Docking with Google

Only four more things to go, and not much time left! Next stop, Google Docs. I have come across this before, but stopped using it years ago. The 23 Things has made me realise both why I used it, and why I stopped - and why I should perhaps start using it again!

Why I started using Google Docs
The thing is, I'm the secretary of the <shameless plug> Cambridgeshire Archery Association </plug>. I write my minutes in Word and then attach them to an email which I circulate to the clubs. For a while, one of the members complained that he wasn't receiving my emails (because his email client wouldn't accept any emails with attachments). So, I tried out Google Docs. I set it so that anyone who had the link could read but not edit the minutes.

Why I stopped using Google Docs
There were two main problems. The first was that I found the formatting much trickier when writing into Google Docs than in Word (to which I've become much more accustomed). I'd upload the minutes, then spend the next half an hour changing them back to how they were supposed to look. In the end, when the member left the committee, I switched back to emailing everyone with the attachment, because it saved time. The second was that if the minutes were sitting in an inbox, they definitely had a greater chance of being read than if only the link was sitting in the inbox. I'd get to meetings and I'd be almost the only one who knew what the matters arising were!

My Google Doc drawing...waiting for replies...

Why I should start using Google Docs again

Through the 23 Things, I've since realised that, like a lot of the other social media, Google Docs's strength is in its collaboration. Minutes are a push-out of information, so frankly, email is definitely the best form of communicating them. No one is that bothered about what we get up to that they actively seek out the minutes! And while it's nice to have them online for all to view, the URL is a string of meaningless letters and numbers (I understand why, but it's not pretty, nor terribly memorable). Given that we have a website, it makes much more sense to post them there under a meaningful link.

I think if I use Google Docs again, it would have to be in order to make use of the advantages it has over Word-in-an-email-attachment. I used it wrongly before, which was why I didn't see its benefits. Now I have a better idea of what it can really do. I experimented with a drawing, since I couldn't think of anything to write which needed sharing (to which my blog will attest...). I've shared it, and now I'm just waiting for my collaborators to add something. It felt fairly simple, but I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Mmm, pudding. From lynn.wabbit on Flickr

As an entirely tangential aside, I feel my soul has been carved in twain, with half rendered unto Google (what with iGoogle, Docs, Calendar &c., &c.) and the other half rendered unto Facebook. Alas no soul left for Yahoo.