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Archie
A play on the word 'archive', it is a distributed database of archive files.

Bitnet
An education and research network that makes up part of the Internet, mainly used for email & listservs.

Bandwidth
A measurement of a network's transmission speed, how much data a network can transfer in a given amount of time.

Baud rate
The number of transitions per second made by a modem.

Bits per second (BPS)
Measurement of the data transmission for a modem or network.

Bookmark
The process of saving a URL in your Web browser. Allows the user to return to a particular site or entry by making a record of it.

BTW
Abbreviation for "By the Way" used in e-mail, newsgroup, and chat communication.

Bulletin board system
A service dedicated to a specific topic where users post messages that are read by others. It is a computer or computers that offer dial-in communication which offers users the ability to send e-mail, use news-groups, and sometimes access the Internet.

Client-server
Two computer systems linked by a network or modem connection where the client computer uses resources by sending requests to the server computer.

Database
A collection of information stored oftentimes in a computerized format. Examples: library catalogs, search engines, financial data, etc.

Dial-up service
A common method of connecting to the Internet. A user's modem dials up to a service provider, through which an Internet connection is established.

Domain name
The name of a computer or server on the Internet in the form of a string of names or numbers, separated by periods.

Download
The transfer a file or files from a remote computer to the user's computer.

DNS
Abbreviation for Domain Name System. A distributed client-server database system which links domain names with their numerical IP adresses.

E-mail
Abbreviation for electronic mail. A letter or memo sent to a person or group electronically on the Internet.

E-mail address
A user's electronic mailbox name or address, needed for linking the sender of e-mail and the recipient.

FAQ
Abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions. A document (often a hypertext document) containing common questions and answers for a particular website or topic.

Flame
Personal verbal attacks on other Internet users, via e-mail, USENET, or mailing lists. Flame wars occur when a series of flames are sent back and forth between two or more people.

Finger
Internet service that provides information about the users on a particular computer.

Freeware
Software that is available free of charge for personal use.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
An Internet tool/software utility which allows you to transfer files between two computers that are connected to the Internet. Anonymous FTP allows you to connect to remote computers and to transfer publicly available computer files or programs.

Gateway
A computer system that connects two incompatible services such as a commercial online service and the Internet.

GIF
Graphical Interchange Format is a commonly used graphics file format for image files on the Internet.

Gopher
A play on the words "go for." A text menu-based browsing service on the Internet. The user selects an item on the menu and is led to either a file or another menu.

Home page
The main page of hypertext-based information for n individual or organization on the World Wide Web (WWW).

Hot list
Similar to a bookmark in Gopher or Netscape, this list makes note of particular pages on the WWW that are accessed when using the Mosaic browser.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
The coding applied to text files that allows them to appear as formatted hypermedia documents on the World Wide Web.

HTTP
Abbreviation for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Often this is the initial sequence of letters in a web address.

hypermedia
A system for storing information using embedded references to other pages, sounds, and graphics used on the WWW.

hypertext
The text-based version of hypermedia.

Internaut
Slang for someone who is an experienced Internet user.

Internet
The worldwide, interconnected system of computer networks.

Internet address (a.k.a. IP address)
An assigned series of numbers unique to each computer on the Internet which is used to identify it for data exchanges.

IP
Abbreviation for Internet Protocol. A protocol that ensures data goes where it is supposed to go on the Internet.

IRC
Abbreviation for Internet Relay Chat. An Internet service accessed through software programs that features real-time communication on channels devoted to specific topics.

LAN
Abbreviation for Local Area Network. Used to connect computers over a short distance such as computers within the same company or office.

LISTSERV
An e-mail list server. A computer program that maintains lists of e-mail addresses in order that users can participate in an electronic discussion or conference. There are thousands of listserve on all imaginable topics.

Login
The process entering in information related to an account name and its password in order to access a time-sharing computer.

Mailing list
An e-mail system that includes multiple recipients as part of its address. See e-mail.

Mosaic
A browser program developed by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications that provides the internet user with a point-and-click interface to WWW, Gopher, FTP, and other Internet services

Newbie
Slang for someone who is new to the Internet or a specific aspect of it.

Newsgroup
A Usenet discussion group that is related to one topic. Internet users can subscribe to many different newsgroups. Major newsgroup categories include:

alt: 	"Alternative" discussions on a wide variety of topics.

comp: 	Computer-related information and discussion.

misc: 	"Miscellaneous" categories.

news: 	Issues concerning USENET and newsgroups

rec: 	Recreational activities, such as movies, books, sports, etc.

sci: 	Science news and information.

soc: 	Topics related to sociology and psychology.

talk: 	USENET's version of talk radio.

Netiquette
The unwritten "rules" of etiquette used on the Internet.

NetScape
A graphical World Wide Web browser for Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, and Amiga systems.

Network
A set of computers that all use the same protocol in order to exchange information among themselves.

Password
Secret code of letters and numbers needed to gain access to a time-sharing computer or FTP system, or to protect Web pages.

Ping
Packet InterNet Groper is a program and UNIX command that helps testing and debugging network and/or Internet connections. An 'Echo' command is sent to a specified computer and then waits for a response. The result is a report that displays the success or failure, usually a report back of a timed response in seconds, of the intended action.

Posting
Can refer to a message or article that appears on a newsgroup or message board system, or the act of sending an electronic message to a newsgroup or message board.

PPP
Abbreviation for Point to Point Protocol. It is a protocol used for sending information via a modem which is connected to the Internet.

Protocol
The rules make possible the exchange of messages between users on the Internet, or within any given network.

Search Engine
A tool or program which allows keyword searching for relevant sites or information on the Internet. General and topic-specific search engines are prevalent today, for example, Education World, WebCrawler, Infoseek, Lycos, and Yahoo are examples of search engines.

Service provier
A company that provides dial-up or direct access to the Internet for a fee. Sometimes referred to as ISP (internet service provider).

Shareware
Copyrighted software that is available for personal use for a small fee, and often downloadable from the Internet.

SLIP
Stands for Serial Line Internet Protocol. Similar PPP, this is another protocol that is used with a modem to establish an IP connection to the Internet.

Snail mail
Slang for regular, paper mail sent through the postal services.

TCP
Stands for Transmission Control Protocol. both the protocol and software that ensure that data sent over the Net arrive in the correct order.

TCP/IP
Short for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A group of protocols that specify how computers communicate over the Internet. All computers on the Internet need TCP/IP software.

Telnet
An Internet command that allows your computer to directly connect and interact with remote computers, often through a text-based 'terminal' environment. Often involves the need for passwords and access information.

Unix
A computer operating system developed by AT&T Bell Labs and used to develop the Internet. It is no longer the sole operating system used to run servers.

Upload
Transferring a file or files from the user's computer to a remote computer.

URL
Short for Uniform Resource Locator. A string of characters used to uniquely identify a page of information on the WWW. This information is used by browser software to find other WWW, FTP, telnet, gopher, etc. sites on the Internet.

Usenet
A group of computers that exchange network news information.

Veronica
An Internet tool that allows you to search by keyword through gopher titles and directories.

WAIS
Short for Wide Area Information Server. An internet search service that locates documents containing a keyword or phrase.

WAN
Stands for Wide Area Network. A network of computers that covers a large geographical distance.

Whois
An Internet database that provides information on a person or an organization.

WWW
Stands for World Wide Web. A very popular Internet service that organizes information using a hypertext and hypermedia system of linking documents, FTP sites, gopher sites, WAIS, and telnet.