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

[Nick Lalone]

The security of Google Docs always seemed adequate to me. The permissions
and public use of the knowledge created through google docs that fall into
the second point you make is or seems to be addressed by Google:

We've received questions over time about the meaning of section 11.1 of our
Terms of Service <http://www.google.com/google-d-s/terms.html>. We realize
that for those not familiar with legal agreements for services that use the
Internet, these terms can look confusing, or even frightening.

The first thing to understand is that this language doesn't give Google
ownership rights to your data. You, and you alone, own your content. Whether
you wish to keep your content totally private, or share it with the world,
that's your choice.
However, in order to honor this choice, Google Docs needs permission to
display your content as you see fit. This is what we mean by a "license to
reproduce." We need to ensure that when you click the "Publish document"
button, or use the "Invite collaborators" option, we have the license to
carry out your wishes. It is this agreement, between Google Docs and you,
the user, that section 11.1 of our Terms of Service reflects.

http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=82366&ctx=sibling&topic=15143


Also, from google, they've embedded video chat through gmail with audio so
you can collaborate through video/voip with typed chat on the document
itself.

In all of the work i've done with professors and students, Google Docs has
really stood out.

Nick

On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Dana Rotman <danarot at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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> >>
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-- 
Nick LaLone
512.633.0207