May 2000
#209

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) A high-speed, fully digital telephone service. ISDN upgrades today's analog telephone network to a digital system. ISDN can operate at speeds up to 128 kilobits/second, which is five or more times faster than today's analog modems. Tends to be more expensive than other services.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) A service that offers a faster Internet connection than a standard dial-up connection. DSL technology uses existing 2-wire copper telephone wiring to deliver high-speed data services to businesses and homes. The connection is always up and runs connects at rates of over nine times faster than conventional modems.

Cable-Modem Connectivity Connectivity to the Internet via Cable TV services.

Satellite Connectivity Connectivity via satellite dishes used for television access in homes.

April 2000
#208

WebQuest An inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

March 2000
#207

ISP (Internet Service Provider) A company that you pay (usually) to provide you access to the Internet.

Upload To send a file from your computer to a remote computer.

Download To bring a file from a remote computer to your computer.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) A program that works "behind the scenes" on a web server. It can provide a variety of functions, such as guest books, e-mail forms, etc.

Remotely Hosted Features Items such as counters, guest books, etc. that are served up from a server other than the one that is serving your web pages.

February 2000
#206

Chat Events Live interviews that happen at specific times on specific websites. People on the site at the time of the interview can ask questions and converse real time with featured guest. Once the live session is over, the chat area closes down, so that there is no chance of inappropriate use of the site.

Streaming Media A unique compression technology that reduces digitized computer files like audio and video to a bandwidth size small enough to be downloaded and reach your computer for playback in real time.

Virtual Reality On the internet allows you to view objects and places in a 3 dimensional-type environment. Pick up a piece of art and examine it from all angles. Special software is needed to view these files on the internet. The most common is the Quicktime viewer from Apple Computer.

Table A grid-like tool that allows greater flexibility in the layout of web pages.

January 2000
#205

Bookmark A feature of web browsers that, by recording an address, enables you to quickly return to that address on the Web.

Client An application that runs on a personal computer or workstation and relies on a server to perform some operations.

ICQ ("I Seek You") A program that lets you find your friends and associates online in real time.

Hypertext A feature on web pages that allows you to point and click on a word, a phrase, or a graphic and transfer you to a specific website, web page, document, or media file.

December 1999
#204

None.

November 1999
#203

Natural Language Query A natural language query is one that is expressed using normal conversational syntax.

Boolean Query A query, which, while precise, requires strict interpretation that can often exclude information that is relevant to your interests.

mp3 A mp3 is an audio file that is an evolution of mpeg files. You can download mp3 files from the Internet or you can make your own mp3 files by "ripping" (pulling tracks from CD-ROMs) and encoding them to mp3 standards.

Music Match Jukebox A piece of software that can rip, encode, create playlists, and play the files -- an all-in-one shareware solution that can be found at www.download.com.

October 1999
#202

ASP (Active Server Page), CGI (Common Gateway Interface), SSI (Server Side Include) These terms deal with the activity of the web server receiving a request from a browser, processing the request, and returning a customized web page "on the fly". These pages are generally tied to a database of information. This provides for interactive internet use rather than just browsing published web pages.

CallWave Allows you to receive audio messages from friends and family while you surf. Your phone company needs to support call busy forwarding to use.

September 1999
#201

Portals An "entry" to the Internet that provides the user with a way to access specific information within a consistent, organized interface.

PDFs (Portable Document File) Allows desktop publishers to create great looking online pages without being tied to traditional web page design constraints.

Plugins A hardware or software module that adds a specific feature or service to a larger system. There are number of plug-ins for the Netscape Navigator browser that enable it to display different types of audio or video messages.