access point:
A device that allows wireless-equipped computers and other devices to communicate with a wired network.
address:
Identifies the location of an Internet resource. Examples: an e-mail address (doe.999@osu.edu); a web address (http://www.osu.edu); or an internet address (128.146.999.9).
anonymous FTP:
Archive sites where Internet users can log in and download files and programs without a special username or password. Typically, you enter anonymous as a username and your e-mail address as a password.
applet:
A program capable of running on any computer regardless of the operating system. Many applets can be downloaded from various sites on the Internet.
bandwidth:
A measurement of the amount of data that can be transmitted over a network at any given time. The higher the network's bandwidth, the greater the volume of data that can be transmitted.
binary file:
A file that cannot be read by standard text editor programs like Notepad or Simple Text. Examples: documents created by applications such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect or DOS files with the extension ".com" or ".exe".
blog:
Refers to a weblog, a web page that contains journal-like entries and links that are updated daily for public viewing.
bluetooth:
A wireless networking technology that allows users to send voice and data from one electronic device to another via radio waves.
boolean logic:
A form of algebra in which all values are reduced to either true/false, yes/no, on/off, or 1/0.
broadband connection:
A high-speed Internet connection; at present, cable modems and DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) are the two technologies that are most commonly available to provide such access.
browser:
A program used to access World Wide Web pages. Examples: Netscape or Internet Explorer.
CGI:
Common Gateway Interface; a mechanism used by most web servers to process data received from a client browser (e.g., a user). CGI scripts contain the instructions that tell the web server what to do with the data.
CMS:
Course Management System; a software application that provides the functionality for designing and making available eLearning content. A course management system may include features such as discussions, e-mail, assignments, and quizzes in addition to making digitized resources easily accessible (e.g., multimedia files).
CSS:
Cascading Style Sheet; A set of rules that define how web pages are displayed using CSS, designers can create rules that define how page
database:
A collection of information organized so that a computer application can quickly access selected information; it can be thought of as an electronic filing system. Traditional databases are organized by fields, records (a complete set of fields), and files (a collection of records). Alternatively, in a Hypertext database, any object (e.g., text, a picture, or a film) can be linked to any other object.
DHCP:
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol; a protocol that lets a server on a local network assign temporary IP addresses to a computer or other network devices.
DNS:
Domain Name System; a service for accessing a networked computer by name rather than by numerical address. Example: The name of the computer where many web files are located is www.osu.edu, while its numerical address is 128.146.214.28. OIT maintains two primary DNS servers that facilitate this kind of lookup; the IP addresses are 128.146.48.7 and 128.146.1.7.
domain:
Part of an Internet address. The network hierarchy consists of domains and subdomains. At the top are a number of major categories (e.g., com, edu, gov); next are domains within these categories (e.g., ohio-state); and then there are subdomains. The computer name is at the lowest level of the hierarchy.
Ethernet:
A popular network technology that enables data to travel at 10 megabits per second. Campus microcomputers connected to a network have Ethernet cards installed that are attached to Ethernet cabling. An Ethernet connection is often referred to as a "direct connection" and is capable of providing data transmission speeds over 500 Kbps.
face-to-face:
Sometimes abbreviated as F2F; a term that is commonly used to describe the traditional classroom learning environment where both the course instructor and students are in the same room.
FTP:
File Transfer Protocol; a method of exchanging files between computers via the Internet. A program like WS_FTP for IBM PC or compatibles or Fetch for Macintosh is required. Files can contain documents or programs and can be ASCII text or binary data.
GPS:
Global Positioning System; a collection of Earth-orbiting satellites. In a more common context, GPS actually refers to a GPS receiver which uses a mathematical principle called "trilateration" that can tell you exactly where you are on Earth at any moment.
GUI:
Graphical user interface; a mouse-based system that contains icons, drop-down menus, and windows where you point and click to indicate what you want to do. All new Windows and Macintosh computers currently being sold utilize this technology.
host:
A computer accessed by a user working at a remote location. Also refers to a specific computer connected to a TCP/IP network like the Internet.
HTML:
HyperText Markup Language; a language used for creating web pages. Various instructions and sets of tags are used to define how the document will look.
HTTP:
HyperText Transfer Protocol; a set of instructions that defines how a web server and a browser should interact. Example: When you open a location (e.g., enter a URL) in your browser, what actually happens is an HTTP command is sent to the web server directing it to fetch and return the requested web page.
hyperlink:
Connects one piece of information (anchor) to a related piece of information (anchor) in an electronic document. Clicking on a hyperlink takes you to directly to the linked destination which can be within the same document or in an entirely different document. Hyperlinks are commonly found on web pages and in Acrobat files.
hypertext:
Data that contains one or more links to other data; commonly seen in web pages and in online help files. Key words usually are underlined or highlighted. Example: If you look for information about "Cats" in a reference book and see a note that says "Refer also to Mammals" the two topics are considered to be linked. In a hypertext file, you click on a link to go directly to the related information.
