GoalExplain cloud computing as a way of offering digital services over the internet and name three kinds.
New words
cloud computing · a way of offering digital services over the internetcloud storage · keeping files and folders online instead of only on your own devicesoftware over the internet · using a program through the internet without installing itsharing electronic resources · sharing and exchanging files with other people online
Explanation
Cloud computing is a model for offering digital services over the internet. There are three main kinds. The first is cloud storage: files and folders are kept online instead of only on your own device. The second is software over the internet: you use a program through the internet, with no need to install it. Remember Week 5, where installing took several steps; here you skip them. The third is sharing electronic resources: people share and exchange files over the internet. Do not think of the cloud as magic. The word cloud is only a picture. Your files really live on powerful computers in buildings called data centres, and you reach them through the internet. A password protects them, as Week 8 taught. Week 10 will show another tool that uses the cloud.
Kind
What it is
Like…
Cloud storage
files kept online
a warehouse for your boxes
Software over the internet
a program used without installing it
borrowing a tool instead of buying it
Sharing resources
files shared and exchanged online
a notice board that many can read
Worked examples
Salma saves her science project online. At school she opens it on a school computer, and at home she opens it again on a laptop. The file is not on either device only; it is kept online.
open the program online→draw the poster→save it online
Omar wants to draw a poster. He uses a drawing program through the internet. He does not install anything. He opens the program, draws, and saves the poster online.
Karim thinks his file is “up in the sky”. His teacher explains that it is on real computers in a data centre, kept safe in a building, and reached through the internet. The cloud is a picture; the computers are real.
Class activity
Draw a cloud in the middle of a page and three boxes around it: “storage”, “software over the internet” and “sharing”. In each box write what it does and one example from school. Then underline the sentence that explains why the cloud is not magic.
Practice
1
What is cloud computing?
A way of offering digital services over the internet.
2
Name the three kinds of cloud service in this lesson.
Cloud storage, software over the internet, and sharing electronic resources.
3
Where does a file in the cloud really live?
On powerful computers in a data centre.
4
What do you not have to do when you use software over the internet?
