|
|---|
AFS Land - Electronic storage space located on the ASU General server. Each student has access to a minimum of 10 Mb of personal disk storage space.
Alias - A name that points to another name. Aliases are used to make the original name easier to remember or to protect the site's identity.
Anchor - An HTML term for the destination end of a link. (The site to which you are linking your page.)
Archie - A program that catalogs files on over 1,000 Internet servers.
applet - A small (mini) program that adds functionality to another program. JAVA is a popular software language that creates applets for use over the Internet.
anonymous FTP - Sites (servers) that allow anyone access to download files (usually software).
America Online(AOL ) - A popular commercial online service with an easy-to-use graphical interface.
ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Administration Network) - The forerunner to the Internet.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) - The world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all upper/lowercase Latin letters and numbers.
ASU General Purpose Server - A UNIX computer that serves most of Arizona State University students' accounts. It also houses AFS space, which is electronic storage space.
Asynchonous Communication - Unlike a phone conversation, this type of communication is more like letter writing, permitting people to read messages at a different time than when they were sent.
Authentication - A method for identifying a user prior to granting permission to access, change, or delete information in a system. The most common type of authentication is a user password.
Bandwidth - The width or amount of information you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second.
baud rate - "Speed" of a communications device (modem) in bits-per- second (bps).
BBS - Bulletin Board System (a.k.a. electronic bulletin board). A BBS usually consists of a PC, modem, and communication software attached to one or more phone lines. Callers dial up the BBS and are able to download software, and send and receive messages.
Binhex (BINary HEXadecimal) - A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII.
bit - The smallest unit in the binary system. A bit is represented by a 0 or a 1 in binary notation.
BITNET (Because It's Time NETwork) - A wide area educational network that is part of the Internet.
bounce - E-mail that does not go through is said to have "bounced."
Bps (Bits-per-second) - The speed that data is moved from one place to another. A "28.8-baud modem" can move 28,800 bits-per-second.
Browser - An Internet application that lets users travel (surf) the World Wide Web (WWW)
byte - A unit in the binary system. Eight bits equals a byte, and one byte represents a character in our alphabet.
CGI - Common Gateway Interface. A language that works with HTML to improve the capabilities of a homepage.
Client/Server - A computing paradigm where processing is divided between an (graphical front-end) application running on a user's desktop machine and a (back-end) server that performs intensive processing tasks in response to client requests.
compression - A process that reduces the size of a file. Compressed files take up less space on computers and can be transferred more quickly.
CompuServe - One of the largest and the oldest commercial online services.
Crawlers (also called search engines) - Programs designed to search and categorize the World Wide Web.
CU-SeeMe - A free video-conferencing program (under copyright of Cornell University.)
Cyberpunk - The term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has evolved into a cultural label encompassing many different kinds of human, machine, and punk attitudes of those who inhabit Cyberspace.
Cyberspace - Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel "NEUROMANCER." The word Cyberspace is currently used to describe that space where people communicate through electronic computer networks.
database - A computer file that contains any type of data. Once information is collected in these files, they can be queried to provide organized informational reports.
DNS - Domain Name Service. An Internet service that allows us to use symbolic names (www.gm.com) instead of IP addresses (129.219.55.217) when contacting computers connected to the Internet.
domain name - A unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. www.asu.edu
domain name server - A server (computer) that tracks other machines and their numeric IP addresses. When a computer is referred to by name, a domain name server puts that name into the numeric IP address assigned to that computer.
download - File transfer from a server computer to the client computer.
downstream - Usenet users who get their news from you are "downstream" from the information flow.
Dr. Web - A group of dedicated individuals who answer Web-related questions. Dr. Web
Editor - Program used to edit a file, such as programming languages, markup languages, text formats, etc. Common editors are Simple Text for the Mac and Multi-pad for the PC.
Element - A basic unit of text within a descriptive markup language.