IMAP:
Internet Message Access Protcol. A method of accessing e-mail messages on a server without downloading them to your local hard drive; it is the main difference between IMAP and POP3 which requires messages to be downloaded to a user's hard drive before the message can be read.
Internet:
A worldwide network based on the TCP/IP protocol that can connect almost any make or model of popular computers from micros to supercomputers. Because the campus network is a part of the Internet, all computers at OSU connected to it also are connected to the Internet. Special programs called "clients" enable users with a network connection to do things like process e-mail or browse web sites using the familiar interface of a desktop computer.
IP address:
Internet Protocol address; every computer connected to the Internet has a unique identifying number. Example: 128.146.1.3 for the OHSTMVSA computer which contains the TSO and WYLBUR systems. Typically computers also have a name in the format computername.subdomain.domain.Internet_domain (e.g., ohstmvsa.acs.ohio-state.edu).
Java:
A general purpose programming language commonly used in conjunction with web pages that feature animation. Small Java applications are called Java applets; many can be downloaded and run on your computer by a Java-compatible browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer.
JavaScript:
A publicly available scripting language that shares many of the features of Java; it is used to add dynamic content (various types of interactivity) to web pages.
LINUX:
An open-source operating system that runs on a number of hardware platforms including PCs and Macintoshes. Linux is freely available over the Internet.
network:
A group of interconnected computers capable of exchanging information. A network can be as few as several personal computers on a LAN or as large as the Internet, a worldwide network of computers.
network adapter:
A device that connects your computer to a network; also called an adapter card or network interface card.
network hub:
A common connection point for devices on a network.
NNTP:
Network News Transport Protocol; the protocol used for posting, distributing, and retrieving network news messages.
peer-to-peer:
A type of connection between two computers; both perform computations, store data, and make requests from each other (unlike a client-server connection where one computer makes a request and the other computer responds with information).
Perl:
Practical Extraction and Report Language; a programming language that is commonly used for writing CGI scripts used by most servers to process data received from a client browser.
post:
The act of sending a message to a particular network newsgroup.
public domain software:
Any non-copyrighted program; this software is free and can be used without restriction. Often confused with "freeware" (free software that is copyrighted by the author).
RTF:
Rich Text Format; a type of document formatting that enables special characteristics like fonts and margins to be included within an ASCII file. May be used when a document must be shared among users with different kinds of computers (e.g., IBM PC or compatibles and Macintoshes).
TCP/IP:
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; an agreed upon set of rules that tells computers how to exchange information over the Internet. Other Internet protocols like FTP, Gopher, and HTTP sit on top of TCP/IP.
tweet:
An update of 140 characters or less published by a Twitter user meant to answer the question, "What are you doing?" which provides other users with information about you.
UNIX:
A popular multitasking computer system often used as a server for electronic mail or for a web site. UNIX also is the leading operating system for workstations, although increasingly there is competition from Windows NT which offers many of the same features while running on an IBM PC or compatible computer.
URL:
Uniform Resource Locator; a means of identifying resources on the Internet. A full URL consists of three parts: the protocol (e.g., ftp, gopher, http, nntp, telnet); the server name and address; and the item's path. The protocol describes the type of item and is always followed by a colon (:). The server name and address identifies the computer where the information is stored and is preceded by two slashes (//). The path shows where an item is stored on the server and what the file is called; each segment of the location s preceded by a single slash (/). Examples: The URL for the OSU home page is http://www.osu.edu.
VPN:
Virtual Private Networking; a means of securely accessing resources on a network by connecting to a remote access server through the Internet or other network.
WAN:
Wide Arera Network; A group of networked computers covering a large geographical area (e.g., the Internet).
wireless (netwoking):
The ability to access the Internet without a physical network connection. Devices such as cell phones and PDAs that allow you to send and receive e-mail use a wireless Internet connection based on a protocol called WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). At this point, web sites that contain wireless Internet content are limited, but will multiply as the use of devices relying on WAP increases.
World Wide Web:
A hypertext-based system of servers on the Internet. Hypertext is data that contains one or more links to other data; a link can point to many different types of resources including text, graphics, sound, animated files, a network newsgroup, a telnet session, an FTP session, or another web server. You use a special program called a "browser" (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer) for viewing World Wide Web pages. Also referred to as "WWW" or "the web".
XHTML:
Extensible Hypertext Markup Language. A spinoff of the hypertext markup language (HTML) used for creating Web pages. It is based on the HTML 4.0 syntax, but has been modified to follow the guidelines of XML and is sometimes referred to as HTML 5.0.
XML:
Extensible Markup Language; A markup language for coding web documents that allows designers to create their own customized tags for structuring a page.
No comments:
Post a Comment