Tika & Cloud Sharing (from D. Joshua Taylor)

We were on our way to take an evening walk when I snapped this pix. As we walked, I was explaining to Tika and Handy Man what I'd learned from Josh Taylor about Sharing Genealogy in the 21st Century. I attended his presentation at NERGC (New England Regional Genealogical Conference).

"Sharing in this digital age is really collaborating," Josh said as an opening remark. "Sharing, or collaborating, is really the trend nowadays, like it or not." He then went on to give some reasons why it's a good thing to store your data in a cloud server:

• Having a central storage system is a good thing.
• Having universal access to this storage system is a good thing.
• Having a place to post "tons" (his word) of digital images is a good thing.
• Having a cost effective storage system is a good thing (over a home hard drive or box of flashes).
• Having a reliable constant backup and customer support is a good thing.
• Having mobile access to your data is a good thing.
• Having a system that avoids syncing problems is a good thing.
• Having a low cost system is a good thing. 

"When using a cloud server for wikis, blogs, twitters and more," Josh continued," it's good to consider some best practices:"

• Keep up-to-date on your cloud-computing or data provider for any actions needful on your part such as upgrades, authorizations, etc. 
• Try it first; try multiple solutions to ensure that you select a long-term solution for your genealogical data that meets your needs. 
• Ask questions; ask the company where the data is stored, how its backed up, etc.
• Have your own security standards:  Have your own list of key requirements necessary to you.
• Protect yourself and others; change passwords and other login information on a regular basis and create unique passwords for accounts.

Tika was ready for home, her dinner and my chair by this time, so I'll continue the lesson with the next post.