Looking through the Horizon Report, there are a number of technologies prime for viewing under McLuhan's microscope. From mobile devices to smart objects, each of these can be seen as an extension of the human condition, augmenting the way in which we interact with the world around us using technology. One of the more interesting examples to me was that of cloud computing.
As an extension of the human condition, one can look at this as an extension of the brain, the memory, and the ability to compute answers to problems as any computer does. Going beyond normal computers, cloud computing extends the capacity of internal hard drives and memory on computers and allows the computer user to host their work outside of their desktop. As cited by the article, the memory is almost limitless, the access is instant, and the ability to expand and contract as space is needed is available to anyone using the cloud.
The retrieval that comes from off-loading data to a larger "cloud" of memory is the ability to share and connect your work to a wide range of people, including colleagues and classmates you may have lost contact with. Furthermore, the easy separation of data from your personal computer makes access to data on the road or in transit much more feasible and instantaneous. This also would seem to make netbooks the ideal portable computing solution of the future, as netbooks have a limited capacity to how many programs they can run at the same time. If all of that heavy lifting is done in another place and space, there is no reason to continue to use the bulkier and more costly laptops. More access would be given to people with less money to spend on laptops, and the lightness of this type of computing would allow more mobility. Students could, in this scenario, maybe each be outfitted with a netbook for mobile lessons outside of the classroom.
Is this reflection an endorsement of cloud computing? Not at all. There are many dangers and ways in which cloud computing could be exploited that must be considered. At its maximum implementation, cloud computing would make obsolete the internal hard drive on one's computer and in some ways, the memory as well. If your computer is not expending energy running programs with them run on a server somewhere else, it is unnecessary to have both a ton of memory and a large amount of disk space on a computer. Furthermore, onecould look at cloud computing as a double amputation of sorts: not only is one using the computer to hold, store, remember, compute, but cloud computing takes it one step further when one externalizes the central nervous system of the computer.
If the cloud computing phenomenon becomes extremely popular, and profitable, the ability to exploit and charge for the benefits of the cloud become very real. This would lead to concerns about access - especially in school districts where funds are limited - and of exploitation of the free nature of education. Pay-for-service models have been explored and while giants such as Google have made money by giving things away, this does not mean that the precedent is set for it staying this way. In using these products, there exists a large amount of trust that the host of your cloud will consistently allow you full access to information (and not charge once the data is uploaded into the system), treat the information with due confidentiality (especially when dealing with underage students), and that they are consistently backing up the data. Another concern that arises if the technology reverses upon itself is the dependency on the cloud computing and its detrimental effects of a service outage. Two significant Google products outages this year (one in May, one a few weeks ago) showed the dependency on these cloud services and the problems that arise when a server goes down or a patching exercise goes awry. If students in a classroom became too dependent on posting homework and assignments to a cloud-based computing system, then issues could arise surrounding deadlines, computer access, service outages, and even security of information
These are not reason to completely avoid using terrific cloud-based products like Google Documents and Flickr to share and collaborate, but the lessons must now be thought through further to account for the times when those services are unavailable or breached. If the technology is overextended, as with any product, there is a chance that hard work, output, and months of research or assignments could be lost. As with anything in life, a balance must be struck that allows for careful protection of students data as well as technological advancement. Teachers must be aware of the benefits and disadvantages of cloud computing and take all measures to make sure that the students' educational experience is enhanced, not hindered, by the implementation of cloud computing in the classroom.
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You make some very interesting points, very clearly and coherently, particularly in your assessment of disadvantages of cloud computing. This solution has been taken up recently by several organizations with which I am familiar and the way it has been touted in some of the mainstream press has felt at times a tad overzealous. Like Google, like Flickr, like social engineering sites, cloud computing can prove to be a very useful tool. It is important to recognize that while it might be a terrific and exciting new method to reduce overhead costs for servers and memory storage, it is hardly foolproof. Outtages, like that experienced with Google recently, are to be expected; what will be more important is how they are handled and how things change as a result.
ReplyDeleteIt's particularly interesting how you link this to teaching. Teachers, as well as others, should be prepared and continue to be informed. With rapid changes taking place, it is sometimes difficult to not be intimidated to the point where we do not use these tools. Hopefully we can find a way to effectively use them and help our students and clients learn to do the same, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of each new and exciting technological advance.