By Nqaba Mpofu
Picture by BIGfish Communications
Google Drive is a cloud storage service. This means that you can store or upload your files onto the “cloud” , and thereby freeing up space on your computer. There a host of advantages for sing cloud storage, but for the purposes of this blog we will not cover those here.
The beauty here is that if you have a Google account, then you already have Google Drive, with15GB cloud storage for free! There is one drawback however. Google can, and does scan any file you have on the Drive. This means that Google can view your files whenever it wants to. There are ways to encrypt your data, if you subscribe to a third-party encryption service.
Google Drive’s main purpose is to store files and sync them to your computer. You can access Google Drive through its website to upload files and edit them online. But this is not all that Google Drive does. It also works as for all of your Google activity. Drive works together the various apps from Google such as Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, etc.
In typical IPK fashion of working in systemic and participatory ways, Google Drive has made collaboration easy. Google Drive allows you to share files, and you can set permissions for each person you’re sharing with. You can collaborate with up to 100 people on any Google Doc. This has been a great feature which has allowed us to work in real time with event organisers and participants at various stages of the process. Over and above using Google Drive when we run virtual events (synchronous work), we also use it to complete some activities that happen before or after we meet for the virtual session (asynchronous work).
If you would like to find out more about Google Drive and how we have used it in various mandates, please reach out to us on info@i-p-k.co.za and we’ll be glad to share our expertise with you.