In the age when the entire world runs on the boon of scientific advancement and technology, Google docs is one of the best ways to conduct work or academic activities in an institute. This facility makes life easier and engages people to bring out their best, owing to the features that are provided and the ease of usage.
Google doc is very simple to use, and it is compatible with the following web browsers: Internet Explorer version 6 or higher, Safari 3.1 or higher and Firefox version 1.07 or higher (not Firefox 3). Also, the user needs to enable Javascript and cookies to work on Google docs on a computer. The user needs to have a Gmail account to avail the facility of Google docs. Once the person has an email account on the Gmail domain, he or she can easily have the facilities of usage that will only simplify all the tasks to a great extent.
The users can easily create or upload documents, presentations or spreadsheets online in various formats. The various file formats that are compatible with Google docs are: Hypertext markup language (HTML) files, Comma Separated Value files (.csv), Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files (.doc, .ppt or .pps, and .xls, respectively), Rich text format (.rtf), OpenDocument Text and Spreadsheet formats (.odt and .ods, respectively), Text files (.txt) AND StarOffice documents (.sxw).
The greatest thing about Google docs is the feature that enables the documents to be shared with people. The owner of a particular document can share a file with people whom he or she wishes to. These people can be given the right to only view the contents of the document, or even edit things that are present in the document. People can edit on the same document at the same time from different computers. Thus, a lot of time is saved and multiple resources can work on the same project or document, with edits beings simultaneously saved on the drive, so that everyone who has access to the document can see it. A list of the edits can also be found to ascertain what the specific changes are that are done by some person. The users who can edit are called collaborators, and the ones who can only view are called viewers. Collaborators can further invite more collaborators, if he or she is given the permission by the owner of the project or document to do so.
It is possible to create folder and sub-folders for all the work one does on Google docs. There are multiple options through which one can store and sort the data (storing alphabetically or by latest date, etc.). One of the greatest features of Google docs is the storage capacity that is provided to the users. A user can store up to 5,000 documents the space of which can go up to 500 kilobytes each. Also, 1,000 spreadsheets can be saved each of which can be up to 1 megabyte in size. Apart from this, 5,000 presentations that have a size of up to 10 megabytes each can also be stored. There is no chance of losing the data on the internet, and this is a safer way to keep documents, as no hard disk crash or virus can pose a hindrance to the existence and usage of the documents that are stored on Google docs.
The jeopardy is that one can change the data which the other person is working on, if the sharing process allows such an action. In such a case, the required data might get lost. Also, since people can work simultaneously on a document, the “undo” option might be an issue for the people. It can be so that simultaneously many edits are made. So, undoing the last change to reach a prior state on the document can be quite confusing for the users. This is something important that needs to be taken into account. Thus, it is safer if a backup copy is kept in a hard disk, in case some information is erroneously edited or deleted by some individual working on Google docs.
Google docs are surely the best way to keep all the information organized. The method enables easy sharing and contribution from multiple users. Education and teaching becomes easier if this process is properly utilized by the teachers as well as the students in the institute. Classroom teaching becomes a very easy thing with the introduction of Google docs in the list of facilities that are used by the teachers and the students.
Keeping all the pros and cons in mind, it can very well be concluded that Google docs is a boon to the present day computer users. It can make academic work a lot easier. Notes and handouts containing the information for study can be shared among the students. While mails or group mail can be an option, Google docs brings a new era of sharing and working on documents, making the entire process of communication and work more convenient than ever before. Thus, if this is added to the things that facilitate in the process of learning in the institute, it will be a huge boon for the students. Google docs will take the process of learning much ahead, and thus the students will be able to use the latest in technology and scientific advancement. It is best to use Google docs to get the utmost benefit out of it.
References
Google Apps in Classrooms and Schools. Retrieved from
https://docs.google.com/a/netscribes.com/presentation/d/1igbuSO-r38J5ngdGgAr70JoS0hOFAJ0qm5CN9WGYLmc/present#slide=id.i0
Strickland, Jonathan. How Google Docs Works. In howstuffworks. Retrieved from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/google-docs2.htm
