The following definitions are greatly oversimplified and are intended primarily to give a general working vocabulary to Internet novices and provide them also with buzz words to toss around at cocktail parties. More extensive listings of Internet terms are available in the UNF Library's Reference Collection.

Anonymous FTP -- a means for receiving files from a remote computer without having to have an account with the remote system. Many commercial enterprises maintain anonymous ftp sites for the convenience of their customers so that customers can download updated program files directly to their machines without having to request and receive diskettes through the mail.

.com -- These are commercial sites, which may include corporate homepages or individual users's homepages. Commercial sites provide users with reliable information about business enterprises, product information, online technical support for software and hardware, and, in many cases, online product ordering capabilities. Since commercial sites may also provide Internet access to individuals, be wary of sources that have no obvious connection to a business enterprise. Example of a corporate Web site: Microsoft

DNS (domain name system) -- a system for assigning addresses to computers and people connected to the Internet. The name can be represented both with words and with numbers. Domain name servers "resolve" Internet names and assign numeric addresses so that one computer can find another over the Internet. Root domain names can indicate country of origin and/or type of website. For example, .com addresses indicate commercial websites, while an address like .co.uk indicates a commercial website in the United Kingdom. A listing of current "top level" domain names is available from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) website.

.edu -- Addresses ending in this extension indicate that you are connecting to a university, college, or other school computer system. These sites can contain both authoritative and frivolous information, depending on the institution's user policies. If a university grants students, faculty, and staff open access to its Internet system, you can expect to find documents containing anything from research to jokes and humor. Examine documents obtained from educational institutions carefully. Look for department affiliations, author credentials, and any other identifying criteria that would support a document's seriousness and reliability. Example of an educational Web site: Florida State University

Email (electronic mail) -- a system for sending and receiving messages on a single computer system or on an interconnection of computer systems, such as the Internet.

FTP (file transfer protocol) -- an application that allows users to send and receive files between remote computers. FTP allows a user to save a file to disk, disconnect from the remote system, and then to view or execute the file on the local machine without continuing to maintain a telephone line connection to the remote machine.

GIF (graphical interchange format) -- one of several formats used to present images (pictures) over the Internet.

Gopher -- a text-based Internet protocol developed by the University of Minnesota in 1991. In its heyday, more than 5,000 gopher servers worldwide provided users with subject access to files available over the Internet. Currently, there might be a couple of hundred Gopher servers still in operation.

.gov -- This extension identifies the information server as a government entity. These sources can be deemed reliable since government bodies (at least in the United States) are charged with the duty of providing their constituents with accurate information on laws, regulations, finances, almost any aspect of government. Example of a government Web site: The United States Government's Thomas Information System

Homepage -- the start page for a website. The start page is normally named index.html, which enables web browsers to find the start page for any address typed into the URL location box. The home page at a minimum should provide information about the website, who operates and maintains the site, and links into the content available at the site. The University of North Florida's homepage is at http://www.unf.edu. The Thomas G. Carpenter Library's homepage is at http://www.unf.edu/library.

HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) -- a standard for presenting information on the World Wide Web. Documents formatted for html include codes that allow text to be displayed with various fonts, sizes, and attributes as well as instructions to load pictures, sounds, and motion pictures.

HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) -- a set of rules by which information is transmitted across the Internet. HTTP provides a transport system for your local computer to receive data from another computer.

Hyperlink -- a link to additional information either within a web document or in other web documents. Hyperlinks are indicated by highlighting and/or underlining within a web page.

Internet -- A world wide interconnection of computer systems that are able to communicate with each other using a common set of protocols. The standard for Internet communication is called TCP/IP. TCP/IP allows computers, regardless of operating systems (DOS, Windows, UNIX, etc.), to exchange data. The Internet had its foundations with ARPANET, an interconnection of computers worldwide that assisted the U.S. Department of Defense to maintain secure contacts worldwide in the event of national emergency.

JPEG (joint photographic experts group) -- a standard for presenting images over the Internet. The JPEG or JPG format supports varying levels of file compression which enables quicker transfer of images over a network.

.mil -- This designates a military body, such as the Pentagon.

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- Files available over the Internet may be saved in many formats, including plain text, html, and gif. Web browsers use MIME type definitions to identify file formats.

MPEG (motion picture experts group) -- one of several standards for presenting motion pictures over the Internet.

.net -- This designates a network. Internet service providers often make use of .net addresses. Example: www.bellsouth.net

.org -- These are associations or other non-commercial organizations that maintain Internet sites. Much research can be obtained from professional and research organizations. These sites typically will be reliable. Example of an organizational Web site: The United Nations

PNG (portable network graphic) -- an open standard for presenting images over the Internet that supports lossless file compression. More information on the PNG format is available online.

Search Engine -- Software that facilitates searching Internet documents. Well-known Internet search engines include Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft's Live Search. Search engines vary widely in their coverage of the Internet. So-called metacrawlers can be used to return top listings from numerous search engines at one time. One of the better know metacrawler's is Dogpile. A more structured means of finding information on the Internet is to use a Web directory like Yahoo Directory or Google Directory. Directories of Internet content take an approach similar to traditional catalogs and indexes in that they are based on predefined subjects and provide access to materials that, in many cases, have been reviewed.

TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) -- This set of protocols manages connections between computer systems. Data is sent over TCP/IP in packets, small chunks of data that are keyed to other packets that are needed to complete the transmission of a file. Every document that you view or every file that you receive over the Internet is sent piecemeal via phone using the TCP/IP protocols.

Telnet -- an application that allows a user to connect to a remote computer and use it as though the user's computer was a terminal connected directly to it. This includes allowing the user to run programs based on the remote machine. For example, authorized users can connect to the UNF Web server (osprey.unf.edu) using secure telnet.

TIFF (tagged image file format) -- a commonly used digital picture format. TIFF or TIF files include not only the digital image but information about the image saved into a single file and can take advantage of various means for compressing files to reduce sizes. Compression is lossless, so the original image information is retained.

TN3270 -- Telnet 3270 is a form of telnet that makes your computer look like a terminal connected to an IBM mainframe computer. TN3270 was frequently used as a means for connecting to text-based library catalogs.

URL (uniform resource locator) -- The URL identifies to a Web browser the address and type of Internet resource to which your computer is connecting. Types of resources include HTML servers, gopher servers, veronica servers, and ftp servers, each of which has its own set of protocols.

VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) -- Still under development, VRML is currently used for three dimensional image representation on the WEB.

Web Browser -- a computer program, like Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Opera, that can connect to a web server and retrieve information on demand. The purpose of the browser is not only to allow connection to a website but to correctly "render" pages that it finds. Pages might consist mainly of text, but could very easily include special formatting and all kinds of images and multimedia content. The browser interprets the page layout and allows for viewing the content.

Web Crawler -- a computerized "robot" that connects to responding computer systems, follows links to documents, and compiles an index of those links and the information available via the links. Most search

Web Server -- a computer system that provides access to information over the World Wide Web. Web browsers are able to display content located on Web servers world-wide.

World Wide Web -- an interconnection of computer information systems available via the Internet. The Web supports the graphical user interface (GUI) that is so familiar to Macintosh and Windows users. Additionally, the Web can also support sound, pictures, and motion pictures.

RESOURCES

Glossary of Internet Terms