The Birdie Monk Holsclaw Memorial Lecture, NGS Family History Conference, 11 May 2011, Charleston, South Carolina

1. Birdie
Holsclaw
1

2. The Birdie Monk
Holsclaw Memorial Fund
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~coccgs/
Council-birdie.htm
or
http://bit.ly/birdie-fund
2

3. Cloud Computing &
Genealogical Collaboration:
How Technology Can Help Us Work Together
The First Birdie Monk Holsclaw Memorial Lecture
National Genealogical Society Family History Conference 2011
Jordan Jones
3

4. Roadmap
• What is Cloud Computing?
• How Can Genealogists Use the Cloud?
• What Are the Risks?
• Are You Already Using the Cloud?
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5. Pupils of the Colorado School for
the Deaf & Blind
5

6. Computing?
What is Cloud
“Cloud Computing,”Sam Johnston, 2009.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_computing.svg
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.
6

7. Definition of the
Cloud
Computation Software
Data Access Storage Services
• The cloud does “not require end-user knowledge of the physical
location and configuration of the system that delivers the
services.”
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8. In Other Words ...
• Previously, everyone who wanted to host a website or manage a
lot of data had to buy servers, configure, and maintain them, or
arrange for someone else to do this.
• Now, a layer of abstraction has been built, allowing servers,
software, databases and storage to be commoditized, delivered,
and maintained in bulk.
• The cloud allows people to know less and less about the systems
they use, because it “just works.” (Most of the time.)
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9. Aspects of the Cloud
• Accessible APIs (application programmer’s interfaces)
• Cost containment
• Device and location independence
• Scalability
• Reliability
• Maintenance and upgrades
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10. The Cloud Means
Cloud Computing, unattributed, 2010.
Device-Independence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_applications.jpg,
This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC 1.0
Universal Public Domain Dedication.
10

11. How Can
Genealogists Use
the Cloud?
11

12. Genealogical Uses
for the Cloud
• Digital Memory
• Collaborative Authoring
• Remote Backup
• File and Folder Sync
• Voice Services
• Operating System
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13. Digital Memory
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14. Digital Memory
• Store multimedia • Quick and easy
(digital audio, video,
images, text, files) • access (platform
ubiquity)
• Replaces “taking
notes” • web clipping
• Annotation • note taking
• Tagging • tasks and reminders
• Privacy • social media
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15. Digital Memory for
Genealogists
• Capture information where you are (courthouse,
cemetery, interviewing family)
• Quickly store that information and make it
available on multiple machines, or even share it
with other genealogists
• Can completely get rid of paper notes you take in
repositories, or it has for me
• Can function as a research log and research plan
• Can be set up to work with social media, or to be
private
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16. Evernote (Notebooks)
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17. Evernote (Tags)
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18. Evernote (Tags)
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19. Evernote (Media)
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20. SpringPad (Books)
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21. Collaborative
Authoring
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22. Google Docs
• Native editing • Create dynamic forms
interface and surveys
• Upload many file • http://
formats googledocs.blogspot.
com/
• Upload entire folders
• Share authoring and
editing rights with
one person or
everyone
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23. Google Docs
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24. Zoho
• Like Google, Zoho has • Meetings
a suite of web tools
• Project Planning
• Chat
• Wiki
• Docs
• Discussions
• E-mail
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25. Zoho Docs
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26. Other Competition
for Google Docs
• Microsoft Office Live www.officelive.com/
• Apple www.iwork.com
• Evernote
• File Sharing (but not online editing):
• Dropbox.com
• Box.net
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27. Remote Backup
27

28. Not Just Backup ...
Remote Backup
• If you backup your data only locally, a local disaster
could destroy both your computer and your backup
• Remote backup via cloud services
• Mozy - Used to provide unlimited backup for a
reasonable price. Continues to provide powerful
backup features, but with a pricier model.
• CrashPlan http://www.crashplan.com/ - My current
favorite. Reasonably priced unlimited backup, plus
“build-your-own-cloud” backup to friends machines
over the Internet
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29. CrashPlan
• The software (Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris) is free
• Backup to a friend’s computer over the Internet - free
• Backup your own computers - again, free
• Backup to an attached drive - you guessed it, free
• Backup to CrashPlan servers, or other cloud-based
servers, such as Amazon Web Services - starting at
$25 / year
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30. CrashPlan - Shared
Backups
30

31. File and Folder Sync
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32. Sync
• Keep files in sync between multiple machines
• Windows
• Mac OS
• Linux
• Mobile devices (iOS, Android)
32

33. Dropbox
• Syncs with any single folder on your hard drive, and
its subfolders
• Automatically keeps the Dropbox folder synced to
the cloud and then down to your configured systems
• 2 GB of free; up to 100 GB or more in paid accounts
• Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as the iOS,
BlackBerry, and Android mobile operating systems
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34. SugarSync
• Provides both sync and backup
• Can sync any files or folders on your system (not just
a single folder and everything below it)
• Especially good with multimedia, such as audio and
image files, automatically streaming audio and
making images viewable in albums
• 5GB free; up to 250 GB in paid accounts
• Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as the iOS,
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35. Zumo Drive
• Both file- and folder-level sharing is available.
• Syncs photos with iPhoto, Picasa, or the Windows
Pictures folder, and also provides a cloud-based
photo album.
• 2 GB is free; up to 500 GB is available in the paid
plan.
• Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android and Palm
Pre.
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36. Voice Services
36

37. Google Voice
• Free account to receive visual voicemail (automated
transcription) and actual phone calls, routed to one
or more phones, as you configure based on day of
the week and time
• Make Internet calls to the US or Canada for free
through 2011, with the ability to record incoming
calls; perfect for recording research interviews
• Now integrates with Sprint, meaning that Sprint users
can change the number of their cell phone to be
their Google Voice number, or vice versa
37

38. Operating System
38

39. Google Chrome OS
• Operating System designed for the cloud
• Minimal local disk drive
• All content files saved to the cloud
• Designed for the convergence of cloud and mobile
• All your content is anywhere you can log into the OS
• Completes the migration away from desktop
machines that started with the first laptop in 1983
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40. Google Chrome OS
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41. What Are the Risks?
41

42. Security and
Resiliency
• Nothing in life (or on the Internet) is guaranteed
• Servers can go down, even with planned redundancy
and resilience, as we saw with Amazon Web Services
in the last couple of weeks
• Dozens of cloud-based websites rely on a small
number of major cloud players (Amazon, RackSpace)
• There can be privacy concerns, as have recently
surfaced with Dropbox, Evernote, and others
42

43. However ...
• You are much more likely to lose files because you didn’t back
them up than because your remote backup service failed.
• You are much more likely to undergo a catastrophic failure of
your personal hard drive than that a cloud service will fail.
Additionally, the cloud service will be more likely to have a
working backup.
• If you are concerned about privacy, you can encrypt your data
before sending it to the cloud to backup or share.
• In terms of managing risk, using the cloud is preferable to not
using it
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44. Are You Already
Using the Cloud?
44

45. Do You Use?
• Google Products: Google Docs, Gmail, Picasa, GoogleMaps
• Yahoo Products: Yahoo, Flickr
• AmericanAncestors.com uses Amazon S3 (Simple Storage
Solution) to deliver records images
• FamilySearch.org uses Amazon EC2 (Electronic Compute Cloud)
and other Amazon cloud services to dynamically add servers
during peak load times and to quickly deliver new versions of its
website
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46. Thank You
These slides will be available at:
www.genealogymedia.com/talks/
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