This morning on the radio I heard someone say that a document could be stored “in the cloud,” and determined once and for all to discover just what cloud computing means. I’m sure my understanding is quite simplistic, but to me, cloud computing means that resources and tools that consumers use are available via the Internet and therefore they do not have to own these tools to use them. Virtual software (Web 2.0 tools) allows users to create, manage, manipulate, mashup, store, and share words, images, ideas, and projects with a desktop, laptop, netbook, iPod touch, or smart phone.
I’ve been working in the cloud for awhile, but I did not know that’s what I was doing. I am also striving to get students to do the same; they need to understand how the world is communicating.
Then, this morning,coincidentally, I learned from @21stprincipal via Twitter about a cool Web tool called One Page Per Day, where users are encouraged to write just one page per day–presumably towards a novel or other major work. How wonderful! Seems like a good motivator.
Thoreau told us that if we have built our castles in the air, our work need not be lost. “That is where they should be,” he said. If we write in the cloud, we can imagine and share from everywhere, not just from our desks. Write in the cloud, and after, put foundations under our castles.