[Air-L] looking for a collaborative real-time editor

Dana Rotman danarot at gmail.com
Wed Jan 28 12:28:25 PST 2009


First, we must remember that GoogleDocs is a free service which is provided
under the terms of a unilateral service agreement, and that Google has the
ability to change/modify/revoke it (and the service at any given time).

A close look at the terms of service reveals some interesting caveats -
1. Section 11.1 determines that "By submitting, posting or displaying the
content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free,
and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish,
publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you
submit, post or display on or through, the Services." This may be just a tad
problematic privacy- and intellectual-property- wise. This sections
continues to include other undisclosed entities with whom "Google has
relationships for the provision of syndicated services".

2. Google's general privacy agreement (which applies in the case of
GoogleDocs as well) applies mostly to personal identifying information
(name, address, etc.), and to a lesser extent applies to the content of the
documents shared on GoogleDocs. The gap between the two, and the fact that
the content that is embedded in GoogleDocs is not protected by the company's
privacy policy can be a reason for concern.

This, of course, does not mean that it is a very helpful and convenient
service, but that it should be used with caution.

Dana
On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 3:07 PM, Cristina Lopez <clopez at umn.edu> wrote:

> Meryl: Googledocs is like a wiki in that you can use it to write
> collaboratively with others. But there are significant differences between
> Googledocs and wikis. In a wiki you can create a web of pages, while in
> Googledocs you can't. In Googledocs documents can be saved, published and
> printed in different formats, while material you create in a wiki is simply
> published right in the Web space. I think of Googledocs more as "MS Office
> plus"--same formats, similar ways of organizing, viewing and publishing
> documents, but with some added advantages, including the ability to share
> documents easily, access them from anywhere where you can get on the Web and
> chat with others who are viewing or editing the document.
>
> Dana: I was just going to ask about security. I'm glad you commented on
> that. Would you tell me more about Google's privacy policy?
>
> Cristina Lopez, Ph.D.
> Senior Educational Technology Consultant
> Office of Information Technology, Digital Media Center
> University of Minnesota
> 117 Pleasant St., SE
> 212 Walter Library
> Minneapolis, MN 55455
> 612.626.6639
>
>
>
>
> Meryl Krieger wrote:
>
>> so are you all saying you can use Googledocs as a kind of wiki tool?
>>
>> Thanks for the clarification,
>>
>> Meryl
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 2:34 PM, NANCY MCDONALD-KNWRTHY <
>> mcdonald-knwrthy.1 at osu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> google docs is a wonderful tool... I've taught M. Ed teachers to use it
>>> as
>>> part of their tech class in teacher prep... it works.  I think you'd all
>>> need to get a gmail account... I forget about that one... but to edit I
>>> think you need one.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Jess <jess at jesslaccetti.co.uk>
>>> Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:00 pm
>>> Subject: Re: [Air-L] looking for a collaborative real-time editor
>>> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Kim,
>>>>
>>>> You might try etherpad.com (I think it's out of beta testing)
>>>> and google docs?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Jess
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>>>  From: Kimberly Silk
>>>>  To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>>>>  Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 6:56 PM
>>>>  Subject: [Air-L] looking for a collaborative real-time editor
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
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