Anonymous FTP - A method of obtaining files via FTP (see File Transfer Protocol) where files are publicly available and not restricted. Users login as "anonymous" or "ftp" and leave their e-mail address for a password.

API - Application Program Interface. A set of formalized software system calls and routines that allow application program inter-activity.

Alta Vista - A Web search engine designed and sponsored by Digital Equipment Corporation. The site URL is: http://www.altavista.digital.com/.

Applet - See Java Applet .

Archie - A system for locating files that are made publicly available through anonymous ftp.

ARPAnet - An experimental network established by the government in the 70's that served as the basis for the Internet.

AUP - Acceptable Use Policy. AUPS are strict, written usage guidelines for use for the Internet in terms of posting to news groups, sending e-mail, chat, and other Internet communications, e.g. the NFSnet AUP.

Authentication - Verifying that the source of a message, transmission, or interaction is who or what they claim to be.

Authorization - Controls who has access to an entire server or particular files and directories on it. Restrictions can include host names and IP addresses.

Authoring - Used to refer to the development of World Wide Web documents using HTML.

Backbone - A high speed line or collection of lines that form a major network pathway, usually connected to smaller lines.

Bandwidth - The amount of network traffic that can go through a network/Internet connection.

Baud - The number of times a connectivity device changes "state". For instance, there are 2400 bps modems, which operate at 600 baud (there are four bits sent per signal transition, and there are about 600 signal transitions per second, yielding 2400 bits per second). One should not confuse "baud" with "bps".

BBS - Bulletin Board System. An on-line repository of messages, files, software, and patches, generally devoted to a specific organization or topic. The method of access is generally via telnet.

BPS - Bits Per Second. A measurement of data transmission speed.

Browser - Intended for the World Wide Web, a browser is client software used for "surfing the Internet". It is a super-set of several different tools for viewing information on the Internet. Generally, a browser can view ftp archives, gopher sites, and HTML. The browser is what you would use to view a home page on-line, presented by a Web server.

Cache - A copy of original data stored locally so that it does not have to be retrieved from a remote server again when requested.

CERN - Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire. The European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, where the World Wide Web was created. CERN Web servers are available through the WC3.

CERT - Computer Emergency Response Team. An organization that coordinates and distributes information regarding security threats to the Internet, such as viruses, worms, and security holes. Based out of Carnegie Mellon University.

Certificate - A file used in secure connections to authenticate the server to the client. The certificate ensures the authenticity of its holder (the server).

Certification Authority - An organization that distributes private and public key pairs for doing encrypted interactions on the Internet. Currently, VeriSign and Sun Microsystems, among others offer Certification Authority services. This service will someday be offered by the US Postal Service.

CGI - Common Gateway Interface. A standard for interfacing external applicationswith information servers, such as Web servers.

CGI-Bin Directory - A directory of scripts that is configured within the http server. Output from cgi-bin can be relayed to clients (browsers).

Ciphertext - The output of an encryption function.

Clear Text - See Plain Text .

CommerceNet - A consortium of companies working under a seeding grant and in cooperation with US, state, and local governments to facilitate doing commerce over Internet. Their home page can be viewed at http://www.commerce.net.

Commerce Server - A product developed by Netscape Communications that includes the basic Web server, and the ability to do secure transactions on the Web using the SSL secure protocol.

Communications Server - A product developed by Netscape Communications that is a basic Web server.

CyberCash - A company that provides software (CyberCash Secure Internet System) that enables the purchasing of products and services over the Internet, as well as providing authorization codes in real time.

Cyberspace - A term often used to refer to the Internet taken from the science fiction novel Neuromancer by William Gibson.

Daemon - An independent, automated background program that performs specific functions in UNIX systems.

Data Encryption - Conversion of clear text to an encoded state ( ciphertext ) so that it is unreadable and secure.

Decryption - Conversion of encrypted coded to unsecure, readable text or code.

Dedicated Line - See Leased Line .

Dial-up - To connect to from a computer to another computer using modems or similar connectivity devices over a telephone line. A modem and a dumb terminal also be used to dial-up.

Dispatcher - A daemon or service component of the mail server. The dispatcher initiates all the mail server processes and monitors ports for incoming messages and finger queries.

DNS - Domain Name System, sometimes referred to as Domain Name Service or Server . A service that translates computer Internet addresses to names and vice-versa. This allows a user to contact another computer over the network or Internet by only using it's host name and not a long set of IP address numbers (such as: 132.456.222.32).

