I will first tell you a little bit about my history with Gcal - my first Google calendar entry happened on February 19, 2008. This was right around the time that I finally let go of my very first e-mail account made with yahoo. Part of what I like about online calendars is the ability to go back in time, reliving the memories from the calendar entries. You can see an example of this in the image screenshot shown from the weekend of my very first ALA conference in Chicago. I had mapped out all of the sessions I wanted to attend and was able to sync them to my phone (a blackberry at the time). My husband is the same way, and likes reminiscing when looking back at his yahoo calendar (I have just recently convinced him to make the switch to Google - partly because he is now a droid user.). His Yale years hold many good memories, and he has been hesitant to make the switch in fear of losing those date entries. But, he finally got fed up with yahoo and has been learning all about the tools that Google provides.
For me, Google calendar (really, all things Google) has enabled me to have a fully synced life. With my droid revolution, I'm able to sync my google calendar, tasks, e-mail, docs, reader, and google plus accounts with ease. Further uses include:
*Public calendar options for embedding
When I built the website for the North Madison County Public Library system, I chose Google calendar as the event calendar for the site. The coding was easily customizable and patrons were able to "subscribe" to the event calendar by adding the public calendar to their personal account. Additionally, the color coding options that Google provided made it easy to view events for certain departments at a glance.
*Public calendar options for subscribingAfter my husband switched over to Google, I was able to help him make his calendar public, in order to share it with me. The public link was then added to my own calendar account, with the option to hide the calendar from view when not in use. We have a unique situation where we are very much coming and going at opposite times As such, it has been nice to view his calendar to see when he's tied up with something I shouldn't disturb.
I have also found that Wunderground.com provides an ical option for weather locations. I love this feature since it gives more detailed weather descriptions than the built in weather option Google gives you.
*OutlookI haven't been successful in finding a streamlined process for integrating Google calendar with Outlook, but I have a pretty good workaround. I have my work e-mail forwarded to my Gmail account and am using filters to place these forwarded e-mails in a work folder. After doing this, any outlook meeting request sent to my work e-mail is automatically added to both outlook and Google calendar. I have also added all of my individual calendars to outlook through the internet calendar option. It gets a little cluttered, but seems to be the option that is working best for me for now.
*New FeaturesIn an effort to continue with the collaboration options that Google provides through many of its tools, Gcal has now integrated appointment slots. I'm in the process of building a website for my husband. As a music teacher, has has wanted a system that would allow students to sign up for lesson times with ease. Using Google calendar will enable him to set appointment times, students will then be able to grab those appointments, and it will automatically update his personal calendar. The only downside is that the students will need to have a google account, but shouldn't everyone have a google account?!
The possibilities really are endless with Google calendar and I would love to hear how others are utilizing this great tool!
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