Information Superhighway
Road Map:
A Glossary of Terms
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 32 No.
5, October-November 1996, p. 71
by Nancy Jo Bykowski and Sue Ann Kendall, Illinois USA
Email (electronic
mail)--Like personal letters, only a lot faster. Used to send messages
via your computer to friends and acquaintances around the world. Requires
a computer, email software, an email account through an Internet Service
Provider (ISP) and a modem.
Email Address--Sometimes
called one's "login." A name that shows which user you are and from
what site you are writing. Example: sak@prairienet.org says that
I am user "sak" "at" Prairienet, an organization (org). Other endings
are edu (education), com (commercial site), gov
(government), mil (military), net (network).
Email List--Join one
of these to exchange messages on a particular topic of interest with
like-minded people. Messages can come to you individually or in groups
called digests. Some lists are open so anyone can join;
others are closed and only invitees can join.
FAQ--A list of frequently
asked questions. Many Usenet news groups' email lists maintain these
so that newcomers' questions can easily be answered without filling
the list with repeated information.
Flame--To react in
a hostile or irrational manner to something someone said in a news group
or email list. This never happens on lists where leaders participate!
;-) (an emoticon of a winking, smiling face).
Home Page--The opening
screen of a Web site (a collection of Web pages on a similar topic or
collected by one person). Usually attractive and full of graphics. Leads
you to pages with more information.
Interactive Chat--Software
on some ISPs that allows numerous people to "talk" to each other via
computer in "realtime," like a big room full of people talking. Often
chats are on particular themes (discipline, teens, parents).
Internet--A network
of networks. A large collection of powerful computers all connected
by telephone lines. They "talk" to each other via a computer software
protocol and thus allow people all over the world to interact---to send
email, to exchange files, to show Web pages.
Internet Service Provider
(ISP)--A company, organization, or institution that provides access
to the Internet. Some charge money and have lots of "bells and whistles"
(Prodigy, CompuServe, America Online), others are free and very basic
(Free-Net, Prairienet, etc.), others are both nice and free because
they are hosted by a school or employer.
Usenet News Group--Organized
Internet discussions on every imaginable topic. Requires ISP with news
access, news reader software and lots of time. People send notes (posts)
on topics of interest to the group, others respond. A collection of
responses to a particular post is called a thread.
Uniform Resource Locator
(URL)--The "address" of a Web page. Example: http://www.prairienet.org/llli/homepage.html*
means that at a hypertext protocol site, in the Prairienet World Wide
Web area, in the La Leche League International Subdirectory, is a file
called homepage that is an HTML document or Web page.
*Ed. note: this URL for the original LLLI Web site is no longer valid.
The current LLLI homepage is http://www.lalecheleague.org/
World Wide Web--A
collection of hypertext documents viewable on the Internet via a web
browser program. By clicking on underlined links in the text, you can
move to different topics and even to sites hosted in other parts of
the world. Following links until you get completely lost from your original
destination is called "cruising the Net."
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:32:12 UTC 2007.
