Other tools that could be good for teaching cloud
concepts are social bookmarking sites such as Diigo or Delicious. Amazon and
the syncing of the Kindle app across devices also makes a good cloud example.Then
there is the social web and the mixing of social and cloud tools with ittt.com –
but that is a long way down the track.
For the moment I will continue with these tools for my
friend. At the beginning I have made a
mistake in attempting to show him Evernote (due to my current enthusiasm) solely
on the iphone. He has started making some notes of movies he watches for later
reference but still does not have any inkling about the cloud except other than
that it might become a backup for his new iphone. It will be better that I take
him back to his old pc and show him Dropbox and work through the other 2 tools
from there.
Of course there are many other advantages and uses for these
3 tools. What do you like about them and which would you choose to teach a
newbie friend about the cloud?
Image: 'What’s on my iPhone'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15261067@N00/3969329831
Found on flickrcc.net
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15261067@N00/3969329831
Found on flickrcc.net
