The computing cloud is everywhere. We use it to stream movies and store photos. The cloud backs up all of our online data. It’s where email and websites live. Unlike a cloud in the sky, though, we can’t see it.

So how does it actually work? What’s so great about it? And how has it come to be an essential part of our everyday lives in the last 10 years?

The College of Computing’s Russ Clark explains in this video installment of Tech+knowledge+Y (which, naturally, streams from the cloud). Click to play.