Google Workspace at Hampshire: FAQ

Spring 2022: The IT Department conducted a survey in the fall concerning our current email and calendar system. After careful consideration, we have decided to transition our email to Gmail and our personal and office calendars to Google Calendar after the end of the spring semester in late May, 2022. Detailed instructions, an FAQ, and regular project updates for the transition will be posted on our Intranet HERE (login required). Questions not answered on our Intranet can be directed to the IT Leadership Team.

What Google services are available with my Hampshire Google account?

Currently enabled services include:

Gmail
Calendar
Drive (including Docs, Sheets, Slides, Shared Drives, etc)
Forms
Keep
Meet
Groups

Will Google mine my data?

Google claims to not mine or use the data of Google Workspace for Education users when they are using Google Workspace for Education core services. In our case, this includes Google Drive and Hangouts. All other services (YouTube, Maps, etc.) are considered "additional" services and fall under Google's standard terms of service (i.e. they will mine your data).

Will there be ads in my Hampshire Google Account?

Google Workspace for Education Core Services, such as Gmail, Calendar, Google Drive, will not display ads. “Additional” services (see above) may display ads.

What Browser(s) should I use to access my Hampshire Google Account?

Google's own Chrome web browser works well with the Google Apps product suite. Firefox is a good second choice, but any modern web browser will work.

Who owns the data I put on my Hampshire Google Account?

Our contract with Google states that Hampshire College (or its students, faculty, and staff) are the sole owners of data stored in Google Apps and ensures FERPA- and HIPAA-compliant file storage. It also specifies that Google has no claim to ownership of Hampshire’s data nor will they data mine the Google Workspace for Education Core Services.

How reliable are Google Apps? I’ve heard of outages occurring.

Google services go down very rarely. Google guarantees that services will be available at least 99.9% of the time. You can also check on the status of various Google Apps on their App Status Page.

Are Google Apps backed up? I’m concerned about losing data.

Google stores your data on multiple servers in different locations. Is there a possibility of losing data? Yes, of course. If you are working on files that are critical to your project and are hesitant about using Google services, you can continue to use Hampshire file servers.

Mobile Devices

To access the services included in Hampshire's Google Workspace from an iOS or Android device, please download the appropriate app (Docs, Sheets, Hangouts, etc) from the App Store or Google Play Store.