RESOURCES

The Essential Internet Phrase Book

Dial-up - A connection to the Internet or any network in which a modem and a standard telephone are used to link computers. 

Dial-up IP Account - The entry level of Internet Protocol accounts. This low cost type of account lets computer users dial up an Internet Service Provider's computer using a modem.  

Digerati - The digital version of literati, it is a reference to a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.  

Digital - Information that is encoded as a series of discrete "on" or "off" electrical pulses based on a binary coding system (1 or 0).  The opposite of analog.  For instance, a conventional analog photograph must be broken down into discrete pieces of information (1 or 0) in order for it to be understood by a computer.  (See Analog.) 

Digital Camera - A device that interprets images in the form of a series of discrete values (or binary numbers) that can be used by a computer. 

Domain Name - The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The left part of the address identifies the company or organization. The right side identifies the type of organization (org - nonprofit organization, com - commercial entity, edu - educational institution, gov for government entity). 

Dots Per Inch (DPI) - A unit used to describe the resolution of a printer or scanner.  The number of units that appear in sequence in one linear inch of the image.  (See also Resolution.) 

DNS (Domain name system) - identifies each unique location on the Internet and translates it to its numerical (TCP/IP) equivalent. 

Download - Retrieve a file from a server or another computer. 

DSL (digital subscriber line) - The generic name for an evolving family of digital services to be provided by local telephone companies to their local subscribers.  DSL makes it possible for you to talk to a friend while maintaining your computer connection to the Internet on the same telephone line.  Without DSL, you'd have to terminate your computer connection, wait for a dial tone, then call your friend--or you'd have to have two telephone lines.  The DSL family includes: 
* ADSL (asynchronous DSL):  Can be used over existing copper phone lines, but requires a special modem.  Capable of extremely high speeds "downstream" (that is, to the user), but lower speeds "upstream" (away from the user).  Therefore, it may become the avenue of choice for Internet use in the future. 
* HDSL (high-bit-rate DSL):  Distributes signals at lower cost than ADSL, as it requires less equipment.  Because it is a synchronous signal, its upstream and downstream speeds are equal--but slower than ADSL's downstream capabilities. 
* SDSL (symmetrical DSL, also known as HDSL2):  A recently proposed variation on HDSL that will make it more cost-effective.  While it will offer the same capabilities as SDSL, it will require even less equipment to carry the signal. 

DLAM -DSL Access multiplexer. Located at the end of a subscriber loop in a telephone company's central switching office, a DSLAM connects the central office equipment at the customer's premises, which, in turn, connects to the customer's PCs and telephones. It aggregates all the DSL traffic within a central office and then sends it to the data network, and the voice is not touched.

DSP (digital signal processor) - A specialized digital microprocessor that performs calculations on signals that have been translated from analog to digital (e.g., voice), then transmits the results.  DSPs speed execution and provide more complex operations.  Their speed and flexibility allow them to be used for compression of voice and video signals, multimedia applications, medical imagery and combination phone/fax/modem devices, among other uses. 
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E

EDGE - Enhanced data rates for GSM and TDMA; 2.75-generation migration step for GSM and TDMA operators between GPRS and 3G technologies such as UMTS and W-CDMA. Data rates of up to 384Kbps.

EDI (Electronic data interchange) - A series of standards developed primarily for business communications, EDI is a process for network transmission of electronic messages and documents, often between different companies or government agencies.  Practical applications include the interchange of invoices, purchase orders and policy documents. 
According to studies, it costs about $50 to process a paper-based purchase order and only about $2.50 to process the same order with EDI.  Internet-based EDI can cut that to less than $1.25. 

E-mail or email (Electronic Mail) - Messages transmitted over communications networks.  The messages can be notes entered via keyboard, or electronic files stored on disk. 
Some e-mail systems are confined to a single computer system or network, but most have gateways to other computer systems, enabling users to send messages anywhere in the world.  E-mail has become popular because it is fast, flexible and reliable. 

Encryption - The scrambling of a message or file so that it can't be read by anyone except the intended receiver. 
 
Extranet - A proprietary network through which a company conducts business with its employees, customers and/or suppliers.  Extranets typically include Web sites that provide information to internal employees and have secure areas to provide information to customer and outside partners, including suppliers and distributors. 

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F

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) - FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on every imaginable subject.  

Fiber optics - A technology that uses glass or plastic threads to transmit data.  A fiber-optic cable consists of a bundle of threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages at close to the speed of light.  It's particularly popular for LANs. 
This form has several advantages over traditional copper lines:  It has much greater bandwidth for carrying more data; it is less susceptible to interference; it is much thinner and lighter; and data can be transmitted in digital form (the natural form for computer data) rather than analog. 

Film Scanner - A piece of equipment used to convert color negatives and slides digitally into electronic images. 

Finger - An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests.  

Fire Wall - A combination of hardware and software that separates a computer from the outside world for security purposes.  

Flame - refers to any kind of derogatory comment made on the Internet.  

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. Can be either with or without password protection. 

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G

Gateway - a computer system that provides access to a network of computers.  

Gopher - originally popular, gopher servers are an alternative form of server. Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web) has largely taken the place of gopher servers in new installations. There are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet.  

GPRS - General Packet radio services; 2.5-generation migration step for GSM and TDMA operators. Data rates of up to 115Kbps.

GPS Global Positioning System) - A satellite- and ground-based navigational system that provides the means to determine any specific location on or around the plane.  In short, a device based on GPS allows us to figure out precisely where we are, anywhere on Earth, at any time of the day or night. 

GSM (global system for mobile communications) - The standard digital cellular phone service you will find in Europe, Japan, Australia and elsewhere outside the Americas--a total of 85 countries.  GSM is a set of standards from the European Telecommunications Standards Institute specifying the infrastructure for a digital cellular service in order to ensure interoperability among countries. 

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) - A graphics file format originated on the CompuServe and now the standard file format for graphics files on the Worldwide Web. 

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H

Hard Copy - A computer document that has been printed. It could be a paper copy or a transparency. 

Hit  - A nebulous term.  Generally, every request for information that a user makes by browsing a Web page is a hit.  The trick here is that clicking once usually involves several requests for information; it often takes more than one request to build a Web page. So, each piece of information requested, whether graphic or text, used to build the page is considered a hit. Even requests that result in an error message can be counted as hits.  Often confused with page views, hits are not a reliable measurement of a site's popularity. 

Home Page - the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The main page to which all other pages at a website are connected. 

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) - The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape, Mosaic or Explorer.  

HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) - Invisible to the user, HTTP is the protocol used by a Web site's server and the client browser to communicate.  In other words, it is the protocol used for moving documents around the Internet. 

Hypertext - When reading something online, you often come across words or phrases that are highlighted in some way.  When you click on them, you'll be transported to a different section of text that's somehow related to the original word or phrase.  That's one manifestation of hypertext. 
Hypertext is not just the words and the links; it's also the software that allows users to explore and create their own paths through written, visual and audio information.  With hypertext, you can jump from topic to topic at any time and follow cross-references easily.  It often is used for "help" files. 

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