This page is generic technology and tool terms.

Computer - A programmable machine. (TechTerms.com) In our context we will most often refer to computers that have human interfaces. i.e. your laptop, desktop or cell phone are computers designed to interact with people. The computer in your watch or car are not designed to interact with people.

Internet - Hardware that stores, serves and connects information between networked locations.
i.e. Computers, cables, modems and servers.

World Wide Web - Software that enables humans to interact with the Internet via computers all over the world.
i.e. Google is software program that providesan interface between humans and information storedon the Internet, it is therefore a part of the web.

Web 2.0 - Breed of web technologies and programs that enable mass participation, collaboration and customization. Web 2.0 is sometimes referred to as the read/write web. The term read/write comes from the ability to read information from the web and also write information to it.

Code - The information in a computer program that tells the computer what to do.
i.e. The Code is similar to food a recipe, it contains all of the information the computer needs to perform a task.

HTML - A computer code language used to create web pages, websites and tasks.
i.e. HTML is like the ingredients in a recipe, we put them together in different combinations to get the look, feel and taste of what we want. HTML is the code that creates the recipe to create web pages, sites and tasks. A task might be to create a link that opens an email program.

Program/Application - Container for all the computer code it takes to accomplish a task.
i.e. Your car is a container for all the parts that make it up and accomplish the task of automotive travel. Similarly, Microsoft Word is a program that contains all of the code that enables it to perform all of it's functions.

Web page - A single HTML document. i.e A web page is like a page in a book. Unlike a page in a book a web page can be different each time you visit it based on input from many sources, changes to the content, time of day, your login information, etcetera.

Web site - A collection of related and interconnected web pages published as a group. i.e. A website is similar to a book, the pages are related and published as a group in a container. The container for a website usually takes the form of it's address or URL. A website's container does not have physical dimensions.
Note: A book may reference other books and sometimes display their content, websites have this functionality as well.

URL - The address of an Internet location that tells people and computers where to find it. i.e. The Saywire URL is www.saywire.com
Note: The term URL has become so popular it is often pronounced as Earl, instead of saying each of the letters of the acronym.
i.e. What's your Earl (URL)?

Hyperlink - Click able location on a web page that sends the viewer to another location on that page or to another page. Click-able locations that perform a function like opening an email composition program are simply, links.

Server - A computer that provides storage, processing and serves information on the Internet or an internal network called a LAN or intranet.
i.e. Servers provide functions like restaurants who store, process and serve food.

Server side- A reference to activities that happen on servers instead of on local computers.
i.e. Server side computing is like going to a restaurant where they store and serve the food (Google). Desktop computing is like eating at home (Microsoft Office). One sometimes confusing thing about the web is that it is server side but feels like desktop computing.
The main benefit to server side computing is you, and anyone else you grant access to, can use it no matter what computer you are using as long as you have internet access. Another term commonly used to describe server side computing is cloud computing.

Software as a Service (SaaS) - A business model that involves providing access to software tools and support, usually through the internet. Other software business models include creating the software, selling it once and sending it in packages to customers. Under the SaaS model nothing gets shipped to the customer, they access the service through their computers and pay a monthly or annual fee instead of a one time purchase fee.

Embed - To insert code from one tool into another.
i.e. YouTube provides embed codes for each video so the video can appear in many different locations on the web at the same time.

RSS - Program that enables easy content distribution via subscription.
You probably have subscribed to magazines by calling or mailing in a request to receive them each time a new one is published.
RSS automates the subscription and delivery process of digital content, simplifying it to clicking one button.
i.e. Podcasts have RSS feeds so people and computers can subscribe and automatically receive new content when it is published.

Media - The word media has several conotations. Let's look at all of them here.
Media 1 - the information itself - a movie is media
Media 2 - tools used to store and deliver information - paper, film, thumb drives, hard drives are storage media, the web is a delivery medium.

The Media - mass media, radio, print, tv industry.

When does web media reach the state of mass media? If mass media is determined by number of participants consuming it we are there. Mass media is also determine by the style and purpose of the content. If content is designed for mass consumption and one way distribution it is mass media.

