Cloud computing in social networks and assignment in lecture 6

First, we have to find out what is cloud computing. Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet). It means that the end user can get remote services by providing data to the server without doing all the complicated work using the local computer. This significantly reduces the computation load of local computer and more importantly it saves time for users!

A technical innovation always brings a new market. The emerge of cloud computing also provides enormous chance for IT field, such as the rise of Google. Cloud environments typically provide low level abstractions of computation or storage. Computation and Storage Clouds are complementary and act as building blocks from which high level service Clouds and mash-ups can be created. Storage Clouds are often used to extend the capabilities of storage-limited devices such as phones and desktops, and provide transparent access to data from anywhere.

Social network is just a model taking the advantages of cloud computing. It uses the trust relationships between friends as a foundation of data and services. And we take facebook as an example.

It indicates that if the users register Cloud services and their friends can then able to provision and use these resources through the Social Cloud Facebook application. The number of applications of cloud computing in social network will be increasing rapidly. Believe it or not, these kind of applications will finally change our life!

During the lecture 6, we have two assignments in class, an individual one and a group one according to a reading material.

Here I will share my answers of these questions (group work):

1)      What is the definition of Social Cloud?

A Social Cloud is a resource and service sharing framework utilizing relationships established between members of a social network.

2)      What are the possible applications of a Social Cloud?

The applications can be classified into five aspects shown as below:

1. A Social Computation Cloud: such as Onlive.com, web-based email service.
2. A Social Storage Cloud: such as SkyDrive by Microsoft. 3. A Social Collaborative Cloud: such as GOOGLE Docs. 4. A Social Cloud for Public Science: such as Wikipedia. 5. An Enterprise Social Cloud: such as Moodle@CUHK.

3)      What was the epistemic aims in (1) Class Activity One (individual work) and (2) Class Activity Two (group work)? Is there any change in epistemic aim? If so, why did you change your aims?

In the individual work, we aim at find out the answer from the reading material which is just in a metacognition level. While in the group work, we aim at discuss the problems and achieve more comprehensive and integrate ideas. We convey our ideas and improve our solutions by absorbing others’ opinion. This process make the understanding become real knowledge and that’s why we change our aims.

4)      Are there any differences in terms of individual and group epistemic cognition, how?

I think the answer is yes, there are some differences between them. The epistemic cognition of group might be more comprehensive and diverse than the individual one. You might have some limitation when solving a problem. But when it comes to group work, this shortage might be eliminated easily. That’s why you can always learn from your teammates.

5)      How did you approach to the problem individually and in group, respectively? Are there any differences in the processes involved?

In the individual work, I approach to the problem only by searching the reading material and my own experience. While in the group work, the opinions from my teammates make my answer more comprehensive and accurate.