Task #5 - Google Docs Rocks!

Well I've just spend an hour or so playing around with Google Docs and I can see that the potential of this form of collaboration out here in the really world. 

A group of colleagues and I have made plans to regularly meet and work through this Web 2.0 course together.  How I wished I had been able to make last week's session and seen first hand how easy it was to have multiple people working on a single document at one time.  Though in reading one of my colleagues blogs on the experience I was as equally surprised as she was at how easily it seems to work.  I had some reservations of what might happen with more than one person access a document at exactly the same time but her account was particularly encouraging and somewhat laid my fears to rest.  ONE GOLD STAR!

Yet the cynic in me was quite done yet!  I conducted my own general Internet search about Google Docs to see if there had been any problems associated with its security. I was initially taken back to see that there had been some breeches, but upon further investigation I was pleased to learn that these were dated from early in Google Docs introduction and that these had been acknowledged directly by Google and they where very open in their dealings with this issues, as too, articulating what steps have been taken to address these initial security concerns. TWO GOLD STARS!

 

The greatest plus of the new Google Doc layout to me is the ability to see and trace who is viewing a shared document at any time and when they have left the document.  The time stamping of this is also particularly handy, especially if you are waiting for particular input from a specific person.  Being the practical person I am,  I was concerned about the ability to access previous versions of a document and the option to restore a document to a previous version, should it be necessary.  Thanks to Google Docs Help I was relieved to find that this is indeed possible by accessing the the FILE menu within the document, selecting SEE REVISION HISTORY  and then it is a simple matter of clicking on the version you wish to see and if necessary select RESTORE THIS VERSION.  I was also please to see that they have built into the structure of Google Docs different colours to represent the different contributors changes and additions.  Being a strong visual learner myself this was a very big tick for me.  THREE GOLD STAR!

Another plus is the automatic saving facility within Google Docs.  FOUR GOLD STARS!

I must confess, however, that I initially found this a little difficulty to come to terms with and at one stage had multiple windows open.  It was at that point that I realise, you simply need to exit the document and all changes will be saved.  Seems fairly simple I know and I feel quite embarrassed acknowledging such a simple oversight on my behalf but it does highly a distinct difference between Google Docs and the standard Microsoft programmes most of us probably use on a day-to-day basis.

Another aspect of Google Docs I found interesting was to access the Template Galley and view it's 'Hottest' and 'Most Users' listings.  This gave me a little bit of an insight into what most people who are accessing this feature are using Google Docs for.  Personal organisation seemed to be very heavily represented with everything from Budgets, Planner, Calendars, To Do Lists and even Scrapbooks listed.  Clearly though the online storage and the ability to collaborate in real time on a range of documents/projects is the real stand out of the Google Docs application. FIVE GOLD STARS!

 ROCK ON GOOGLE DOCS!