Glossary of Terms >>

Anonymous FTP
An FTP service that permits any user, not just those with accounts at the host site, to access and download files.

Archie
An Internet service that searches directories of FTP sites by keyword.

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Administration Network)
Originally DARPANET. The network developed in the 1960s by the US Department of Defense. Originally this was intended to determine if a wide-area network could survive a nuclear war. This network developed into the Internet we have today.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
The standard used to represent all of the upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and punctuation in the Latin alphabet.

Avatar
A virtual identity, normally three-dimensional, taken by visitors to a virtual world.

Backbone
The major communications links between different locations of computer networks.

Baud
Commonly thought of as how many bits per second a modem can send or receive.

Bit (Binary DigIT)
A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 (one) or a 0 (zero). The smallest unit of computerized data.

Cyberspace
A term used to describe the sum total of worldwide computer-accessible information.

DARPANET
The network developed in the 1960s by the US Department of Defense. Originally this was intended to determine if a wide-area network could survive a nuclear war. Later became known as ARPANET. This network developed into the Internet we have today.

Digest
A special form of a mail list that groups messages together and sends them on a periodic basis such as daily rather than sending each individual email as it is received.

Domain name
A unique name that identifies an Internet site. www.med.miami.edu is the domain name for the University of Miami School of Medicine

Email (Electronic Mail)
A way to send a message to another person, or group of people, through the computer.

External image
An image that isn't displayed when a webpage loads (like an inline image) but is accessed by a hyperlink from the page. An external image is usually very large which is why it is displayed on a separate page.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
An electronic document that itemizes and answers the most common questions on a particular subject.

Flame
A message that disparages or attacks another person. Generally seen on a mail list or newsgroup.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
A method for logging into an Internet site to send or receive files.

.GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
A format of digitized images, designed to be transportable between computer systems. The GIF format is used almost entirely for inline images that appear on webpages.

Gopher
A service that provides menus listing files available over the Internet.

Helper applications
Software that works with web browsers to perform functions such as viewing video and graphic files or editing text.

Homepage
The first and main page of a website.

Host
A computer on the Internet, or any other network, that provides services.

HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol)
A protocol that allows HTML documents to be moved across the Internet.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
A formatting language used to create pages on the WWW. A major feature allows documents to link to any other document on the web. Documents can be viewed through a browser that runs on your computer.

Hyperlink
A link within a hypertext document. The link can be text, image, sound, or video. The reader can click on a link to get more information about a topic or transfer to another site with related information.

Hypermedia
An interactive system for linking text, video, sound, and animation within a document.

Hypertext
An interactive system for linking text within documents to other documents, known as hypertext links. The reader can click on a word or phrase to get more information about a topic.

IP Address (Internet Protocol Address)
The unique number that identifies every computer on the Internet. Each unique number has four parts separated by dots. Generally you do not have to know a computer's IP address to access it. You use the domain name and this is translated to an IP address.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
An Internet service modeled after CB radio that allows groups of people to chat with each other by typing messages that are seen by everyone accessing the same "channel."

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A company that provides access to the Internet to individuals and companies.

Inline image
An image that appears or loads on a webpage at the same time as the text.

Internet
A global network of computer networks linking computers of all types. The Internet is not owned or controlled by any single business, government, or organization.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
An image file format that supports multiple levels of file compression. Image quality is inversely related to the level of compression used.

Kbps (Kilobits per second)
A measure of how many kilobits can be moved from one place to another per second. A kilobit is 1,024 bits.

Leased line
A phone line that is rented for exclusive use, generally by a company. Internet sites with permanent connections, rather than modem dial-up, used leased lines to connect to an Internet backbone.

Listserv
A specific type of mail list application, presently the most common mail list type on the Internet.

Login
The method used to identify an individual prior to allowing access to a computer system.

Mail list
A service that allows a group of people who are interested in a particular topic to send email messages to one place and have them automatically distributed to everyone in the group.

Mirror site
An alternative site to the main computer website that "mirrors" or duplicates the content of the main site. The mirror site helps to handle the high volume of traffic (or visitors) to a popular website.

Modem (MOdulator, DEModulator)
A hardware device that allows your computer to talk to other computers through a phone line.

MUD (Multi-User Dungeon, Domain, or Dimension)
An environment that allows multiple users to interact in a simulation.

Netiquette
The etiquette rules of the Internet.

Netizen
A citizen of the Internet, i.e., any Internet user.

Newsgroup
An electronic discussion group. The Internet hosts thousands of newsgroups on specific topics. Sometimes referred to as Usenet groups.

Newsreader
A software program that allows you to read and post messages on a newsgroup.

Online Service
A paid service, such as CompuServe or America Online, that provides a wide variety of interactive services and content to its subscribers. All major online services offer full Internet access to their customers.

Plan, Plan File
A special file that contains information about each Internet user. It is accessible through Finger utilities.

POP
1. (Point of Presence)
A city or location where an ISP offers local dial-up access to the Internet.
2. (Post Office Protocol)
A protocol for receiving email from an ISP.

PPP (Point to Point Protocol)
A protocol that allows a computer to have full access to the Internet through a modem.

Posting
An electronic message sent to a newsgroup.

Protocol
A language or set of rules understood by different types of computers.

Search engine or utility
Keyword search software.

Server
A computer or software program that provides a service to Internet users.

Source document
A text document formatted with HTML. The webpage, when viewed through a web browser, is a representation of the source document.

Spam (or Spamming)
The act of sending an electronic message to a large group of people who did not request it.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)
The group of protocols used to transmit information across the Internet.

Telnet
A method of logging into a computer system on the Internet.

Terminal
A hardware device that lets you use the resources of a computer. Unlike personal computers, terminals do not have their own processing and storage capability, hence the term "dumb terminal." Personal computers can use special software programs to access a mainframe computer and act like a terminal.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
An address system that identifies the service, host, path, and filename of a document found on the Internet.

Usenet
A worldwide network of online, interactive newsgroups. Most newsgroups are open to anyone who wants to read, comment on, or contribute articles.

UNIX
An operating system alternative to Microsoft Windows. Many computers on a Internet use a variant of UNIX.

Veronica (Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives)
A searchable database that contains the names of all menu items available in Gopherspace.

Virtual Reality
A reality that does not actually exist, but appears and feels real.

Virtual World
An artificially created environment, normally three-dimensional, that allows for interaction between the environment and the user.

Web, WWW, W3
Abbreviations for the World Wide Web.

Web browser
A software application that allows you to view (or browse) linked webpages created using HTML.

Webpage
A document that is readable by a web browser. A webpage is created using HTML and is readable by all types of computers.

Website
A computer or network of computers, generally accessible by the public, that stores World Wide Web documents.

World Wide Web
A service on the Internet that presents information in a graphical format as a system of linked pages. Web information is stored on many publicly and privately owned computers worldwide.