Decompression
Data
decompression is used to restore compressed data to its
original form. See also Compression.
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Digital
Certificate
Digital
certificates (also called Secure Server IDs) are like virtual
electronic fingerprints. Each one is unique and can be used
to positively identify the person or object (e.g. a company's
Internet server), who owns the certificate by the information
contained within it. That information can be trusted, because
it is digitally 'signed' by a trusted Certification Authority
who check the authenticity of the information to be included
in the certificate before they issue it. Digital Certificates
provide the proof of identity and deliver critical elements
of security which are vital to establish the trust needed
to conduct safe communications and transactions with customers,
suppliers, partners and employees.
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Domain
Name
A
domain name is another way of referring to the Internet
address of a computer or group of computers on the Internet.
Whereas an Internet address is made up of numbers (e.g.
144.2.45.6) and therefore difficult to remember, a domain
name (e.g. btinternet.com) is made up of meaningful words.
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Download
To
download a file is to move it from one computer to another,
usually from a central host machine to a local machine.
See also Upload.
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E
E-mail
Electronic
messages (mail) sent from one computer to another. The messages
are received at the user's e-mail address and stored in
their mailbox. See also Address.
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F
FAQ
Frequently
Asked Questions. Many newsgroups, mailing lists and some
WWW sites have an FAQ list which is posted regularly. FAQs
prevent newsgroup members from having to individually answer
common questions. See also Newsgroup.
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Flame
The
Internet equivalent of verbal abuse.
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Followup
A
reply to a USENET newsgroup article (post). See also Newsgroup
and Post.
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Freeware
Software
for which the author makes no charge. Because the author
of the software is making no money, freeware is usually
unsupported. See also Shareware.
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FTP
File
Transfer Protocol. A widely accepted protocol which allow
computers of different types to exchange files. "Anonymous
ftp" sites will allow anyone to download files from them
without knowing a password.
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G
GIF
Graphics
Interchange Format. A graphics file format created by the
CompuServe online information service. GIFs work across
platforms (Mac, PC and UNIX). Most Web browsers can display
images saved in the GIF format. See also Browser.
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Gopher
A
Gopher site has a hierarchically organized collection of
documents, usually readable text files.
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H
HTML
HyperText
Markup Language. HTML is the formatting language in which
pages on the World Wide Web are constructed. Browsers interpret
HTML and display the pages appropriately. HTML is a subset
of SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language). See also
Browser.
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http
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)
A
protocol which tells a server what to send a client, so
that the client can view Web pages, FTP sites, or other
areas on the Internet. See also Server
and Client.
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Hypertext
Documents
which contain embedded links (often underlined or otherwise
differentiated from the rest of the text) which allow the
user to easily move among different parts of the same document,
or between documents.
Example:
Click here to jump to the top of the
page.
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I
Icon
A
graphic symbol used in a computer program to represent an
object or process.
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Internet
A
global network of computers and computer systems which communicate
using the Internet protocol.
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IP
address
Every
computer connected to the Internet has a unique IP (Internet
Protocol) address which is its Internet address. Example:
147.150.30.32
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IRC
(Internet Relay Chat)
The
live chat area of the Internet in which real time conversations
between two or more people take place in virtual "rooms"
or channels. See also Channel.
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ISP
Internet
Service Provider.
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ISPA
Internet
Service Provider's Association.
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IWF
Internet
Watch Foundation. A charitable organisation which seeks
to rid the Internet of illegal material such as child pornography.
The IWF encourages the Internet community to report the
finding of any such material.
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J
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K
Kb
A
unit of computer measurement. Kb is an abbreviation for
kilobyte (1024 bytes). See also Bit.
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L
Link
An
area of a hypertext document which, when selected, will
take the user to another document or resource. On the World
Wide Web, a link (often underlined) is usually a URL pointing
to a file, document, site, image, or another page. See also
Hypertext and URL.
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List
See
Mailing list.
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Listserv
Software
that automatically manages a mailing list, receiving posts
and followups and sending groups of them out to all subscribers
of the list. See also E-mail, Mailing List, Newsgroup, Post, Followup.
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M
Mail
Generic
term for information transported on the Internet using one
of the various mail protocols. Often used to distinguish
mail from news. See also E-mail and Newsgroup.
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Mailing
list
A
topic-oriented conference like a USENET newsgroup except
that the messages are distributed by private e-mail. Typically,
the Internet user would subscribe to a list by sending e-mail
to the Listserv. Messages in the group arrive in the users'
mailbox, and posts and followups are sent to the Listserv
to be forwarded on to other members of the group. See also
Listserv, E-mail, Newsgroup.