Domain - A part of the Internet address naming hierarchy such as .com .

Domain Name - The unique name that identifies an Internet site, separated by periods, and generally composed of two or more parts, such as sco.com. You can get a good idea of the type of organization and even location from the name. Some of the more common are: .edu (education), .gov (government), .com (commercial), and .net (network). Geographical domains are also used, such as .uk (United Kingdom), and .au (Australia). Domain names are best read from right to left, showing the top level domains, sub-domains, host name(s), and finally user name.

Domain Name Server - Sometimes used to refer to Domain Name System , it can also be a server on a network that performs the Domain Name System function. Also known as Domain Name Service or Domain Name System.

EDI - Electronic Data Interchange. The ability to do on-line electronic purchasing and fulfillment acknowledgment using either direct dial-up lines or the Internet.

Electronic Commerce - Purchasing or funds transfer over the Internet, generally using secure technology to prevent information from being "stolen" from network packets. Examples would be a consumer-to-merchant credit card purchase or Electronic Data Interchange.

Electronic Data Interchange - See EDI .

E-Mail Address - An identifier that allows you to be contacted by e-mail over the Internet. An e-mail address generally consists of the following pieces: username@servername.subdomain.domain.

Emoticons - Characters in e-mail or news postings when viewed sideways, reveal faces. These are used to add emotional characteristics to e-mail and news postings . (The most frequently used is the smiley :-)

Encryption - Encoding plain text information so that it cannot be deciphered.

Enhanced Security Package - A feature of the Atlas project, this is not an application-level firewall, but allows the ability to do IP packet filtering, notification when there are system break-ins, and provides easy configuration and consideration for security issues.

Eudora - A very popular Internet e-mail reader. Free copies are available via the Internet called Eudora Lite. The retail product with enhancements is available as Eudora Pro. Made by Qualcomm.

Extensions - See Netscape Extensions .

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions. Most newsgroups and many other information repositories have a posted and recommended FAQ so that frequently asked questions can be reviewed before asking new questions. All Internet newcomers should read the FAQs first.

Finger - A tool for locating people on the Internet.

Firewall - A combination of hardware and software that protects a LAN or a single server from break-ins via the Internet. Simple firewalls can be a router or computer that only allow certain types of network packets through ( IP filtering ). More advanced firewalls, application firewalls , have a higher degree of sophistication andcan be programmed to be even more restrictive by combing out a finer granularity of information in the network packet.

Flame - Strong criticism delivered in e-mail or a news posting.

Freeware - Software that is available for free on the Internet. Also referred to as public domain software.

FTP - File Transfer Protocol. A networking protocol, included in most UNIX systems. Using FTP, users can go by LAN, WAN, or the Internet to another server and either place ("put") or retrieve files ("get") to or from the server. FTP sites can be recognized by the preface ftp.sitename or on the Web by ftp:// in the URL. Files transferred via FTP can consist of text, graphics, audio, video, or software.

Gateway - A server with the dedicated purpose of providing access from one network to another or from a network to the Internet. A gateway may also do some "translation" between incompatible networks, such as allowing a Novell network (based on IPX) to "talk" to the Internet (based on TCP/IP). This would be a Novell gateway or IPX-to-TCP/IP gateway.

GIF - Graphics Interchange Format. Filename extension for a type of image file (.gif ).

Gopher - A menu-based system for exploring Internet available file resources. While the user interface is graphical for most tools, the information is generally available as text.

Home Page - The Home Page is like a "billboard" on the Internet. It is viewed by using a browser such as Mosaic or Netscape to look at the home page. The home page resides on a server and is capable of holding information in various forms - text, graphics, video, and audio. Below is a picture of a home page viewed with a browser. When viewing a home page, you will notice that several words, lines, or graphics are underlined or somehow distinguished from other text and graphics in the document. These are referred to as hyperlinked information , or hypertext and hypermedia . If they are clicked on, will jump the viewer to another document or graphic. The server that provides the information called up by the hyperlink does not have to be "local" on the server, but can actually come from any location globally. This is the advantage of the Web - information at your fingertips, yet seamless as to where the information comes from.

Host - A computer directly connected to the Internet. This generally would not include computers on a LAN that can access the Internet.

Hosting Content - When an Internet consultant, publisher, or ISP offers services where they provide visibility for customers on the Internet using the Web (home pages), ftp, or gopher.

