Glossary

Terms Applied To: Background and History of the Internet

addresses
All resources on the Internet have a unique numerical address, (IP address sample: 206.141.67.32) IP addresses are similar to phone numbers. When the address is "called" (using FTP, HTTP, Gopher, or a browser) the surfer is connected to the node that "owns" that address.

Archie
Archie, a program. Most good archie clients are able to FTP files once they've found the information the surfer is looking for.

ARPANET
The Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency computer network was online under this name from 1969 to 1989. The first U.S. network.

Internet Backbone
One of the superfast networks crisscrossing the globe from one major metropolitan area to another. Provided by a handful of national Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These companies and organizations provide connections running at approximately 45 MB per second (T3 or Q3 trunk lines) linked through specified interconnection points called access points (MAE-East or MAE-West). Local ISPs connect to this backbone through routers so that data packets can be carried though the backbone to its destination.

Bookmark / Favorites
A feature in the browser programs that allows the surfer to return to a specific URL ie.
http://www.rlpg.com/webservices/members/webhistory1.html

Domain
A "logical" region of the Internet. Sometimes refered to loosely as "sites." A domain corresponds to a specific IP address or an area on a IP host computer.

Electronic Mail (Email)
Internet users can exchange messages with other users or messages over an Intranet. Email is the most widely-used communications tool on the Internet. Email's advantage is its ability to be forwarded and replied to quickly and easily

EMF
Very strong Electro-motive Force (field), produced by a nuclear explosion would damage or destory exisitng electronic communications equipment.

Ethernet
Probably the most popular standard and connection type for Local Area Networks (LANs). It was first developed by Xerox, and later refined by Digital, Intel and Xerox .

FDDI
FDDI is the standard for data transmission on fiber optic lines in a network that can extend in range up to 124 miles.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol - the Internet standard protocol for moving files from one computer to another. FTP programs allow the transfer of files from remote servers to the "node's" (computer) local hard disk.

Gopher
A menu based program that helps find Telnet and FTP sites, as well as a large number of text based resources on the Internet. It offers pages with menus, but they aren't as information rich or as convienent as browser based HTML web pages.

Intranet
A computer network within a company or organization. An Tntranet may or may not have a connection to the internet.

Internet
The web consist of millions of interconnected computers that can communicate with each other. The Internet includes the World Wide Web, FTP, gopher, email, Usenet news, telnet, IRC and WAIS.

IP
Internet Provider - a company that charges you a fee to host your web site on the Internet. Fees and services offered vary enormously from one IP to another.

ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network - allows you to use a special telephone line for data and voice simultaneously. Access to the Internet via an ISDN line is much faster than via modem. It is also more expensive.

ISP
Internet Service Provider - a company that charges you a fee in return for access time to the Internet. Also know as your dial-up provider. Fees and services offered vary enormously from one ISP to another.

NREN
The National Research and Education Network is a proposed national computer network to be built upon the foundation of the NSF backbone network, NSFnet. NREN would provide high speed interconnection between other national and regional networks. SB 1067 is the legislative bill proposing NREN.

node
An individual computer, device or terminal that is part of a network.

packets
Standard unit(s) of data sent across the Internet. When sending or requesting data, it is broken up into packets which are routed back together again at the destination and are placed back in their original order.

SPAM
Spamming, the sending of unacceptable (unwanted) commercials (or other rubbish mail) to email lists or public newsgroups.

URL
Uniform Resource Locators - commonly referred to as a location or address. URLs specify the location of files on Internet servers. A URL has the syntax protocol ://address

Usenet / Use-net
Usenet groups, are commonly known as "newsgroups." There are more than 50 thousand news groups hosted on thousands of servers around the world, covering almost any topic. Many newer e-mail programs have replaced special software that was required to download and read information in newsgroups.

WAIS
Wide Area Information Server - a system designed to search databases for documents and files containing specific information.

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