Cloud Computing: A Hierarchy of Topics

This blog is dedicated to breaking down the broad topic of cloud computing, from its history to how it's used today.  Cloud computing, in short, refers to hosting and providing workloads over the internet.  It's a virtual resource pool available on demand to its users (Knorr).  Through cloud computing, users can access extra storage space, power, or functionality without having to invest in new software.  There's a lot that it can do, and it's rapidly gaining popularity: you've likely used it yourself.  If you've written reports and shared them through Google Docs, accessed programs like Photoshop or InDesign through the Adobe Creative Cloud, or even used sites like Facebook and apps like iTunes to access music across devices - well, you've been using the cloud.

In the next few months, we will be posting along the following schedule:

1.What is the Cloud? How Does it Work? (Sept. 30th, Sara K.)

Perhaps somewhat self-explanatory: before we examine issues involving the cloud, we've got to know what it is and what it does.  We use it all the time, from our phones to our computers, often without realizing its full extent.

2. The History of the Cloud (October 7th, Sarah G.)

The internet is still relatively young, and the concept of Cloud Computing is younger still.  Who started it?  How has it grown?  We'll look at these questions this week.

3. Legal Ramifications of Cloud Usage (October 14th, Destiny)

Cloud-sharing makes data vastly more accessible.  However, the very nature of the cloud makes data breaches and malicious access a problem as well.  What big issues have curved the growth of the Cloud?

4. Security Implications of Worldwide Cloud Usage (Oct. 21st, Sara K.)

Segueing nicely from our Week 3 topic, we'll examine some of the ways coders are trying to keep the Cloud secure - and the concerns they still have for the future.

5. Service Models, Deployment Models, and Cloud Engineering (Oct. 28th, Sarah G.)

The Cloud can be broken down into different types based on its usage.  We'll take a look at these models, plus the kinds of jobs that keep them developing and running.

6. Limitations to the Cloud (Nov. 4th, Destiny)

There is a lot of misinformation about why or why not cloud computing should be used.  Here, we'll compare what it can't do and what  it can.

7. The Cloud in the Future (Bonus!)

The internet and its related technologies are evolving at astounding rates.  In this final bonus post, we'll look at ideas and predictions of how the Cloud might be used in the future.


Stay tuned!


(Source: Knoor, P. (2018.) What is cloud computing? Everything you need to know. Retrieved from https://www.infoworld.com/article/2683784/what-is-cloud-computing.html)