Hot Buttons - Small images, usually uniform in appearance that are hyperlinked to other HTML documents or images.

Hot Java - A Java-enabled browser developed by Sun Microsystems.

HotMetal Pro - An authoring/editing tool for the Web created by SoftQuad.

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language. The language in which World Wide Web documents, or home pages are written.

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. The networking protocol used on the World Wide Web. It requires an http client at one end, and an http server (or httpd ) at the other.

HTTPD - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Daemon. Functionally, think of this as the technical component for a Web server. It is a program that serves information using the HTTP protocol.

HTTPS - (S-HTTP) Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure - A secure implementation of HTTP using SSL 3.0, most commonly used for electronic commerce.

Hyperlink - Links between hypertext or hypermedia that reference, or call up other documents or graphics in HTML document form.

Hypermedia - Images/graphics that hyperlink to other references in an HTML document (home page).

Hypertext - This is a word or series of words (the word is usually highlighted or underlined) in a HTML document (home page) that, when clicked on, will send you to another home page/document. Graphical images can also be used this way, in which case, they are referred to as being hyperlinked .

IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol V4 - IMAP allows users to be disconnected from the main messaging system and still be able to process their mail. IMAP specification allows administrative control, for these disconnected users and for the re-synchronization of the users message store once they reconnect to the messaging system.

Internet - The Internet is a large number of networks that allows the provision and movement of information globally. It started as a government project, and has since become a mixture of government, educational, and commercial networks. The Internet started over 20 years ago as an effort by the US Defense Department to connect institutions doing military research. No one "owns" the Internet. However, there is a group called the Internet Society or ISOC, which is a volunteer governing body. Standards and infrastructure are decided through a body of volunteers know as the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). Technical issues and recommendations are done by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Internet Access Provider (IAP) - See Internet Service Provider .

Internet Standard Time - A measure of time in which everything is accelerated, particularly product development schedules.

Internet Relay Chat - Also referred to as Chat , this is the ability to have simultaneous conversations over the Internet by typing in your part of the conversation, and seeing the responses in an interactive fashion.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) - Anyone who provides connectivity to the Internet as a service. ISPs range from small local providers to medium size regional providers (such as an SCO VAR/VSP), to the better known national ISPs such as: Netcom, BBN, Uunet, PSI, EUNet, UUNorth, and Pipex. The services offered by ISPs can vary from merely offering a connection to full service, support, provision of on-site customer Internet servers, and "hosting content". Many ISPs will build a home page, convert files and graphics, forward leads, and update information for a one-time creation and monthly maintenance fee.

The Internet Society - A volunteer organization with some administrative and informational responsibilities for the Internet. Most key usage figures are compiled by the Internet Society. They can be found on the Web at: http://info.isoc.org/ .

Intranet - In the same way that the world is networked and information shared between organizations, the same thing can be done using a LAN and WAN internally. Within a company, an internal structure of Web servers can make internal company information available between departments or even accessible to external staff via the Internet. For instance, an internal employee may be able to submit help desk requests with an IS department via a Web page; check on project status in an Engineering group; or even view an HR page to see what their benefit information is. Database access can also be done with this method.

IP - Internet Protocol. The networking protocol that the Internet is based on.

IP Address - The network address for computers on a LAN, WAN, or the Internet. Also referred to as IP number .

IP Tunneling - Another term for the technology that enables Virtual Private Networks .

IPX - Internetwork Packet Exchange. A networking protocol used on Novell networks.

IRC - See Internet Relay Chat .

ISAPI - Internet Server Application Programming Interface. A Microsoft API for Internet servers.

ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network. A service that requires specific hardware devices that provides faster and more efficient data communications by using digital signals instead of analog signals.

ISOC - See Internet Society .

ISP - See Internet Service Provider .

Java - An object-oriented programming language based on C++ that allows for secure, two-way, real-time interaction. Developers can create Java applets that perform specific interactive functions. Java was developed by Sun Microsystems.

Java Applet - A Java program that can be included in an HTML page, much like an image can be included.

JavaScript - Javascript is a compact, object-based scripting language for developing client-server Internet applications. JavaScript was developed by Sun Microsystems.

JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group. A standard for compression of graphic image files. Images on the Web are often available in JPEG format and are noted by the extension . jpeg .

Jughead - A service similar to Veronica that provides search capability for Gopher sites.

