Web 2.0 Training - Online Productivity

This week we learned about online productivity tools, specifically online calenders and Google Docs. Online calenders are probably helpful to people that have jam-packed schedules, but I don't think they're for me. Usually I only have a vague idea of what my weekend plans might be, and when I finally decide to formalize those plans, I doubt that I would take the time to input them onto my computer. Besides, I already have a fully functional calender that keeps my entire life in order - no, I never get my schedule confused, because all I have to do is call my wife and ask her what our plans are.

Google Docs would have been very helpful when I was in college and working on group assignments, but these days I don't think I would use it personally. Still, I think they would help at any job where group presentations or reports are required. Google Docs allows any updates to take place online and in one place, so one group member won't edit something that has already been changed. The document will also look the same on every computer; you don't have to worry about different computer settings changing the entire look of the report.

I think that librarians could also recommend Google Docs to any patron that uses the CHPL computers to work on projects. Does this sound familiar: a patron works 'all day' on a paper, then 'saves' their work (or 'emails a copy to themselves'), but then we find them desperately returning the next day to the same computer, hoping and praying that a copy is still on the computer because they DID NOT actually save their work. Of course their work has already been deleted off of the computer, and of course they proceed to get mad at you. Maybe if we recommended Google Docs to people working on their papers, librarians could avoid these issues and documents would actually be saved online. Of course, if these people can't handle the enormous difficulty of clicking the big 'attach' key located in every single email program known to man, followed by a quick click of the 'send' button, well, then Google Docs might seem just a tad advanced...