Google docs

I see from the dates of my documents that I've been using Google docs for about a year. The big advantages for me are portability and compatibility. I use OpenOffice at home whereas most public computers use Microsoft Office and sometimes refuse to open OpenOffice files which made attempting to work on a document very frustrating. Also, public computers aren't as willing to let you save documents to them before emailing them to yourself as they used to be so the fact that Google docs doesn't need to save to the hard drive of the computer you're using, or an easily forgotten memory stick, is great. I haven't had any problems with speed or the limited number of features, except that it doesn't integrated with the referencing software I use.

Because I'm studying for my librarianship MSc, I'm found far too often in the Bodleian reading articles or chapters and typing notes straight into a Google doc so I can copy and paste them into my assignments has made studying much easier than the pen and paper route. Google docs also lets me work on my assignments from any computer and acts as an external back-up in case of disaster at home.

However, I haven't used the 'share' options much; the only document I'm currently sharing is my sister's list of books she wants me to look out for! Perhaps that's something I can think about more in the future, but I doubt that anyone is particularly interested in my degree assignments that form most of my documents!