Kerberos - Project Athena's authentication service.

LAN - Local Area Network. Computers networked together in one location.

LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol - Developed at the Univ. of Michigan as a directory service driven by a database application that is designed to manage descriptive, attribute based information, such as a persons location or email address.

Leased Line - A leased line is a high bandwidth, dedicated line, generally used by organizations to connect their own sites. Leased lines vary in cost and bandwidth. Fractional T1 , T1 , and T3 are terms for different types of leased lines and bandwidths.

Link - See hyperlink .

ListServ - See Mail List Server .

Netscape LiveWire - A next generation Netscape tool that contains a suite of Web server management products, Java components, and Navigator Gold.

Lycos - A Web search engine or "index". It is searchable by entering the words you want to look for, and brings up the URLs that have those words associated with them. The site URL is: http://www.lycos.com/

MIME - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. A protocol that allows a mail system to include binary data along with mail transmissions, such as multi-media, graphics, and software programs or documents (such as Excel spreadsheets).

MajorDomo - See Mail List Server .

Mailing List - A centrally maintained function where people can send e-mail to a central list that is then distributed via e-mail to the list's "subscribers". The Mailing List generally has a specific topic, whether a technical, recreational, or business focus.

Mail List Server - Software that enables the creation, subscription, and maintenance of an alias-like mail list on specific topics. You can subscribe to such a list, and mailings to that list go to other members of the mailing list. Software is available in the public domain, such as ListServ and MajorDomo.

Modem - Hardware that allows a computer to communicate with another computer using standard telephone lines. It literally stands for "MOdulator/DEModulator". It turns digital data into analog and vice-versa.

Mosaic - A browser designed and built by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illlinois at Urbana-Champaign (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/). It is still publicly available, but has been enhanced and is being licensed commercially by Spyglass. MPEG - Motion Picture Experts Group. A standard for compression of full motion video. Images on the Web are often available in MPEG format, noted with the file extension .mpeg.

Moderators - People who read and edit articles before they are posted to news groups. They must approve any article prior to it being posted to a news group.

MTA - Message Transfer Agent - Programs such as mail server that exchange email with other MTAs and accept and deliver messages to user agents.

Multi-Domain - The ability of an Internet server to provide several domains or Web servers on a single server instead of having multiple servers. A single server could have abc.com and def.com referred to as though they were separate domains.

Multi-Homing - See Multi-Domain .

Netscape Navigator - A Web browser developed by Netscape Communications. It additionally has electronic mail, threaded discussion groups, and file transfer features.

Netscape Navigator Gold - Next generation Netscape Communications software that enables users of all experience levels to easily create, edit, and navigate live on-line documents.

NCSA - National Center for Supercomputing Applications. This is the organization at the University of Illlinois at Urbana-Champaign that developed Mosaic and the NCSA server for the World Wide Web.

NDS - Netware Directory Services. A distributed, replicated name service built into Netware 4 that maintains information and re-direction to every resource on the network.

Netscape - See Netscape Communications .

Netscape Communications Corporation - In its beginning known as Mosaic Communications, Netscape Communications produces a Web browser called Navigator. In addition, they produce Web servers, including the following: Communications Server, Commerce Server, News Server, Mail Server, and Proxy Server.

Netscape Extensions - Additions to HTML 2.0 and 3.0 specifications that Netscape has to extend the capability of HTML. These additions affect such things as tables, background, and dynamic updating.

Netiquette - The unwritten code of the Net as to proper and polite usage of the Internet in terms of posting to news groups, sending e-mail, chat, and other Internet communications. Newbies - Users who are newly on-line with the Internet.

News - Software that allows the posting and reading of "articles" to and from a central area under a specific topic, just like placing and reading ads in a newspaper. The articles are read with a news reader (such as rn ), and maintained with a news server (such as NNTP ). The overall, shared Internet newsgroups and the system that maintains and updates them is referred to as Usenet . General Usenet newsgroups are shared and updated between Internet sites.

NewsFeeds - The way in which two news servers will exchange news. One news server connects to another and he make the exchange.

News Posting - An electronic "article" sent to a newsgroup using News software.

News Reader - The client portion to News software that allows the reading and posting of news article on-line. Examples of this are rn and nn .

News Server - The server portion to News software that allows the maintenance of a News repository of articles/postings.