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Megabyte
A
measure of computer memory equal to 1,048,576 bytes, each
of which in turn is equal to eight bits, which is the smallest
unit of data in the digital system and is symbolized by
the number 1 or the number 0. See also Bit.
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MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension)
An
extension that lets you transmit non-text data (like graphics,
audio, video) via e-mail. See also E-mail.
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N
Network
A
system of hardware and software that is connected so as
to be accessed by individual users who share the same information
and resources, and who may be geographically distant from
each other.
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News
Generic
term for information transported on the Internet using the
nntp (Network News Transport Protocol). Often used to distinguish
news from mail. See also E-mail and Newsgroup.
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Newsgroup
A
USENET newsgroup is a discussion forum where participants
read and post comments on an agreed topic.
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Newsreader
Software
for reading and posting articles (posts) and followups to
a USENET newsgroup. See also Newsgroup
and Post.
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Node
Any
device connected to a computer network as well as the point
at which the devices are connected. See also Network.
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O
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P
Page
See
Web page.
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POP
A
POP (Point of Presence) is the modem which the Internet
user dials from their computer to gain access to the Internet.
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Post
The
term for an original USENET or mailing list article. Used
as a verb, to "post" means to submit an article for publication
on USENET in one or more newsgroups or to one or more mailing
list. If sent to more than one newsgroup or list the post
is said to be"cross-posted". If the newsgroup is moderated,
the moderator decides if the post will appear; otherwise
the post appears automatically. See also Mailing
list, Newsgroup.
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Q
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R
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S
Search
engine
Software
which scans the World Wide Web, collecting titles and words
from Web pages which are stored in a database. The user
enters key words to search for; these are compared against
the contents of the database with the results of the search
(e.g relevant Web pages containing the key words) returned
to the user. Alta Vista and Lycos are examples of search
engines. See also World Wide Web.
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Secure
Server ID
See
Digital Certificate
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Server
A
computer that provides files as shared resources to a computer
network. See also Client.
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Shareware
Copyrighted
software that is sold on a trust basis. Users are expected
to pay the author if they like or use the software.
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Site
A
particular "spot" on the Internet or World Wide Web. Sometimes
a single computer, but may be a network of computers. Examples
include: Gopher site, WWW site, FTP site. See also Gopher,
WWW, ftp.
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SLIP/PPP
Two
protocols for allowing a computer to connect to the Internet
through a dial-up connection, using a modem.
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SSL
SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) is an open protocol for securing
data communications across networks. Secure Web sites (where
you can confidently enter credit card details, personal
details, etc.) are indicated by the key at the bottom of
your browser (normally broken) being joined together. Also
see Digital Certificate
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Surfing
"Jumping"
or navigating from site to site on the Internet. See also
Browsing.
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T
TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
A
set of protocols which make Internet services possible among
computers that do not belong to the same network.
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TELNET
TELNET
lets Internet users log in to computers around the world
that are connected to the Internet, and to use them as if
they were their own.
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Thread
A
thread is a collection of articles within a Newsgroup that
follow the same subject. See also Newsgroup.
U
Upload
To
move a file from one computer to another, usually from a
local machine to a host. See also Download.
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URL
Uniform
Resource Locator. URLs are links to network resources like
files, programs, web sites, web pages, etc. URLs are usually
found as links on web pages, but are turning up more often
in posts on USENET and in e-mail messages. Upper and lower
case are often important in URLs. The URL is usually made
up of four parts which specifies the type of the resource
(e.g. gopher, http, ftp), the hostname, followed by the
path at the host site and the name of the document or other
resource.
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USENET
See
Newsgroup.
V
Veronica
A
search engine for searching Gopher sites using keyword searching.
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Virus
A
computer virus is a computer program that infects other
computer programs and reproduces itself without the knowledge
of the PC user. A virus may be destructive, and should never
be ignored.
W
.wav
format
Windows
sound files.
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Web
See
World Wide Web.
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Web
Page
A
WWW document designed to be displayed by a browser. Written
in a tagging language called HTML, a web page often contains
text, pictures, as well as links to other web pages or Internet
resources.
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W3
See
World Wide Web
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World
Wide Web
A
subset of the Internet which supports hypertext-based documents.
See Web page.
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WWW
See
World Wide Web
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X
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Y
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Z
