1. Teachers don’t stop working during the summer. We offer them remote access to all of their files in the event that they need to access student data, develop instructional materials for the coming year, or share files with colleagues. Many of our teachers come in to work during the summer and they expect to be able to log in and get their stuff.

2. Yes, we do some major upgrades during the summer but that is no excuse for losing user data – that’s just sloppy IT. We continue to run backups on a daily basis throughout the summer and if we have to replace a server, we do a full backup with the expectation that all the data will be put back onto the new system once the new box is in place. In this age of SANs, RAID, and a multitude of local and remote backup schemes, data just should not be lost. Period.

In what other industry would it be acceptable to tell the practitioners, “your files may not be here when you return from vacation, so do something about it.” Don’t get me wrong – I think your advice to teachers is important because I hear horror stories. I just think it’s a sad comment on the state of IT in some of our schools. How can we convince teachers to invest the time in creating content when we turn around and tell them it might not stick around over the summer?

Can Google scan your documents? Yes

Are they tracking your e-mails? Probably

Do I trust them with my data? Yes…just as I trust my back with my online banking account and my credit card company with my account info.

If something was going to happen and I needed those documents could I retrieve them? That’s my plan.

I guess it’s a personal choice but for me, I trust Google I save my docs to a draft e-mail and when I need to update them I just delete the e-mail and create a new one with the new scanned copy of the document.

Who else would I trust on the web? I don’t know but I feel a large cooperation like Google would work harder to keep my information private then some small company that I would have to worry being bought out and not knowing where that information would end up.

Facebook is the example I use with students. They’re gonna get bought at some point and you don’t know what company that will be and what they will decide to do with your data. Pretty good guess thought that Google would be the one buying not being bought, so I feel safer having them holding my information then say some other smaller company.

If you have other recommendations I’m all for it!