The Internet (with a capital "I") is simply an enormous group of interconnected networks.  Interconnected is a way of saying that any computer in the group can virtually touch any other computer in the group.  Millions of computers around the globe are connected to the Internet. 

The World Wide Web (or Web with a capital "W"), is the way that people use their computers to move through the Internet to read information, publish information, communicate, play games, complete commercial transactions or other activities.

Cloud Computing  is the term for using services which are supported on computers that can be located anywhere in the world as long as they are connected to the Internet. For services "in the cloud," the physical location of the service provider is unimportant as long as the subscriber can get to their account, data, or files at any time, from anywhere in the world, over the Internet.  Cloud computing services can be convenient, but they are not necessarily secure and you may lose proprietary rights to your data, images, and files if you store them outside of Rice's protected, private cloud.

Rice University provides a private cloud, a secure environment for Rice community members to share IT resources for educational and/or research projects and collaborations. For a comparison of services in the public and private clouds, see the cloud computing PDF .

New Services in Rice's Private Cloud

• Blogs - essentially an electronic diary (web log) with entries in reverse date order (most recent first); blogs can be set up to allow readers to add their comments, or they can be restricted so that the content in the blog is read-only to everyone except the administrator.  Blogs for university courses CAN be set up but they might be best used as a mail service since OWL-Space, the university's official course management tool, is already set up for privacy and restricts participation to the students registered for the course, as well as their instructors.
• Wikis - an electronic knowledge management tool that consists of a number of web-style pages of content in a "space."  Like blogs, wikis can be set up to allow members of a group to add and edit pages in the space.  The format of a wiki is better suited for collaborating on documentation than a blog because the group members can actually change each other's content instead of being restricted to commenting on the published content.  OWL-Space already contains course collaboration tools that are limited to registered participants in the course, but wikis are useful for less formal collaborations.
• CLE@R    - Curricular Linux Environment at Rice - going into production in spring 2010; a Linux cluster for teaching and courseware needs
  
• Dropbox  - website where you can upload very large files and specify recipients for them; helpful for sharing dense files and attachments too large to distribute via email.
• JIRA - bug or issue tracking software, can also be used for project management
• Subversion - versioning (file check-in, check-out, edit tracking) system

Additional services in Rice's Private Cloud

• Email - rice.edu email accounts are made available to employees and in-coming students as soon as the offer of admission or employment has been accepted and documented in the university's Banner system.
• Electronic Storage - also known as your personal or home directory or your department's shared directory. 20G of storage is available to every department, center, or Rice group that is listed in the Rice phone book.
• Calendar - personal calendars available to all University community members' personal calendars. In addition, department and club accounts are available for the university events calendar. Email webservices@rice.edu to set up an events account for your group.
• web site hosting - available as part of storage.rice.edu (electronic storage space) for individuals and departments
  
• OWL-Space - Rice's official course management and collaboration application
• Voice Over IP - VOIP service is available at Rice.
• Unified Messaging - forwarding voicemail from Rice telephones to Rice email accounts. To set up this service, contact tele@rice.edu with your department org code for the $100 one-time charge.
• Sharepoint - Microsoft's collaboration suite, offered through Web Services. Typical uses include file sharing, knowledge sharing, document versioning, and event calendars. It features "plug and play" web objects that can be easily added to pages to enhance functionality. It has been used for over 50 projects at Rice including executive searches and projects such as RiceNet2. It requires a Rice login or local server account to access the web sites.
• Portal or my.rice.edu - existing as well as customizable pages that display channels of information via RSS feeds
• FileMaker Hosting - Web Services offers secure hosting for department's Filemaker databases
• Portfolio Image management -  commercial software application used for organizing and managing images and photos; supported by Web Services
• Videoconferencing, webcast and classroom capture - digital recordings of presentation and lectures, as well as live, shared classroom environments; supported by Educational Technologies

Rice Web Sites for You and Your Department, Course or Club

• Personal: Every employee and student at Rice University has the ability to publish data within the Rice network on a personal web site.  These Rice web sites are publicly accessible, so your friends and colleagues can browse your web site from their own computers over the Internet. 
• Department: Divisions and departments, schools, centers, instititutes, and clubs often manage a group web site. 
• Course: In addition, course web sites are available on OWL-Space, Rice's course management and collaboration tool. Wikis and blogs can be used to supplement course web sites. 
• Applications and Development: For groups and individuals who need assistance developing a web sites or applications, IT's Web Services provides professional web and application design, development, hosting, graphic design services, and other web support-related services.
• Portal: The campus portal (my.rice.edu) includes several pre-populated pages of links, customized for various Rice community groups.  By logging in with your NetID, you can create a customized portal page that draws in channels of information and links from both Rice and external sources like CNN, Facebook, and traffic and weather sites.