INTERNET FREQUENTLY USED TERMS The Internet may introduce you to a whole new world, and certainly, for many, a new language. The following list of definitions is meant to help you become familiar with the jargon you will read when surfing the Net. Many terms are more fully covered in the guides and FAQ's listed below. Anonymous FTP: See FTP. Archie: A navigational tool which searches anonymous FTP hosts by keyword. The user thus can identify files or directories of interest and can transfer those files. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange): A standard for encoding and exchanging textual information over networks. Microcomputer word-processed files typically are changed to "text" files (usually ASCII files) before being transferred between computers or computer networks. Binary File: Files that are not ASCII; "binary" is a numbering system using 0 and 1 to create codes representing characters. This is most relevant in transferring files: ftp has ascii and binary modes, different methods of transferring different kinds of files. See ASCII and FTP. BITNET ("Because It's Time Network"): A network of educational institutions world-wide, available on the Internet and using IBM-based RSCS protocols. Primarily an e-mail network. Bookmark: A navigational tool used with gopher menus which allows the user to "mark" a gopher menu item, (regardless of whether it resides on the local server or a remote server) and to create a personal file or customized gopher menu for quick access to frequently used sites. [See the GopherFAQ listed in the Internet Guides List.] Client: Computer software requesting services from another (usually remote) computer with server software; or the computer receiving services from another computer. Users often use clients (gopher, mosaic, archie) to query servers, programs that distribute services from the remote computer. See Server. Directory: A method of organizing files on computers. Files for a specific user or files on a common topic may be grouped in a directory. A VMS or UNIX directory at an FTP site starts with the letter "d" (e. g., d-wrx-er-x) and thus can be distinguished from a file name. Gopher file-structures are also directory oriented. Domain Name (Node): The last part of an Internet computer's name; the computer and computer owner name as opposed to the username. Consists of words or abbreviations separated by periods: e.g., uwec.edu in username@uwec.edu or [uwec is the "computer owner"] aspen.uwec.edu in username@aspen.uwec.edu [aspen is the "computer name"] [uwec is the "computer owner"] Domain name is word equivalent to the numeric IP address; domain name is the preferred mode of address. [See IP Address and Username.] E-Journal: A journal or magazine distributed electronically, sometimes fom a listserv, sometimes as ftp, gopher or www files. Emoticons: The punctuation "smiley" faces, e. g. :-), or other expressions, e.g., ;-) (a wink) or a frown :-( used on the Internet to add meaning and humor to messages. FTP: File Transfer Protocol; standards or protocols allowing for the fast transfer of ascii or binary data files between computers or computer networks. FTP also is used as a verb: to FTP files means to transfer (send or receive) files. Anonymous FTP: Public access to certain computer files which allows non-account holders (guests) to get (download) or to store (upload) text, data, or software files. Anonymous FTP refers to any such host computer which allows users without local accounts to transfer, with some restrictions, files. Fetch: An FTP software client for the MacIntosh. Freenet: Community based electronic bulletin board system, with e-mail and information sources; often with an Internet gateway. Gopher: A navigational tool (protocol and software package), developed at the University of Minnesota, which provides a menu-based searching system to improve identification and access to Internet resources. [See also the GopherFAQ, listed in the INTERNET GUIDES LIST. See also Bookmark, and Veronica.] H Gopher: A gopher client for Windows-based microcomputers. Host: A computer with more than one user. Commonly, a computer which accesses the Internet, e.g., gopher.uwec.edu, port 70. [Has a unique Internet domain name and IP address. [See domain name; IP address.] HYTELNET: A navigational tool (program), designed by Peter Scott of the University of Saskatchewan, which a provides a directory and a connection to a wealth of Internet resources and information. Code is available for various platforms. Host: gopher://gopher.usask.ca/search menu for hytelnet. Internet: The international collection of local, regional, and national networks, using the TCP/IP protocols to exchange information. Used less formally to mean any connected international, regional, state-wide or local network. [See the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet" or "Guide to Network Resource Tools" listed in the Internet Guides List for more detailed discussions