| Glossary
Click
on one of the terms listed below to view its definition.
Browser
Short for Web browser, this is program that allows users to
access documents on the World Wide Web (WWW). They read HTML
coded pages that reside on a server and interpret the coding
into what we see as Web pages. Browsers can be either text
or graphic. The two most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator
and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Both of these are graphical
browsers, which means that they can display graphics as well
as text.
Chat
Real-time
communication between two users via computer.
Once a chat has been initiated, users can communicate by typing
text into a chat window. The text that is entered will appear
in the chat window of the other users
participating in the chat.
Chat
Window
An area on the screen where users can enter text to communicate
with other users and also view what the other users are typing.
Client
A computer system or process that requests a service of another
computer system or process (a "server")
using some kind of protocol and accepts the server's responses.
Commerce
Server:
this is web software that runs some of the main functions
of an online storefront. Things such as product display, online
ordering, inventory management.
Cookies:
Cookies are snippets of information delivered from a web site
to theclient's browser, and then stored on the hard drive.
Examples are the timeof the last visit, or the pages downloaded.
"Cookies" can be read by thatweb site on the next
visit.
Credit
Card Processors:
provide shared network systems and on-line credit processing
systems forindividual credit companies. They integrate transactions
between merchants,financial institutions, and card companies.
Dial-up
access
Refers to connecting a device to a network via a modem and a
public telephone network. Dial-up access is really just like
a phone connection, except that the parties at the two ends
are computer devices rather than people. domain
name
The "address" or URL of a particular Web site.
Ecash
Developed by DigiCash and the Mark Twain Bank ecash is the abilty
to use real money in a electronic purchasing system over the
World Wide Web. The process involves you sending a check to
Mark Twain Bank which in turn sends you software which gives
you access to the Ecash Mint where you draw funds to your hard
drive for use when purchasing goods and services on the Internet.
E-commerce
Electronic Commerce - the conducting of business communication
and transactions over networks and through computers. It includes
the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer
of funds, through digital communications.
Some examples of E-commerce applications include buying and
selling over the World-Wide Web and the Internet, electronic
funds transfer, smart cards, digital cash.
e-mail
electronic mail - Electronically transmitted messages. Linked
by high speed data connections that cross international boundaries,
e-mail lets you compose messages and transmit them in seconds
to one or more recipients anywhere in the world.
FAQ
Abbreviation of 'Frequently Asked Questions' - a list of the
most common questions.
Homepage
The top-level document relating to an individual or institution.
This often has a URL consisting of just
a hostname. All other pages on a server
are usually accessible by following links
from the home page.
Hyperlink
An element in an electronic document that links to another place
in the same document or to an entirely different document. Hyperlinks
are the most essential ingredient of the World Wide Web as it
links all web pages together and allows the user to jump from
one document to another simply by clicking on hot spots. Text
that is acting as a hyperlink is characterised by a change in
colour or an underline. HyperText
Markup Language (HTML)
the authoring language used to create documents on the World
Wide Web. Internet
or "the Net" - A system of linked computer networks,
international in scope, that facilitates data communication
services such as remote login, file transfer, electronic
mail, and newsgroups.
Internet
account
An account with an ISP (internet
service provider) that allows you to access the Internet.
Internet
Service Provider (ISP)
A company that provides access to the Internet.
Before you can connect to the Internet you must first establish
an account with an Internet Service
Provider (ISP).
Mailing
List
A list of e-mail addresses identified by a single name, such
as mail-list@hostname.com. When an e-mail message is sent
to the mailing list name, it is automatically forwarded to
all the addresses in the list.
Merchant
Bank:
When a credit card authorization is processed, the first stop
is the bank where the online store has a merchant account.
This bank is the merchant's bank.
Micropayments:
E-commerce began with purchases paid
by credit card - roughly $10 and higher. New Micropayment
systems allow for purchases ranging anywhere from a fraction
of a cent to $5.
Modem
Acronym for modulator-demodulator. A modem is a device or
program that enables a computer to transmit data over telephone
lines. Computer information is stored digitally, whereas information
transmitted over telephone lines is transmitted in the form
of analog waves. A modem
converts between these two forms.
Netcheque:
can be sent via email. When the cheque
is deposited, just as a paper cheque, funds are moved from
the account of the cheque writer to the account of the receiver.
The Netcheque has a digital signature mechanism.
Network
A group of two or more computer systems linked together
Newsgroup
an on-line discussion group. On the
Internet, there are literally thousands of newsgroups covering
every conceivable interest. To view and post messages to a
newsgroup, you need a news reader which is a program that
runs on your computer and connects you to a news server on
the Internet.
Online/On-line
Turned on and connected. Users are considered on-line when they
are connected to a computer service through a modem. That is,
they are actually on the line. Increasingly, the term is being
spelled as one word, online. Protocol
An agreed-upon format for transmitting data between two devices.
Real-time
Occurring immediately. The term is used to describe a number
of different computer features. For example, real-time operating
systems are systems that respond to input immediately. Most
general-purpose operating systems are not real-time because
they can take a few seconds, or even minutes, to react.
Server
1. A program which provides some service to other (client)
programs. The connection between client and server is normally
by means of message passing, often over a network, and uses
some protocol to encode the client's requests and the server's
responses.
2. A computer
which provides some service for other computers connected
to it via a network.
Shopping
Cart:
is a piece of software that operates on an online storefront.
The "shopping cart" keeps track of all the items
that a buyer wants to purchase, allowing the shopper to pay
for the whole order at once.
Smart
Card
is a credit card sized plastic card with an embedded microchip.
The chip can be "recharged" with funds. The store
of value on the card is debited as a transaction is made. The
card can also store ID information, health care details and
security information. Uniform
Resource Locator (URL)
the global address of documents and other resources on the
World Wide Web. The first part of the address indicates what
protocol to use, and the second part specifies the IP address
or the domain name where the resource is located.
User
An individual who uses a computer. An end user is any individual
who runs an application program. Web
Page
A block of data available on the World-Wide
Web, identified by a URL. Each web page is usually stored
on the server as a file written in HTML.
A web page will typically refer to other web pages and Internet
resources by including hypertext links.
World
Wide Web (WWW)
A system of Internet servers that support specially formatted
documents. The documents are formatted in a language called
HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) that supports links to other
documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files. Applications
called Web browsers that make it easy
to access the World Wide Web.
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