56K Line A digital phone-line connection (leased line) capable of carrying 56,000 bits per second. At this speed, a Megabyte will take about 3 minutes to transfer. This is 4 times as fast as a 14,400 bps modem.

ADN Advanced Digital Network. Usually refers to a 56kbps leased line. 4 times as fast as a 14,400 bps modem.

Anonymous FTP When a user is allowed to log onto a server without having an account.

Archie A tool (software) for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or substring of it.

ARPANet Advanced Research Projects Administration Network. The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60's and early 70's by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide area networking that would survive a nuclear war.

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. This is the defacto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7-digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.

Backbone A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative, as a backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network.

Bandwidth How much data you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits per second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion, full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits per second, depending on compression.

Baud In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, "baud" is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value. This means that a 2400 bits per second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).

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 phone 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.

Binhex Binary Hexadecimal. A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.

Bit Binary Digit. A single digit number in base-2. In other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits per second.

Bps Bits Per Second. A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.

Browser A client program (software) that is used for looking at various kinds of Internet resources.

BTW By The Way. A shorthand appended to a comment written in an on-line forum.

Byte A set of bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 bits in a byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made.

Client A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a Server software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each Client program is designed to work with one or more specific Server programs, and each Server requires a specific kind of Client.

Cyberspace 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.

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

Domain Name The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names. It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.

E-mail Electronic Mail. Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses (Mailing List).

Ethernet A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits per second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.

FAQ Frequently Asked Questions. FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject.

FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface. A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits per second (10 times as fast as Ethernet, about twice as fast as T-3).

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.

Fire Wall A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes.

Flame Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable descent. They most often involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an artform. More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless or crude.

Flame War When an on-line discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debaters, rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange.

FTP File Transfer Protocol. A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP by logging in using the account name "anonymous". Thus, these sites are called "Anonymous FTP Servers".

Gateway The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols. For example, Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another system.

Gopher A widely successful method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a client and Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it is being largely supplanted to Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for a while.

Host 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.

HTTP Hyper Text Transport Protocol. The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).

HTML Hyper Text Markup Language. A language used to create web pages. HTML is a collection of text codes enclosed in angle brackets used to control the structure and appearance of a web page.

Hypertext Generally, any text that contains "links" to other documents. These links are words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.

IMHO In My Humble Opinion (or in my honest opinion). A shorthand appended to a comment written in an on-line forum. IMHO indicates that the writer is aware that they are expressing a debatable view, probably on a subject already under discussion. One of many such shorthands in common use on-line, especially in discussion forums.

Internet Upper case I. The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANet of the late 60's and early 70's. The Internet connects well over 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet.

internet Lower case i. Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet.

IP Number (Address) Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots. For example: 204.113.195.2.
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number. If a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.

IRC Internet Relay Chat. Basically, a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person conference calls.

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network. Basically a way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits per second over regular phone lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits per second.

ISP Internet Service Provider. An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money.

Kilobyte A thousand bytes. Actually 1024 bytes.

LAN Local Area Network. A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.

Leased-Line Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7-days-a-week use from your location to another location. The highest speed data connections require a leased line.

Listserv The most common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet.

Login Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password).
Verb: The act of entering into a computer system.

Maillist or Mailing List A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.

Megabyte A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes.

Modem Modulator, Demodulator. A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. Modems convert the digital signal to analog so it can travel the phone line and then back to digital again for processing.

MOO Mud, Object Oriented. One of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments, so far only text-based.

Mosaic The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of the Web with its point and click interface.

MUD Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension. A (usually text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely for fun and flirting, others are used for serious software development, or education purposes and all that lies in between. A significant feature of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay after they leave and which other users can interact with in their absence, thus allowing a "world" to be built gradually and collectively.

MUSE One kind of MUD, usually with little or no violence.

Netiquette The etiquette on the Internet.

Netizen Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet, or someone who uses networked resources. The term cannotes civic responsibility and participation.

Network Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet.

Newsgroup The name for discussion groups.

NIC Networked Information Center. Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names are registered.

Node Any single computer connected to a network.

Packet Switching The method used to move data around on the Internet. In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way. This way, many people can use the same lines at the same time.

Password A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good Passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as "virtue7". A good password might be: Hot$1-6.

POP Two commonly used meanings: "Point of Presence" and "Post Office Protocol".

Point of Presence This usually means a city or location where a network can be connected to, often with dial-up phone lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can connect to their network.

Post Office Protocol The way e-mail software such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP or shell account you almost always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail.

Port

A place where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. For example, the serial port on a personal computer is where a modem would be connected.

On the Internet, port often refers to a number that is part of the URL which appears after the ":", right after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server "listens" on a particular port number on that server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80.

Port also refers to translating a piece of software to bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to translate a Windows program so that it will run on a Macintosh.

Posting A single message entered into a network communications system.

PPP Point to Point Protocol. Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP connection and thus be really and truly on the Internet.

RFC Request For Comments. The name of the result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet. New standards are proposed and published on line, as a "Request For Comments." The Internet Engineering Task Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and eventually a new standard is established, but the reference number/name for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for e-mail is RFC 822.

Router A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the connection between two or more networks. Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the packets passing through them and deciding on which route to send them.

Server A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g. "Our mail server is down today, that's why e-mail isn't getting out." A single server machine could have several different server software packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network.

SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol. A standard for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being replaced by PPP.

SMDS Switched Multimegabit Data Service. A new standard for very high-speed data transfer.

Spam or Spamming An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it. The term probably comes from a famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated over and over. The term may also have come from someone's low opinion of the food product with the same name, which is generally perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat product.)

Sysop Systems Operator. Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system or network resource. A System Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance should be performed and the System Operator performs those tasks.

T-1 A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits per second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits per second. T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet.

T-3 A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 45,000,000 bits per second. This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video.

TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. Set of communications protocols developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to internetwork dissimilar systems. This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software.

Telnet 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.

Terminal A device that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere else. At a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and a display screen and some simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal software in a personal computer - the software pretends to be a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a computer somewhere else.

Terminal Server A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems on one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine on the other side. Thus the terminal server does the work of answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP services if connected to the Internet

TTFN Ta Ta For Now. A shorthand appended to a comment written in an on-line forum.

UNIX A computer operating system (the basic software running on a computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets). UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.

URL Uniform Resource Locator. The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this:
http://www.durangolive.net
The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program such as the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape.

Usenet A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all Usenet machines are on the Internet, maybe half. Usenet is completely decentralized, with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups.

Veronica 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.

WAIS Wide Area Information Servers. A commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then making those indexes searchable across networks such as the Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results are ranked (scored) according to how relevant the hits are, and that subsequent searches can "find more stuff like the last batch" and thus refine the search process.

WAN Wide Area Network. Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.

WWW The universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed together. WWW is also loosely used as the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, Usenet, WAIS and other tools.