Ethernet - A network access method developed by Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel, and Xerox in the early 1970's. Ethernet is the most widely used LAN technology.
Eudora - A graphic e-mail program for Windows and Mac users. Shareware versions are available, but the full commercial version allows additional options.
Extension - The last three characters located after the period of an MS-DOS file name.
FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) - A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at approximately 10 times faster than Ethernet.
Fire Wall - A combination of hardware and software that separates a computer network from some areas of the Internet.
Flame - The term originally meant to carry on in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Now, however, it generally means to use harsh or crude remarks to another via e-mail.
Freenet - Computer networks and BBSs that provide free Internet access, many times through schools and libraries.
freeware - Free software that is available on the Internet! Generally, you can use it and distribute it but not modify it because of author rights.
FTP - File Transfer Protocol. The Internet protocol that provides network file transfer between any two networks.
Finger - An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites.
FYI - For Your Information.
.gif (Graphics Interchange Format) - A compressed graphics file format (extension), widely used in HTML.
Gopher - A successful system of making menus of material available over the Internet developed by the University of Minnesota. Gopher uses a standard Client and Server style program.
header - The top part of an e-mail message that contains information about who, where, when it was sent.
homepage - Usually the first page of a World Wide Web site.
Host - A server computer on a network that is a repository for services available to client computers on the network.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) - The tagging or coding language used to create hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. Generally read or viewed by Web Browsers.
HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) - The TCP/IP- based communications protocol developed for use on WWW. HTTP defines how clients and servers communicate over the Web.
Hyperlink - A "link" to other documents - pictures, buttons, "hot words" or phrases in a document that can be chosen by a reader to display more information.
Hypermedia - A computer-based information delivery method using text, graphics, animation, sound, video, that can be linked and treated as a single unit.
Hypertext - Originally used for all hyperlinks and still used for text that contains "links" to other documents. A non-linear method of organizing text, graphics and other kinds of data, which allows individual elements point to one another.
Information Superhighway - Another name for the Internet or global electronic communication network.
Interface - The particular way that two systems communicate with each other.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) - Multi-user live chat facility that permits users to "talk" to one another via real-time text. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person "conference calls."
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) - A way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets.
ISP - Internet Service Provider. Organizations, such as America Online (AOL), CompuServe, Prodigy, etc., that provide Internet access to a customer. These organization usually charge for their services.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). A compression software program that allows for the exchange of graphics between computers.
Leased-line - Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, seven-days-a-week use from your location to another location.
link - A link connects users to http files located on various computers around the world via the World Wide Web.
Listserv - An automated maillist that distributes mail to a list of subscribers. Listservs originated on BITNET, but they are now common on the Internet.
Login - An account name used to gain access to a computer system. It can also mean the act of accessing a computer system - going online.
lurker - A person who views CUSeeMe and newsgroup discussions, but does not participate in them.
Megabyte - A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes.
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) - A standard way of attaching non-text files (sound, graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents) to Internet e-mail messages.
mirror site - A site that mirrors the contents of another site. Used to lessen the load on a popular site.
modem (MOdulator, DEModulator) - A device that connects your computer to a phone line and allows the computer to talk to other computers.
moderator - A person who reads all the posts to a newsgroup before they are posted, to decide whether a particular message is appropriate to that newsgroup.
MOO (Mud, Object Oriented) - A multi-user environments where people role play and interact in real-time using objects.
Mosaic - Marc Andressen's first Web browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX computers.
MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) - A (text-based) multi-user simulation environment.
MUSH (Multi-User Simulated Hallucination) - Generally a MUD that uses a popular movie for its environment theme.
Netizen - From the term "citizen"; refers to a citizen of the Internet.
Netscape - A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm) browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed by Marc Andressen at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
Network - Two or more computers connected to share resources.
Newsgroup - A discussion group on Usenet.
newsreader - A software program used to read newsgroups.
NIC (Networked Information Center) - An office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names are registered.
nickname - A name given to an e-mail address.
