Thing 19: Google Docs

I have never used Google Docs before, nor have I ever even heard of it. I just automatically resort to using the software on my computer to create presentations and spreadsheets. I logged in and created a document to share. It is very similar to Word in all of the fonts and settings. I tried to share it with another email address I have, but I received a message that to prevent email scammers, I could only share the link. I was able to email myself the link in order to log on and edit the document. I'm not sure if that was just because I am on a different computer than I usually use. I do like being able to save documents easily in different formats, and I also like the ease of having so many templates and examples readily available. This is different than my usual software, as is the ability to readily share. I am still nervous about saving applications in only one place, so would also save the documents to my hard drive as well as online.

Reading the Google Docs blog was interesting and gives me some great ideas to play with. Today's entry was on using the documents to organize a trip involving people all around the world. I can see this also being used to organize a reunion or other event. Many of the blog entries were geared for developers, but I did get some good tips for creating a presentation. I usually just use PowerPoint, but I can see collaborating among librarians in the district to save time. We wouldn't have to create our own presentations and email them back and forth. There were also some suggestions for using the budgeting applications. I will suggest this at our next librarian's meeting and since we are all taking the 23 Things course, we should all have practice. I hope it works!