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Cloud Computing by Emilce Sirkin

 

Cloud Computing 

By Emilce Sirkin


The Cloud

It was not until this year that I started to consider sending my personal files to the “Cloud,” such as all the school projects that I have done since I started to study at Palomar College in 2018. This year, a sense of uncertainty starting to tick my mind that I might lose all my school work if my 2017 laptop suddenly crashes. Now, that I have a better understanding that cloud computing “is a service model or an approach to uniting sellers and consumers through services provided over the Internet,” (Haugen and Musser) I can utilize this virtual storage and upload my files to the cloud and, voila! all my documents will be stored somewhere around the planet and my computer-crash worries will vanish. Even though I won’t have any idea where my files are located, I know for sure that, with a couple of clicks and no matter my geographical location, they will be the ones that will find me. For example, my email accounts (Hotmail and Gmail) and Google apps are examples of free-cloud computing services that I use.

Similarly, cloud computing services offers functional, operational, and economic benefits to educational institutions such as libraries. Since most of these institutions usually work with constrained budget resources, they do take advantage of these virtual services to store, access, and share information at a reduced price. In his research, Yanna Hu emphasizes that “the effective integration of library information resource sharing and cloud computing technology will definitely bring readers a better service experience, richer information resources, more comprehensive data analysis results, faster information update speed and safer data protection.” For instance, libraries can spend fewer resources on maintaining a large physical collection of books, instead offering this collection online so that readers can access and connect with the libraries online networks and read or listen to books without being within a physical building. Actions like this allow libraries to focus more on activities with direct benefit on their libraries’ mission and services. 

References

Hu, Yanna, et al. “Library Information Resource Sharing Cloud Service Based on Cloud Computing Mode.” Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, vol. 37, no. 5, Nov. 2019, pp. 5867–5875. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3233/JIFS-179168. Accessed 5 April 2021.

“Introduction to Technology and the Cloud: At Issue.” Technology and the Cloud, edited by David Haugen and Susan Musser, Greenhaven Pres, 2013. At Issue. Gale In Context: OpposingViewpoints,link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010846101/OVIC?u=cclc_palomar&sid= OVID&xid=61fb219b. Accessed 5 April 2021.







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