Node - Any single computer connected to a network.
online - A computer connected to a computer network. More often referred to as a computer that is connected to the Internet.
page - One file on a WWW site. It can contain any amount of information, depending upon the size of the file.
Password - A personal code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters, not simple combinations.
PC - Personal computer
POP - Two commonly used meanings: "Point of Presence" and "Post Office Protocol."
Posting - A message entered into a network communications system.
Prodigy - A popular commercial online service.
protocol - A specific language that computers use to talk with each other; decided upon by the majority of users.
provider - A company or group that provides Internet service.
public domain - Software that is free to be used, distributed, or modified. It has been given to the public free of copyright infringement.
PPP (Point to Point Protocol) - A popular protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP connection to the Internet.
QuickTime - An Apple software program used to display video files. QuickTime movie files can contain text, sound, animation, and video, and are often very large. Because of their size, it can take a long time to download, especially if you are using model dialup access.
Router - A unique computer (or software package) that handles the connection between two or more networks "routing" file transmissions.
self-extracting archive - A compressed file that can be uncompressed simply by clicking on it.
server - A computer that provides a specific kind of service to client computers. Generally, this is file-sharing, information routing, or message delivery.
shareware - Software generally available on the Internet that you are permitted to try out. If you feel you will use it, a modest fee is expected to be paid to the developer. Usually these are demo or abbreviated versions of more powerful commercial versions.
signature - A text file that is automatically appended to an e-mail message. Generally these include several lines of text, and used as an easy way of signing e-mail messages.
.sit - The file extension for files created by Stuffit - a compression software.
site - a location on the Internet, i.e. WWW site, gopher site.
smiles - "Computer speak" for describing tone, body language or feelings. i.e. :-) or ;-) or :-(
SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) - A standard for using a regular telephone line (a "serial line") and a modem to connect a computer. SLIP connections are similar to and gradually being replaced by PPP.
SMDS (Switched Multimegabit Data Service) - A new high-speed data transfer standard.
snail mail - Traditional methods of sending mail - US Post Office.
Sysop (Systems Operator) - The person responsible for the operations of a computer system or network resource.
T-3 - A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. Much faster than a T-1 and capable of transferring full-screen full motion video.
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol is the standard used for transmitting data over the Internet.
Telnet - A protocal that allows you to connect to a remote computer over the Internet.
Terminal - The term used for a computer being used for work on a server computer.
text is data in unformatted ASCII code.
thread - A theme or concept that relates to a group of messages on a newsgroup or BBS.
timeout - A program or connection closes after a certain amount of idle time. When this happens, it is said to have "timed out."
TTFN (Ta Ta For Now) - A shorthand appended to a message meaning good-bye. Taken from Winnie the Pooh.
Turbogopher - A faster and graphic version of the Internet menu browsing system known as Gopher.
.txt - The file extension used for a text-only file.
upload - To transfer a file from the local or client computer to the server, or host computer.
upstream - Usenet users who send news are upstream -they send the information down to you.
URL - Universal Resource Locator. The address or location of the Internet resource.
Usenet - A huge system of discussion groups, with over 10,000 discussion areas called newsgroups.
userid - The account name you use when you log on to a server computer.
username - Synonymous with userid.
VR (virtual reality) - A computer-generated environment that simulates a real or fantasy world environment.
virus - A program designed to cause mischief or destroy data. The program causes problems by replicating itself or destroying critical parts of the computer's operating system or vital software.
VRML - Virtual Reality Modeling Language. A a programming language that creates a virtual environment accessible from Web browsers.
WAN (Wide Area Network) - Any computer network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.
Windows - a popular Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows users to easily access the resources of a personal computer.
WWW - World Wide Web is a global system of hypertext documents linked together by the Internet.
ZMODEM - The fastest file transfer-protocol; similar to Kermit, XMODEM, and YMODEM.