Multi-media - A mix of media print, photo, audio, video. In more recent times usage of the term multi-media refers to audio and video, I guess because text and photo are so common and not really considered to be more than basic.

Medium - Tool for transferring information. Air is a medium for sound travel. Saywire is a medium for building communities. An ipod is a medium for transferring photos, audio and videos.

New Media - The style, content and medium enabled by web 2.0 publishing and collaboration. see below. (wikipedia) Publishing mass media one way designed communications on the web is not new media. New Media is a style of communication characterized by collaboration and participation. I like to sometimes call it direct media because it is direct between people, does not go through the mediums of print, radio and TV.

Collaboration - two or more entities working together toward a common goal to create something better or new. (Wikipedia ) Analogy: Tom wrote a blog post, Sue added a comment, together they collaborated to create the full blog entry. Diane created a movie on a computer, the software program adjusted the colors, together they collaborated to create the final movie. Here is a list of Web 2.0 tools in order of ease of implementation.

Blog - Web entries published with blogging software. Blogging software provides easy, fast, and frequent web publishing and organization features. Organizational features include filing entries by category and date, enabling comments, search, and syndication. Blog entries can include text, photographs, audio, video and hyperlinks.

Wiki - Tool for easy group publishing, editing, collaboration and discussion.
Wiki Analogy: A wiki is like an electronic whiteboard that is available all of the time. Wiki tools also track who made changes and when as well as providing discussion areas and embeddable content support.

Instant Messaging/Chat/Txt Messaging/Chat rooms - Instant messaging tools support instant communication between two or more people. most chat tools support text only, others support audio and video as well. A chat room is environment where more than two people can chat so that others can participate.

Library - Where media assets are stored, organized and served.
Analogy: Similar to a school or public library, online libraries provide the storage, organization, search and display tools for media. Many times online libraries are called galleries and include photo, audio and video assets.

Podcast: Series of media assets distributed by RSS. Podcasts can distribute any of the 4 media assets - text, photo, audio, video.

Plug-in - An add-on to a software program. Usually designed to add functionality.
Example: Adobe provides the free flash player plug-in for web browsing software so the software can view flash formatted content.

Google docs - Google's online version of word processing, spredsheet and presentation programs. Similar to Microsoft's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint respectively.

Virtual World - An online environment that mimics our physical world. While all activitiy online represents some part of our physical world, when we use the term virtual world we are typically referring to a 2D or 3D environment that has objects representing physical objects. i.e. This online document is in the virtual world of the World Wide Web but it does not have images of desks, chairs and people as a virtual world would have. Popular virtual world's incloude: Second Life,
Here is a link virtual worlds that are in development or existing, most targeted at youth.

Second Life - A 3D virtual world where residents create their own images, Avatars, and real estate.

Embed - To copy HTML from one website and paste it into another. Embedding is very common with videos and widgets.

Spam - Unsolicited and unwanted communications from someone else. Spam is a common problem in email and also exists in blog comments and other areas.

Widgets - Web based computer programs designed to accomplish one or two simple specific tasks. Some widgets track the weather or stock prices for you.

Social networking - Participating in online conversations. Social networking happens in many environments or communication mediums: chat rooms, forums, blogs, Twitter, discussion boards, communities and more.

Social networks - Network of people that interact on a regular basis. The term social network is also used to describe specific online environments like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Cookie - Information that your web browser keeps in memory as a record of what websites you visited and sometimes information that you entered into the website like your password. Cookies are helpful if you are often filling out forms, becuase they remember what you had previously entered.

Platform - Something to build on. In the software world a platform is program that enables people and computers to build on it.
Microsoft Word is a program designed for a specific task, it is not designed to be modified or adjusted to meet the needs of it's users.
Linux, Facebook and many other web 2.0 software programs are designed from the very beginning to allow the users of the software to modify it to meet their needs and build other programs on top of it that they can then sell as well. A software platform is like the foundation of your house or the frame of your car, it provides the base to build on.

Download - To move a file from a server on the internet to a local computer. Downloading is sometimes confused with installing. Installing is the process of moving a program from a CD or DVD or other source onto your computer and helping the computer recognize and set-up the program so it can be used.

