Week 1 : Box.net - online file storage

Do any of these situations seem familiar:

• a customer wants to save a file but 1) doesn't want to email it to themselves and 2) doesn't want to burn it to a cd and 3) doesn't have a flash drive
• you've seen the same document ping-ponging back and forth between your liaison group with about 5 different amended versions and you're not sure which version is the latest - and it's not even 3pm yet
• a customer wants to be able to access their files from anywhere they can find an internet connection
• your colleagues (and even customers) want to be able to share their documents so teams can collaborate on a project
• a customer has files they want to share with other friends that are far too big (or too numerous) to send by email

Online file storage is making people's ability to access files from anywhere at any time so much easier.  Whether it's for personal or business reasons, it has become a lot more simple to store files online (pictures, documents, songs, videos).  The beauty of online file sharing is that you can keep it private or you can opt to share your files with friends.  Your invited friends can then create and upload new files, edit already existing files or simply leave a comment.  Box.net is merely one such site.  There are 4 types of pricing plans available for users and the one that we recommend you try for the purpose of this activity is the 'Lite' - users can store up to 1gb of items with a single file size limit of 25mb.  You will need to create an account - you won't, however, have to invite your colleagues to 'share' your files unless you really want to.  If you'd like to know what that would be like before doing it for yourself, check out my hastily created Box.net account ;)

Learning resource:
The short video clip below is provided by Box.net and explains why and how people would want to use this particular online file storage website.



'Now that Jim's files are stored securely online, he can access them from any computer and any mobile phone, making Jim a very happy person.'

Discovery Exercise:

• create a Box.net account
• upload a file of any kind - it could be an image, a pdf file, a microsoft word document, or even an mp3 file if you have one.  As a bonus, you can opt to share your folder and post the link to your blog
• create a post and in approximately 50 words consider: Is this anything we woud use for work purposes?  Would you use it personally?  How easy is it to use?  What worked for you?  What didn't? Would customers find this site useful? Would you promote this to customers?  Why/why not?

Your progress so far:
You've finished task 1 - YAY you!  1 task down, 5 to go :-)

What now?
Week 2 : Picapp - the best images for your blog