No matter how advanced our computers are, how fast our Internet connections are or how much we use and understand today's technology, an act of God can still trump it all.
This past Tuesday evening our group met on-line again to continue work on our domain element presentation. The clouds outside were dark, the air was still, and spotty storms were predicted for this area. Sure enough, during our meeting there was lightning nearby, the power went out and I was abruptly disconnected from the meeting. Although the electricity came back on almost immediately, our Internet service did not. I felt helpless and a little fearful---the last time this happened it took 4 days before our Internet service was restored. Thankfully, this time we were back online by midday on Wednesday.
These two incidents, however, make me wonder about the wisdom of relying solely on the Internet for information, communication, document storage, running applications, etc. The trend toward cloud computing means that more resources and services are being moved online. What happens if access to that cloud is taken away for a significant amount of time, either by an act of God or through human error or terror?
Anyone who teaches with technology knows that they should always have a Plan B. If our households, schools, and institutions increasingly rely on the Internet, what should be our Plan B?
This past Tuesday evening our group met on-line again to continue work on our domain element presentation. The clouds outside were dark, the air was still, and spotty storms were predicted for this area. Sure enough, during our meeting there was lightning nearby, the power went out and I was abruptly disconnected from the meeting. Although the electricity came back on almost immediately, our Internet service did not. I felt helpless and a little fearful---the last time this happened it took 4 days before our Internet service was restored. Thankfully, this time we were back online by midday on Wednesday.
These two incidents, however, make me wonder about the wisdom of relying solely on the Internet for information, communication, document storage, running applications, etc. The trend toward cloud computing means that more resources and services are being moved online. What happens if access to that cloud is taken away for a significant amount of time, either by an act of God or through human error or terror?
Anyone who teaches with technology knows that they should always have a Plan B. If our households, schools, and institutions increasingly rely on the Internet, what should be our Plan B?
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Deb, nice Wikipedia link on cloud computing. It is kind of scary to think about how heavily we have begun to rely on web applications managing our lives. From Flickr hosing our precious memories, Facebook our virtual social lives to Google keeping our innermost thoughts - via e-mail, blogging, voice, etc. So, i'm curious did your group haver a Plan B to anticipate the weather? If not, what would you do differently next time?
ReplyDeleteI had told my colleagues at the beginning of the meeting that the weather looked threatening so if I dropped off the session they would know what happened. We didn't have a Plan B, in fact, I didn't have any contact information for either of them other than e-mail addresses which were useless to me. Next time I'll ask for their phone numbers so we can conclude the meeting via cell phone if necessary.
ReplyDeleteGreat reminder. I think what you worry about is very true. Thanks for the post.
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