I am being a rebel today and jumping forward to 'Thing 9-the cloud'.
I had somewhat of an idea about what the cloud is but was a bit wary of backing up on it as I knew I was not familiar enough with it. As suggested I checked my phone to see if I was unwittingly backing up photos on it and I am not. This is something I can now consider doing.
I read the article on Mashable which was a beginners guide. There is a much longer history to the cloud than I thought-stretching back to the 1950s. I now understand there is not just one cloud but several such as Google drive or Dropbox. I also know that the cloud is a network of servers and each server has a different function such as providing an online service or storing data. I was led to believe that the cloud was something different than servers so was surprised that this is how it functions. Previously I thought the cloud was only for storing data so I now realise I may have been accessing the cloud without realising it. I wonder how many people do? It is really important that people know and have control over these matters. In social care we often talk about supporting people who use the service to make informed choices. Perhaps when it comes to digital decisions such as backing up data we are not all making informed choices. This is something in future I will be more able to discuss with people confidently in work. In terms of safeguarding people who use the service and supporting them to make informed choices about their digital activity it is important that workers are educated in this area.
For organisations like mine I can see the attraction of moving to using the cloud as with other voluntary sector organisations we always have to think about husbanding the budget. The outlay and ongoing expense is less with the cloud and the ability to be flexible is really helpful too. In my role the ability to be mobile and still have access to data in different locations is great as I can be in different services and different office bases. I have this facility to an extent with my remote desktop although I understand it is not really the same as a cloud and there seems to be some limitations with it.
My main concern about the cloud is the security. Again not only for myself and other staff but for supported people using it. I would be slightly concerned about saving support plans with all the personal and private information contained within them. The article advised the cloud was great for storing 'non sensitive' information. This is a bit of a concern, but on reflection is it still not more protected than a support plan locked in an office cupboard that if someone really wanted to they could break into or get a copy of the key? I suppose password strength is paramount too. I had been advised before that the cloud is more secure than having server hardware. I did a quick google of this and the hits I had a look at were all of the opinion that that cloud is more secure or as secure as a server. I read in the article that Google will now automatically encrypt data for paid cloud storage service users. This could be good news for organisations like mine because I was starting to wonder where is it safe for sensitive data to be stored?
Putting knowledge and skills into practice is important. If I have to show someone else in work how to use the cloud to store data I need to be able to do it myself. I therefore used Google drive to store a word document. I was mindful as directed in 'Thing 9' not to use anything organisational, confidential or sensitive. I therefor created a test word document once I logged into Google drive. I did this on my laptop. I logged out and then logged into Google drive on my ipad and hey presto there it was. Really easy. This demonstrated to me the flexibility of using the cloud and I wouldn't have to necessarily carry a laptop around which would be great. For my own learning as well any material I am using for CPD or undertaking any courses I can then back up to the cloud and can access from any device at anytime and I wont lose it either. I do have a habit of saving materials for reading etc and then cannot locate them. Perhaps this will help me going forward. Also if I save them in a folder in work then I don't always have access to them out of work-which maybe when I have time to concentrate on reading them.
I feel that now I have consciously carried out this task for this 'thing' and have found it so straightforward I would be really confident in support others in work to do so to. So thank you SSSC for making me do it!