of Internet history and structure.] IP (Internet Protocol) Address: The numeric Internet address describing a computer's location or connection to the network: 35.12.59.14. Equivalent to the domain name for users, but should be used only when the domain name does not connect you to the Internet site. [See Domain Name.] JANET (Joint Academic Network): The United Kingdom's research electronic network. Listserv (Listserver, List, List Processor): Listserv was originally BITNET software to manage electronic discussion groups (lists) and to provide searchable archives of the lists. The above terms now generally refer to any such system of discussion groups, outside of Usenet. [See any of the General Internet Guides listed in the Internet Guides List for information about accessing and using listserv's.] Login (Also Logon): Connecting to one's host computer or mainframe, or generally any remote computer. Logout (Also Logoff): Disconnecting from one's host computer. Mosaic Netscape: A WWW software client for both Macintosh and Window-based microcomputers. Allows for sound, images and video clips as well as text. NCSA Mosaic: A WWW software client for both Macintosh and Window-based microcomputers. Allows for sound, images and video clips as well as text. Netiquette: "Etiquette" on the "Net": general courtesy guidelines for Net users, especially e-mail users. Example: Enter messages in upper and lower case letters, not all in upper case letters or it will appear that you are SHOUTING. PPP: See SLIP/PPP. SLIP/PPP: SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) and PPP (Point to Point Protocol) are standards for software which allows the user to connect to the Internet directly from the personal computer. Note: not all Internet Service Providers have SLIP/PPP services. Server: Software allowing a computer to provide service to other computers which have client software; or, the computer (with server software) providing services to other computers. See Client. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): Protocol or standard language on which the Internet is based. TCP is a connection-oriented protocol; IP allows for packets to cross different networks. Telnet: An Internet protocol and standardized program which allows users to connect to remote computers: "remote login". [See any of the General Internet Guides for more telnet information.] Turbo Gopher: A gopher software client for the Macintosh. Universal Resource Locator (URL) : An all-purpose format for specifying the address of an Internet resource, following the general format: URL://resource-type://host.domain/path-or-port-information/. [See also the WWWFAQ, listed in the Internet Guides List for more information on URLs.] UNIX: A popular computer operating system commonly found on Internet host machines, as opposed to VMS. [ See VMS.] UseNet: A world-wide network which distributes electronic messages that have been sent to public news groups and e-conferences; a bulletin board on a variety of specialized topics, from food to using the Internet to social studies to business. See the listings under Newsgroups in the Internet Guides Listing for more information on Usenet. Username or ID: Personal address or name for a user's account on a computer, e.g., in "janeuser@foo.bar.edu", "janeuser" is the user name. VMS: The operating system for Digital Equipment's VAX computers, as opposed to UNIX. [See VAX, UNIX.] VERONICA (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Network Index to ComputerArchives): A navigational tool for searching Gopher sites without scrolling through all the Gopher menus; provides keyword searching, of words in directory and file names. [See also the GopherFAQ, listed in the Internet Guides for more information on Veronica and Gopher; see also Bookmarks, Gopher.] VAX: Computers manufactured by The DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation). [See VMS.] WAIS (Wide-Area Information System, pronounced Wayz): A navigational tool (software), developed by Thinking Machines,Inc. Provides key word/phrase searching and retrieval of indexed files of specified servers; similar to VERONICA, but searches the files as opposed to the directory names. Ranks retrieved documents by relevancy. WS FTP: A FTP software client for Windows-based microcomputers. WS Gopher: A gopher based software client for Windows-based microcomputers. WWW (World-Wide Web): A navigational tool (software), developed at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, and based on hypertext technology, for expanding terms and "browsing" the Internet. In WWW, everything (indexes, documents, menus, etc.) is a potential hypertext "searchable" connection. Versions of the client software to browse the WWW are available by on the Net. [See the WWWFAQ, listed in Internet Guides, for more information on WWW.] Source: Betsy Richmond, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Reference and Internet Training richmoeb@uwec.edu 12/94