Newsgroup - A specific category of articles/postings in News software. The general group name is on the left of the dot, with more specific groupings represented on the right. Usenet general category examples are comp. (computers), misc. (miscellaneous), and alt. (alternate). If a group were about ACME printers, for example, the newsgroup might be: comp.printers.acme .

NIS - Network Information Service - NIS is a system of programs and data files that UNIX machines use to collect, collate and share specific information about machines, users, files systems, and network parameters.

NNTP - Network News Transfer Protocol - Specifies how news us transferred over the Internet. It also specifies how client and servers connect.

NSAPI - Netscape Application Programming Interface. The API for applications that run on top of Netscape similar to CGI.

Packet - A bundle of data on a network or the Internet.

Packet Filtering - The ability to selectively allow only certain network IP packets through a server or router. This is done to restrict access from the Internet into a computer or LAN, or from a LAN out to the Internet.

PEM - Privacy Enhanced Mail.

PEER - Another news server that connects to exchange news through a newsfeed.

PERL - Practical Extraction and Reporting Language. A scripting language used to program functions for CGI applications.

PGP - Pretty Good Privacy. A public domain encryption utility.

PING - Packet InterNet Groper. A program that allows you to see if a computer is up on the network or the Internet.

Plain Text - Unencoded text that is not secure from being viewed.

Point of Presence (POP) - A local phone number provided by an ISP for their customers to dial-in to in order to reach the ISP server, and on out to the Internet.

POP3 - Post Office Protocol. E-mail servers and user agents that allow local and remote (or mobile) users to access their e-mail via the Internet or dial-up. The use connects, downloads their mailbox, reads and takes actions on the e-mail, and then the mailbox on the server is updated when they finish. Examples of POP user agents are: Eudora, NuPop, and Popmail/PC.

Posting - Sending an electronic "news article" to a news server.

PPP - Point-to-Point Protocol. A network protocol that allows a user to use TCP/IP with a standard telephone line and a high speed modem.

Protocol - A definition of how a computer or software will act when communicating with another computer.

Proxy - Software designed to improve the performance and security of Web server capabilities. Performance is enhanced because information from frequently accessed Web sites is stored locally, preventing the need to constantly access other sites at the cost of performance. Security is enhanced because the proxy can reside on a firewall and forward information to a Web server outside the firewall, thereby disguising the source URL from inside the firewall.

Proxy Server - A Web server that allows setting up of proxy services. Available from Netscape Communications, CERN, and other sources.

Proxy Services - See Proxy .

Public Key - The public component of public key encryption.

Public Key Encryption - A method for securing information that requires the issuance of a pair of keys - one private, one public. One is used to encrypt and the other to decrypt. For instance, if I wanted to send a credit card number via this method, I would use my private key to encrypt the number and the merchant I sent it to would use my public key to decrypt the information. The issuance of key pairs is done by a Certification Authority . This is a method of securing interactions on the Internet.

Private Key - The secret component of public key encryption.

Public Domain - Software with title and copyright specifically relinquished by the creator.

Realm - A term used in HTTP and proxy access authorization that helps the user identify which part of the system is requesting an HTTP or proxy user name and password.

Remote Access - The ability to access a computer from a remote location, whether by direct dial-up or by the Internet using a modem or other connectivity device and a telephone line.

RFC - Request for Comments - Usually procedures and standards documents submitted to the Internet community. Individuals can send comments on the technologies before they become accepted standards.

Router - A device that allows control of a connection to the Internet. In combination with a connectivity device like a modem, it can be programmed to restrict entry of specified network packets. While a PC can be set up to do this, there are also tailored devices that do only this function, such as Cisco routers.

RSA - Both a defacto data encryption standard and a company - RSA Data Security, Inc.

S/Key - Single Session Key. A one time password that is designed to prevent eavesdropping on network connections to obtain logins and passwords of legitimate users. On the client side of the mail system, S/Key generates the appropriate one-time password and permits the secure changing of the users secret pass phrase.

scohttp - The on-line help Web engine used by SCO OpenServer.

Search Engine - See Text Search Engine .

Secure Courier - A protocol developed by Netscape which encrypts portions of on-line bank card and micropayment transactions in "secure digital envelopes" so that they can be sent by consumers to financial institutions without being viewed in clear text by the merchant or unauthorized parties. The protocol is based on SSL.

Sendmail - An e-mail transport daemon popular on both the Internet and in UNIX systems.

