6 Web Collaboration Glossary

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Glossary of terms as used in this document.

Brochure site

A web site that only has a brochure for a company.  In other words, it has no product or service information, requires you to snail-mail, or ring to get any information, and some may even ask you to email the site to get the information that you are looking for.  This is the very information that should be up on the web site in the first place.

 

CERN

Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (French), European Organisation for Nuclear Research, now known as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.

See http://www.cern.ch/

 

CGI

CGI is a protocol that defines the communication between web servers and external executable code on the server.

 

Client/server

Client/server is a computational architecture that involves client processes requesting service from server processes.

See http://www.faqs.org/faqs/client-server-faq/preamble.html

 

Collaboration

To work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavour.

 

Content

Useful information that has substance.

 

Co-operative authoring

Marked by a willingness and ability to work with others to be a writer (or creator) of a literary work.

 

Cross platform

The software can run on multiple operating systems, and/or different base hardware.

 

EdLin

EdLin is a very early text file editor that shipped with early versions of MS-DOS.

 

Email and Usenet (Newsgroups)

Methods of communication for discussion based on text.  Email is for private one on one discussion, and can be used for groups, when a mailing list is set up.  Mailing lists are still private to those involved, unless it is publicly mirrored somewhere.  Usenet is for open public discussions that everyone can read and respond to.  Like verbal discussions, these are not implicitly recorded and kept, unless someone makes the effort to do so (for example Dejanews).

 

Eye-candy

Something that is only present to please the eye, and has no information content.  When done right, this can enhance a site.  When done wrong (as is common), it can replace, or destroy any previously present content.

 

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions are most often associated with Usenet, although they have grown to cover any area or subject, not just Usenet conduct and frequently asked questions.

See news:news.answers

See ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/

See http://www.faqs.org/

 

Fluff

The opposite of 'Content'.  Stuff that is there, and gives you no information.

 

HotJava

A web browser created by Sun that is written entirely in Java.

See http://java.sun.com/

 

HTML

HyperText Markup Language.  The language for publishing web pages on the Web.  It is a non-proprietary format based on SGML that can be created by any text editor, through to WYSIWYG publishing tools.

See http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/MarkUp.html

 

Hypermedia

Hypermedia is a term describing the combination of Hypertext, sound, graphics, etc.  It is Hypertext that is not limited to text.

 

Hypertext

Hypertext is computer-readable text that allows very extensive cross-referencing.

 

The Internet

The main interconnection of networks of computers (c.f. internet, an interconnection of networks, any kind, any where, and not necessarily global, or connected to the Internet).  The Internet grew from the original ARPANET network in the USA (1970s).

 

Java

Java is a recent programming language that is ideal for network programming, when security and portability are required.

See http://java.sun.com/

 

Java Servlets

Java Servlets are Java applications that run on a web server.  They are similar to other CGI web server applications

See http://java.sun.com/products/servlet/whitepaper.html

 

Legacy technology

Legacy technology is older technology that has been superseded by newer technology.  Commonly associated with technology that may be older, but that still contains needed and useful information, that either can't be upgraded, would cost too much, or there is no need (although there may be wants) to upgrade.

 

Mosaic

The web browser that started the graphical web trend.  This is the browser that both Netscape and Microsoft have based their browsers on, as it was the first and easiest (at the time) in-line graphical browser.

 

Newbie

Someone who is new to the scene (commonly associated with Usenet).  This is one stage that we all go though.  This is when understanding about a new subject or group is being discovered.  In contrast is the "Clueless Newbie".  This is someone who is new, but can't be bothered to find out what is/is not acceptable in the area that they are discovering.  In other words someone who is new to the area, and wants everything handed to them on a silver platter.  Often associated with Usenet when someone asks a question that is answered in the FAQ, that they should have read.

 

Open Source

A software development model that harnesses the many programmers spread throughout the Internet, rather than the traditional model of harnessing a few programmers in a specific location.

See http://www.opensource.org/

 

Open standards

Making a standard available to anyone, this means that there will be much higher support, and the possibility of systems that can easily interact.

 

Relation ship diagrams

One to Many	Many to One	One to one	Many to Many

 

Request For Comments (RFCs) / Internet Standards (STDs)

RFCs are officially available from either the IETF or http://www.rfc-editor.org/, which also lists other repositories.

    WebDAV [RFC2518]

    HTTP [RFC 2616]

    HTML [RFC2854]

    Telnet [RFC854-855 / STD8]

    FTP [RFC959 / STD9]

    Email (SMTP) [RFC821 / STD10]

    (POP3) [RFC1939 / STD53]

    IRC [RFC2810-3]

    Usenet (NNTP) [RFC977/RFC1036]

    Gopher [RFC1436]

    WAIS [RFC1625]

 

SGML

Standard Generalised Markup Language

 

SPAM (& the Real time blacklist)

Unwanted and unasked for email that companies or individuals send out to LARGE lists of people without their consent.  This is often in the vain attempt to sell people something that they can't sell (because no one wants it, it's illegal, immoral, or too expensive).  The name SPAM comes from a Monty Python script that more than just overuses the word SPAM.  There are groups that keep a list of spammer's addresses, called 'Real time blacklists', and many ISP's (Internet Service Providers), will automatically block any emails coming from the known spamming addresses.

See http://spam.abuse.net/

 

SSI (Server Side Includes)

This allows active content in an otherwise static web page

 

W3 (World Wide Web Consortium)

The coordinating body for Web development.

See http://www.w3.org/

 

The Web (WWW, World Wide Web)

Collection of servers that serve web pages over the Internet compared with the Internet, which is the collection of networks that the Web works over.  The Web is effectively an application running over the Internet.

 

Web browser

An application that allows you to view web pages.

 

Web hits

The definition of Web hits can vary, depending on what exactly you are talking about.  The term is a very fuzzy one, and very difficult to interpret, even if you are talking about the same meaning.  One meaning is one hit is one access to the web site, so for one web page, there might be anything from zero (yes that is right, zero) to twenty or more.  Another meaning is one hit per page viewed, with all the graphics and associated pages (for example frames) counted all as one hit.  Of course this is all assuming that the page was actually asked for from the web server, and it was not cached in the local cache, the proxy cache, or elsewhere (which is where the zero from above can come from).  Then there is the question on whether the machine asking for a page is being read by a person, or is it just a robot going out in search of pages, generally to index them.  Then there are the mistaken hits, when someone types in the wrong address, someone else had the address before you, or someone misspelled a link in a page.

 

Webmaster

The person who is in charge of the web server and looks after all the information and pages that are on it.

 

Web pages

Pages of information that people can put onto web sites so that others can access that information easily from anywhere, usually written in HTML.

 

Web site

A computer that is set up to serve web pages.

 

WikiWiki

Quote from their front page: "(It is) ... a fun way of communicating asynchronously across the network", or as a set of web pages that are open and free for anyone to edit as they wish.  Wiki is not real-time; therefore people have time to think before they follow up a web page, often days or weeks, so they have time to consider what they write.  It was created for the discussion of People, Projects, and Patterns (a pattern is a recurring solution to a common problem in a given context and system of forces [Alexander 1977] [Alexander 1979]).

 

Word of mouth

Information that people have thought worthy enough to pass on to others that may be interested.

 

WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get.  Unfortunately this is not always the case.