Upload - The reverse of downloading, to upload something is to move it from a local computer to a server or internet connected computer.

Stream- As with a stream of water that flows by, streaming an audio or video file is the processing of watching or listening to the file as it goes by. The local computer is not storing the information for any longer than it takes for you to view it or watch it. YouTube and other video services like it are primarily streaming video services. Streaming is useful when the content owner does not want to allow users to download the content.

Content - Audio, video, text and photos.

Thread - A related line of conversation. A thread is a series of entries in a forum or discussion environment that are related.
For example, in a discussion forum on education there may be a thread on how to improve K-12 learning and another on best practices for using a certain technique or tool.

Users - People that use software programs. Engineers and Network administrators often ask, how many users did we have last week?
Referring to how many people used a certain tool.

Participants - Users that are active in dialogue or other forms of interaction. In the traditional model of software we could say how many people used a program (edited a document, created an image), now we want to know how many participated with others while using the the program, had a covnersation, bought something, added or edited an entry in a collaborative space.

Peer to Peer (P2P) - A computer network designed to leverage the power of the network by accessing computing power from many points in the network at the same time. Traditional networks consisted of a central computer that hosted all of the information and served it to computers that connected to it. In the peer to peer set-up many or all of the comuters in the network host the information and serve it as a group. This design makes the network more efficient by providing more power and back-up options.

Beta - A stage of product development. The term beta is usually applied to tell users of a software that it is still in development. This release some pressure from the developers when users find problems, they are more likely to be understanding and even provide feedback on what went wrong.

Virus - A computer program that spreads by itself. The term virus is usually used when talking about programs are designed to do harm to a computer system. Virus programs can also be designed for good purposes.

Viral - Something that designed to spread. Viral videos are created to be interesting and unique enough to cause the viewers to share them with their friends. Saying something is viral is like saying it has a strong word of mouth essence about it.

Broadband - A high speed internet connection. Since internet speed is measured in bandwidth, broadband means more bandwidth than a dial-up connection. Since the speed (bandwidth) is always increasing we do not put a number with the term broadband, we simply say it's faster than dial-up or 56kbps (kilobytes per second).
You could say the state highway (65 miles per hour) is the broadband of the transportation industry where the back roads are dial-up (35 miles per hour).

VOIP (Voice over internet protocol) - The technology that enables phone calls on the internet instead of the phone system.
Skype and Vonage are two popular VOIP service providers.

Captcha - A small computer program that displays a message and requires the user to input the message into an entry box. The captcha tool is used to make sure that it is a person and not a software program that is trying to access something on a computer.

Open Source - A licensing method that allows others to modify your creations.
Linux is a software that uses and open source license. This form of licensing encourages other to add more value to the product or service.

Technology - Group of elements that when put together perform a function.

Tags - Descriptive words that become connected with a piece of media. Tags can be connected to a blog entry, a photo or any media content by the author or by other participants.

Tagging - the activity of adding tags to content.

Keywords - Descriptive words that summarize the contents of a piece of media for the purpose of making it easy to find in a search of the words. Website designers use keywords in the background of the site so that when someone types that word into a search engine the website can be found. This process is known as a search engine optimization.

Search engine - A software program that creates an index of web content and provides a method of searching the index via keywords and phrases.

Avatar - Digital representation of a person.

Webcast - Live or recorded audio or video that is streamed from the web.

Webconference - Live conference on the web. Webconfrences can include two way text, audio, video and collaboration space.

Blog - Web publishing software tool designed for quick, easy and frequent publishing.

Chat - Software tool designed to enable instant text based communication on the web.

Podcast - A series of audio or video messages that are subscribable via RSS.

Portfolio - Group of organized media assets, photos, videos and other creations like games or software programs.

User Generated Content (UGC) - A general term referring to all content that is not created by traditional mediaor software companies.
A software company may publish a program with content in it, this is not user generated content.

MP3 - The most widely used digital audio file format. MP3's can be music, spoken word or any kind of audio.

MP3 player - Device that plays MP3 files. Most cell phones, PDA's, game devices and even cars can play MP3 files today.

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