SLIP - Serial Line Internet Protocol. Allows a computer to use a standard telephone line and a high speed modem to network with another computer. It appears to be getting superseded by PPP.

S/MIME - Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. A specification designed to enable encrypted e-mail. Some vendors endorsing S/MIME are: Microsoft, Lotus, QUALCOMM, and RSA Data Security.

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The Internet standard protocol for transferring e-mail messages from one computer to another.

Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol - See SHTTP .

Secure Socket Layer - See SSL .

Spamming - The act of sending multiple (generally commercial in nature) messages to a mailing list or news group that are inappropriate and against AUP . The term most likely originates from the Monty Python skit.

SSL - The SSL Protocol is designed to provide network privacy between a Web server and client (browser). Additionally, the protocol is designed to authenticate the server, and optionally the client. The advantage of the SSL protocol is that it is application protocol independent. A "higher level" application protocol (e.g. HTTP, FTP, TELNET, etc.) can layer on top of the SSL Protocol transparently. The SSL protocol can negotiate an encryption algorithm and session key as well as authenticate a server before the application protocol transmits or receives its first byte of data. All of the application protocol data is transmitted encrypted, ensuring privacy.

Telnet - A terminal emulation protocol that allows you to log on to another computer via a network or the Internet as though you are a character terminal connected by serial lines.

Text Search Engine - Software, popular on Internet sites, that allows the systematic searching of on-line documents. Examples are WAIS and Verity.

Trojan Horse - A program that can enter a site on the Internet that seems harmless at first, but can wreak havoc later on computers connected to the network in a fashion similar to a virus or worm.

Uniform Resource Locator - This is the "address" that represents a Web server and Web document. The URL is usually proceeded by http:// for Web addresses and ftp:// for ftp sites. While many URLs have www in the address, this is not always true. The SCO URL, for instance, is http://www.sco.com . These are sometimes referred to and pronounced as " earls " by the Web-savvy.

URL - See Uniform Resource Locator

Usenet - See News.

User Agent - Programs that help users send and receive mail. User agents create and submit messages for delivery, check for new incoming mail and accept/organize incoming mail.

UUCP - UNIX-to-UNIX copy. A facility for copying files between computers using phone lines and modems. Some "Internet" facilities were started using UUCP, such as Usenet.

Uuencode - A program that allows the encoding of binary data as text so it can be included in electronic mail. A document that is uuencoded must be uudecoded once it is received.

VAN - Value Added Network. Formerly, this only indicated a vendor who would supply a turnkey network solution for organizations needing point-to-point communications for applications such as e-mail, EDI, and other business applications requiring interaction between sites. The VAN would supply the physical "wire", software, service, security, and reliability. Today, VAN can refer to someone who is offering the same suite of products and services, but over the Internet.

Veronica - A service similar to Archie, but instead of providing search capability for anonymous ftp sites, it provides search capability for Gopher sites.

Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Secure connections between sights by using data encryption over the Internet. It is like having a private, dedicated leased line, but "virtually" through the Internet.

Virus - A damaging program that replicates itself through incorporation into other programs. It can be passed over the Internet.

VPN - See Virtual Private Network .

W3C - A consortium based at MIT and the Laboratory for Computer Science that exists to develop common standards for the World Wide Web.

WAIS - Wide Area Information Servers. A software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then making those indices searchable across networks such as the Internet.

World Wide Web - A global distribution of sites connected by the Internet that provide information in a hypertext format, usually accessed with a browser.

Web - See World Wide Web .

Web Crawler - A Web search engine or "index", it is searchable by entering the words you want to look for, and brings up the URLs that have those words associated with them. The site URL is: http://www.webcrawler.com/

Web Site - See Web Server.

Web Spider - A program that searches the Web for any variety of purposes, sometimes to catalog information or URLs, sometimes to count the number of URLs or servers.

Webmaster - The main systems administrator for a Web site. If you ever have problems or comments on a Web site, it is usually recommended you mail webmaster@company.com .

Web Server - Server software that provides HTML documents ("home pages") for the World Wide Web.

WWW - See World Wide Web .

WAN - Wide Area Network. Computers networked over large geographic areas, generally networks connected to networks, but all within the same organization.

Worm - A destructive software program that enters a computer or LAN, often by the Internet, that replicates itself over and over, filling up disk space.

Yahoo - A Web search engine or "index", it is searchable by entering the words you want to look for, and brings up the URLs that have those words associated with them. The site URL is: http://www.yahoo.com