INTERNET TERMS TERMS TO KNOW: 1. Anonymous FTP A traditional form of login to a public ftp site where the username is given as ‘anonymous’ and the password is your e-mail address, for example ‘ ‘. See ftp. 2.
Archie/Telnet/Veronica 1. A storage repository for software, data, or other materials to be saved and preserved. 2. The command and program used to login from one Internet site to another.
The telnet command / program gets you to the login: prompt of another host. 3. (Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) – Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica is a constantly updated database of the names of almost every menu item on thousands of gopher servers. The Veronica database can be searched from most major gopher menus. See Also: Gopher 2. A technique of combining multiple files into a single file to enable easier backup, handling or transmission.
Some of the software programs used to archive files are PKZIP, WinZip, Stuffit, and tar. Files with the following extensions are likely to be archived: sea, tar, taz, taZ, tgz, and zip. See compression 3. ARPANET.
The network created by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) that became the Internet. See the Internet History 4. Backbone A central network connecting other networks together. Formerly a network run by the National Science Foundation for the US, there are now multiple backbones run by commercial providers such as MCI, Sprint, UUNET, and AT&T. 5.
BBS (Bulletin Board System) – A computerized meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions) of BBS’s around the world, most are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phon lines. Some are very large and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn 6. BITNET (Because It’s Time NETwork (or Because It’s There NETwork) ) – A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system, and the network is probably the only international network that is shrinking.
7. Browser Software that will load and display a web page. The principle browsers are Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Mosaic, and the text-only Lynx. See the Internet Software Guide. 8. CompuServe/American Online/Prodigy isp’s companies that provide customers with interest access 9.
Cyberspace term used to describe the internet Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks 10. Dialup 11. Domain name Domain name addresses, together with IP addresses, are the two forms of Internet addresses in common use. Domain name addresses all end with a correct top-level domain. The top-level domains may be any of these: + com + edu + gov + int + mil + net + org + a two-letter country code, such as us, uk, or mx. See the country code table.
A complete domain address adds one or more terms to the left of the top-level domain, separated by dots. The top-level domain at the right is the most general; each term to the left is more specific. A recent international meeting approved the use of seven new top-level domain names, first planned for implementation in March 1998. The date was not met. + firm + store + web + arts + rec + nom + info The US government plan announced on January 30, 1998, to take effect in April 1998 indicated that five new domain names would be supported, but did not identify the domains.
The date was not met, and implementation is still in question. A new plan is expected in the very near future. 12. dotted quad 13. Download To transfer a file from another system to your own computer system via a modem over telephone or cable lines or a telnet connection using a transfer protocol like x modem, y modem, z modem, or Kermit. Less precisely, it may also refer to a direct transfer from a server to your local terminal over a local area network or an FTP transfer from a remote system to your system.
See upload. 14. E-mail Electronic mail. One of the earliest standard Internet protocols which enables people with different computers and operating systems to communicate with each other. E-mail allows one-to-one or one-to-many mailings. Mail is received and held by a mail server within an organization or by an Internet service provider until the addressee logs on to collect the mail.
The Internet e-mail standards include no provision for authenticating the sender, which makes it possible for spammers to use false From addresses and routing. See the E-mail FAQ. 15. Encryption 16. FAQ. Acronym for Frequently Asked Questions.
FAQ files are collections of common questions and answers for a particular subject area. For example, see the Navigating the Net FAQ for general Internet and World Wide Web questions and answers and the Publishing on the Web FAQ for questions and answers on creating web pages. For many more FAQs, visit the Usenet FAQ Archive at Ohio State 17. Forum 18. FTP File Transfer Protocol.
The Internet protocol that permits you to transfer files between your system and another system. You can use its command language from a shell account or various programs with SLIP or PPP accounts that simplify the process. See the FTP FAQ 19. Flame (on / off ) Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate.
Flames most often involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an art form. More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless or crude. See Also: Flame War 20. FYI acronym for phrase “for your information” 21. Gopher A friendly menu system for exploring the Internet developed at the University of Minnesota.
To learn more, explore gopher space. See History 22. GUI Graphical User Interface. Pronounced “gooey.” An operating system interface between the user and the computer based on graphics. GUIs typically use a mouse or other tracking device and icons. First developed by XEROX as an easier to learn interface than text-based ones, it was adopted by Apple for the Macintosh, Microsoft for Windows, and even for unix systems as X Windows.
23. Hacker Originally, a hacker was a term of respect among computer designers, programmers, and engineers for those among them who created truly original and ingenious programs, devices, or sometimes very clever practical jokes. Unfortunately, the current popular meaning of the term is to describe those who break into systems, destroy data, steal copyrighted software, and perform other destructive or illegal acts with computers and networks. See cracker. 24. Home page A home page is a web page.
In most familiar terms, it is a personal page for an individual. It can also be the basic main page for a more complex web site for individuals, organizations, or web communities. On complex web sites, it is the page which a server will show when no HTML filename is listed, usually with the name index. html, home. html, or default. html or the same names with the shorter extension.
htm. 25. Host Name Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET. See Also: Node, Network 26. html HyperText Markup Language.
The coding system used to create WWW pages. A page written in HTML is a text file that includes tags in angle brackets that control the fonts and type sizes, insertion of graphics, layout of tables and frames, paragraphing, calls to short runnable programs, and hypertext links to other pages. Files written in HTML generally use an. html or. htm extension.
See the World Wide Web Consortium (W 3 C) HTML Page for more information. 27. http HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is the main protocol used on the World Wide Web that enables linking to other web sites. Addressing to other web pages begins with “http: //” and is followed by the domain name or IP address. See URL.
28. Hypermedia Like hypertext, but includes other interlinking media, such as graphics, audio, video, and VRML 29. Hypertext A form of text which includes visible links to other pages of text or media, accessible by clicking or selecting the links. 30.
IMHO Shorthand for In My Humble Opinion. Often used in chat and messages by people whose opinion is anything but humble. Sometimes more accurately rendered as IMNSHO (In My Not So Humble Opinion).
31. Intellectual property 32. Internet 33.
IP 34. IRC 35. ISO 36. ISP 37… jpg 38. Link 39.
Listserv 40. Lurking Listening in to a mailing list, message base, chat room, or newsgroup without participating. Newcomers are encouraged to lurk for a while as they get the feel of things. The term “lurker” is sometimes used negatively to refer to people who take from discussions, but never give.
Once again, the Internet is a good source for looking up the above terms. Food for thought: Valuing the differences is the essence of synergy-the mental, the emotional, the psychological differences between people-and the key to valuing those differences is to realize that all people see the world not as it is, but as they are.