Usage of Google Docs

Usage of Google Docs

by Matthieu Sylvie Emanuel De Beule -
Number of replies: 4

Is there any reason to use Google Docs instead of just distributing an .odt file?

I don't think you should be promoting using Google services, or at least I would appreciate an option to do without them, if at all possible.

Have a nice day,

Cheers,

Matthieu

In reply to Matthieu Sylvie Emanuel De Beule

Re: Usage of Google Docs

by Haoqian Zhang -

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback. 

Are there particular reasons that you do not want to use google doc service? 

You do can use .odt file for this homework. Google doc allows you to download the .odt file without any login. I download it for you, in case you have any trouble with using the Google service.

Best Regards

Haoqian

In reply to Haoqian Zhang

Re: Usage of Google Docs

by Matthieu Sylvie Emanuel De Beule -
> Are there particular reasons that you do not want to use google doc service?

Because it is proprietary software, because it is run by a surveillance company, because students shouldn't be pushed towards proprietary services by courses as a matter of principle. Students already have to use Zoom, which is outrageous (EPFL certainly has the resources to provide an ethical alternative) but sadly that ship seems to have sailed (and it's not something you can do anything about, of course).

Thank you for uploading the .odt file! It would be nice to provide this for future assignments as well, alternatively you can use an Etherpad Lite instance such as https://framapad.org/.

Have a nice day :)

In reply to Matthieu Sylvie Emanuel De Beule

Re: Usage of Google Docs

by Haoqian Zhang -

Thanks for your reply. 

To my knowledge, using Google doc service for courses does not violate any EPFL principle or regulation (If it does violate, please let me know).

You can use the .odt file for the future homework that relate to google doc service (unless we otherwise specify). You can simply download .odt files without any login on Google. If you are in areas like Mainland China or North Korea where the Google service is unavailable, we will figure out how to help you to finish the homework.

Haoqian

In reply to Matthieu Sylvie Emanuel De Beule

Re: Usage of Google Docs

by Enis Ceyhun Alp -
The cs234 staff works collectively to prepare the handouts. That means we simultaneously edit a document and leave comments for each other. It also helps us with versioning of documents. Sending each other bunch of ODT files is perhaps another method of online collaboration but it's a pretty infeasible and inefficient one so that's why we use Google Docs.

We are not "promoting" using Google services. EPFL students and staff can use their Tequila logins to access Google Drive so the convenience is the reason we use it.

-cey