This Week Terms And Definitions

Del.icio.us - a social bookmarking Web site that serves as a bookmarks manager for users, similar to a collection of favorite links. You can add bookmarks to your del.icio.us list, categorize the bookmarks, tag them and also share them with others. On some blogs the words "del.icio.us" may appear below a blog post as a hyperlink that readers can click to submit the post to their del.icio.us bookmarks.

Follower - on Twitter, blogs, and other social media sites, a follower is someone who subscribes to receives your updates.

Social media - a term used to describe a variety of Web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to socially interact with one another online. Some examples of social media sites and applications include Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg, blogs and other sites that have content based on user participation and user-generated content (UGC).

Social networking site - abbreviated as SNS a social networking site is the phrase used to describe any Web site that enables users to create public profiles within that Web site and form relationships with other users of the same Web site who access their profile. Social networking sites can be used to describe community-based Web sites, online discussions forums, chatrooms and other social spaces online.

UGC - user-generated content, UGC is the term used to describe any form of content such as video, blogs, discussion form posts, digital images, audio files, and other forms of media that was created by consumers or end-users of an online system or service and is publically available to others consumers and end-users. User-generated content is also called consumer generated media (CGM).

This Week Terms And Definitions

A-List blogger - a term used to describe a group of elite bloggers who post daily on their blogs and receive a huge number of links back to the blog they write. The defining element of an A-List blogger is the size of the blog's readership (e.g. its traffic).

B-blog - short for business blog, a blog used by a business to promote itself.

Bliki - short for blog and wiki, bliki is a type of blog that can be edited by readers or an agreed upon group of collaborators, contributors and editors.

Digg - a community-based Web site where users submit content and rate that content by "Digging" what they see and like best. A submission that earns a larger number of Diggs, and therefore is more popular with users, is moved the Digg homepage for the category of content it belongs in. The Digg Web site was founded by Kevin Rose and launched in November 2004.

RSS is the acronym used to describe the de facto standard for the syndication of Web content. RSS is an XML-based format and while it can be used in different ways for content distribution, its most widespread usage is in distributing news headlines on the Web. A Web site that wants to allow other sites to publish some of its content creates an RSS document and registers the document with an RSS publisher. A user that can read RSS-distributed content can use the content on a different site. Syndicated content can include data such as news feeds, events listings, news stories, headlines, project updates, excerpts from discussion forums or even corporate information.

This Week Terms And Definitions

@ sign - pronounced at sign or simply as at, this symbol is used in e-mail addressing to separate the user’s name from the user’s domain name, both of which are necessary in order to transmit e-mails.

Child domain - Also called a sub domain , a domain that is part of a larger domain name in DNS hierarchy. DNS hierarchy consists of the root-level domain at the top, underneath which are the top-level domains, followed by second-level domains and finally subdomains.

Domain name registrant - the person, company or entity who owns or holds a domain name. When corporations and companies register a domain name, the registrant should be the company name (not an individual employee within the company) to ensure the business maintains ownership of the domain name.

Root server system - system of 13 file servers that are distributed around the globe and contain authoritative databases that form a master list of all top-level domain names (TLDs). There is one central, or "A", server that replicates changes to the other servers on a daily basis. Different organizations maintain the servers on the root server system. The U.S. government plays a role in maintaining about half of the servers.

TLD - short for top-level domain, and refers to the suffix attached to Internet domain names. There are a limited number of predefined suffixes, and each one represent a top-level domain. Current top-level domains include:
• com - commercial businesses; this is the most common TLD
• gov - U.S. government agencies
• edu - Educational institutions such as universities
• org - Organizations (mostly nonprofit)
• mil - Military
• net - Network organizations
• ca - Canada
• th - Thailand

This Week Terms And Definitions

Baud - the number of signal changes transmitted per second during data transmission by modem.

Baud rate - the speed at which a modem transmits data, or the number of "events" it can handle per second.

Encode - the conversion of data to a machine-readable form.

Emulation- to simulate otherwise incompatible software or hardware to make it compatible - running Microsoft Windows on a Macintosh computer, for example.

Human-computer interaction - a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them.

This Week Terms And Definitions

CMS - Content Management System - a computer application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of digital media and electronic text. They are frequently used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures.

Browser chrome - the borders of a Web browser window, which include the window frames, menus, toolbars and scroll bars. When designing a Web page, the browser chrome must be added to determine the width of the page. Viewport - the remaining viewable space in the browser window.

Task-oriented schemes - schemes that organize content and applications into a collection of processes, functions, or tasks. These schemes are appropriate when it's possible to anticipate a limited number of high-priority tasks that users will want to perform. On the Web, task-oriented organization schemes are most common in the context of e-commerce web sites.

This Week Terms And Definitions

Animated GIF - type of GIF image that can be animated by combining several images into a single GIF file. Applications that support the animated GIF standard, GIF89A, cycle through each image. GIF animation doesn't give the same level of control and flexibility as other animation formats but it has become extremely popular because it is supported by nearly all Web browsers. In addition, animated GIF files tend to be quite a bit smaller that other animation files, such as Java applets.

GIF - stands for graphics interchange format, a bit-mapped graphics file format used by the World Wide Web, CompuServe and many BBSs. GIF supports color
and various resolutions. It also includes data compression, but because it is limited to 256 colors, it is more effective for scanned images such as illustrations rather than color photos.

HoneyMonkey - a computer or a virtual PC that actively mimics the actions of a user surfing the Web. A series of "monkey programs," which drive a browser in a manner similar to that of a human user, run on virtual machines in order to detect exploit sites. The browsers can be configured to run with fully updated software, or without specific updates in order to look for exploit sites that target specific vulnerabilities. In this manner, the attacks more likely to impact customers can be analyzed and detected.

Podcasting is similar in nature to RSS, which allows subscribers to subscribe to a set of feeds to view syndicated Web site content. With podcasting however, you have a set of subscriptions that are checked regularly for updates and instead of reading the feeds on your computer screen, you listen to the new content on on your iPod (or like device).

Shockwave - a technology developed by Macromedia, Inc. that enables Web pages to include multimedia objects. To create a shockwave object, you use Macromedia's multimedia authoring tool called Director, and then compress the object with a program called Afterburner. You then insert a reference to the "shocked" file in your Web page. To see a Shockwave object, you need the Shockwave plug-in, a program that integrates seamlessly with your Web browser. The plug-in is freely available from Macromedia's Web site as either a Netscape Navigator plug-in or an ActiveX control. Shockwave supports audio, animation, video and even processes user actions such as mouse clicks. It runs on all Windows platforms as well as the Macintosh.

This Week Terms And Definitions

Digg This - on many blogs including Typepad, Blogger, Live Journal, Moveable Type, and Wordpress, the words "Digg This" may appear below a blog post as a hyperlink which readers can click to submit the post to the Digg Web site.

Facebook - the name of a social networking site (SNS) that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, post photos, share links and exchange other information. Facebook users can see only the profiles of confirmed friends and the people in their networks.

TrackBack - a type of peer-to-peer communication system that was designed to send notification of updates between two Web sites via a Trackback Ping. Ping in reference to TrackBack refers to a small message sent from one Web server to another. TrackBacks are useful for informing a Web site that you have referenced its Web site within your own Web site, and is popular with bloggers.

Twitter - free social messaging tool that lets people stay connected through brief text message updates up to 140 characters in length. Twitter is based on you answering the question "What are you doing?" You then post their thoughts, observations, and goings-on in their day. Your update is posted on your Twitter profile page through SMS text messaging, the Twitter Web site, instant messaging, RSS, e-mail, or through other social applications and sites, such as Facebook.

YouTube - popular free video-sharing Web site that lets registered users upload and share video clips online at the YouTube.com Web site. To view the videos you are not required to register. Launched in 2005 by former PayPal employees, the video-sharing site was acquired by Google Inc. in October 2006 for US $1.65 billion in Google stock. YouTube is currently based in San Bruno, CA and is a subsidiary of Google, Inc.

This Week Terms And Definitions

Firewall - a software security system that protects Web sites and networks from unauthorized access.

Hostname - the name that identifies the computer hosting a Web site.
Orphan file - a file on a Web site that is not reffered to by any link or button and thus cannot be reached by any means other than through its absolute URL - in other words, to find it you must know its exact pathname.

Page flipping - an HTML structure for Web pages that allows users to see successive screens without needing to scroll.

Search engine - the part of a program, such as a database, that seeks out information in response to requests made by the user. On the Web, search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Yandex (the most popular russian SE) provide sophisticated criteria for searching, and provide summaries of each result as well as the Web site addresses for retrieving more information.

This Week Definitions

Some of new terms could also be found in the article about usability posted previously.

Definitions:

CGI - Common Gateway Interface - a programming technique for transferring data between Web server and other applications, such as database.

Ethernet - a hardware connection standard used on local area networks (LAN) that offers fast data transfer.

Hypermedia - the combination of graphics, text, movies, sound, amd other elements accessible via hypertext links in an online document or Web page.

Interface - the physical relationship between human beings, systems, and machines - in other words, the point of interaction or connection. The involvement of humans is referred to as a user interface.

The Web As A Part Of Our Life

Since yesterday I have a huge problem at home, even a catastrophe! No Internet connection! After not so successful upgrade of our building by the provider the half of it doesn’t have any Internet, TV or telephone connection. So, how can I do my homework assignments? They are all online and I need to be online to finish them. This is the reality: thanks to the high speed speed Internet and Web 2.0 we can store and share all the information somewhere in the Web.

Definitions:

Ajax – (technology platform) an intermediary between the user and the server. Makes asynchronous server communication possible.
AdSense – an advertising program that anyone who publishes a web site can use to generate income for their web site. Google must approve your site before ads are shown on your site.
DoubleClick – a company that develops and provides Internet ad serving services.
Orkut – social networking and discussion site operated by Google.
Ruby – dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity.
Sxipper – a free Firefox add-on that lets you log into any web site with a single click. It keeps track of all of your user IDs, passwords, etc.
Viola Web Browser – the first web browser with inline graphics, scripting, tables, stylesheet (first released around April 1992).
VoIP – voice over Internet Protocol – a technology for transmitting voice conversations via the Internet.
Web 2.0 web sites - current generation of web sites that make good use of HTML and CSS while improving their interface with Ajax and social networking tools.
Web application – application that is accessed via web browser over a network (Internet).
Webtop – online software applications (web-based apps) that are similar to the ones that we have on our desktops: Writely ~ Microsoft Word, Zimbra ~ Microsoft Outlook.

I’ve searched all those definitions through the Internet. I also asked some people about Ajax and site examples that use it as well as what do they think about Web 2.0. I even looked through the books (like “Google AdSense For Dummies”, “Practical Web 2.0 Applications WithPHP”). Anyway, in my everyday living I search through the Internet. Any question in my mind - I immediately type it in the Google Search and then (depends on what I’m searching for) I prefer to read the articles from Wikipedia. As a person whose native language is not English I use online dictionaries like dictionary.com (they have even a pronunciation for each word) and lingvo.ru (for a quicker understanding) to search the words’ meaning.