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Home
Your login information and textbook info Your checklist
Stategies for success Getting around your course Discussion techniques
Accrediting institutions How to register for credit
The Diversity of Fishes Earth: Inside and Out Genetics, Genomics, Genethics In the Field with Spiders The Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds The Ocean System Sharks and Rays Space, Time and Motion Evolution
Your login information and textbook info Your checklist
Stategies for success Getting around your course Discussion techniques
Accrediting institutions How to register for credit
The Diversity of Fishes Earth: Inside and Out Genetics, Genomics, Genethics In the Field with Spiders The Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds The Ocean System Sharks and Rays Space, Time and Motion Evolution
Glossary
• Address bar
The address bar in a browser is where you type the "address" or for the site you want to visit. For example, if you want to visit The American Museum of Natural History's main site, you would type http://www.amnh.org. Generally: .org = organization; .edu = educational institution; .com = commercial site;
• Attachments
When you send an email to someone, an attachment allows you to send something additional along with it (i.e., you can send a Word document to your instructor through cyberspace).
• Browser
is an application program that provides a way to format digital information so that we can look at, read, hear, and interact with all the materials available on the World Wide Web.
• Cache
(pronounced "cash"). This is a place to store something temporarily. When you visit a web page, the pages are stored in the cache directory on your hard disk. When you return to a page you've recently visited, the browser can retrieve it from the cache rather than from the page's server. This saves time and lessens the network the burden of additional traffic.
• Cookie
is a special text file that a Web site puts on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time. A cookie records your preferences when using a particular site. For your online course, cookies are used to handle your user ID and password information whenever you log in to the site. We are aware that privacy is an utmost concern for our students. We use cookies to ensure the privacy of your account when you enter secure parts of our site. Cookies allow you to log in, participate in classes, and access chat areas.
• Desktop
Icons sit on your desktop when you first turn on your computer. Icons that are seen frequently are "My computer" (PC), "Recycle Bin", "Trash, " and any shortcuts you may have enabled to access frequently used programs.
• Firewall
A firewall is a set of related programs that many companies set up so employees can't do certain things on the Internet, such as chat. A firewall can also prevent people who do not work at your company from accessing the company's private data resources.
• Hard Drive
is part of a unit, often called a "disk drive," "hard drive," or "hard disk drive," that stores and provides relatively quick access to large amounts of data on an electromagnetically-charged surface or set of surfaces. Today's computers typically come with a hard disk that contains several billion bytes (gigabytes) of storage space.
• Hardware
describes the physical aspects of computers and related devices. For example, your monitor, modem, and keyboard are all pieces of hardware.
• HTTP
(Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application protocol that is the foundation for the Internet. It is the code and the set of rules for transferring files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. As soon as a Web user opens their Web browser, the user is indirectly making use of HTTP.
• Internet
The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). The Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility that is available to millions of people worldwide.
• Internet Explorer
is a Web browser that is produced by Microsoft. IE is available for free, and its main competitor is Netscape Navigator. IE comes with all Windows 95 and 98 software packages, but Windows users may also use Netscape if they choose.
• ISP
(Internet Service Provider). An ISP provides individuals and companies access to the Internet and other web services. An ISP is a service you pay for, similar to service with a phone company. An ISP can also give you access to email.
• Link
Links make the World Wide Web a web. Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another. The most common form of link is the highlighted or underlined word or picture that can be selected by the user (with a mouse or in some other fashion), resulting in the immediate delivery and view of another file.
• Login
is the procedure used to get access to an operating system or application, usually in a remote computer. Almost always a logon requires that the user have (1) a user ID and (2) a password. When you login to your course, your computer is connecting to the computer where your college's online data is stored.
• Modem
is a piece of hardware that enables you to connect to the Internet through analog phone lines. Some modems per second transfer rate. Faster, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), LAN (Local Area Networks), and Cable modems increase the rate that digital information can travel to and from your computer.
• Netscape Communicator / Navigator
Netscape is one of the two most widely used Web browser. Its competitor is Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
• Server
is the computer hardware and the software program (housed in that computer) that serves requested HTML pages or files. The browser on your computer " requests" HTML files from particular servers.
• Site
A website is a collection of Web files on a server that includes a beginning file called a homepage. For example, many companies, organizations, or individuals that have websites have a single address that they give you. This is their homepage address. From the homepage, you can get to all the other pages on their site.
• Software
is a general term for the various kinds of programs and computer codes used to operate computers and related devices. Every single keystroke and event triggered by your computer use has an associated bit of code that someone has written which enables your actions to mean something to the computer. Some widely distributed software is available for free, other programs may be quite expensive.
• RAM
(random access memory) is the place in a computer where the operating system, application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor. RAM can be compared to a person's short term memory and the hard disk to the long-term memory. Unlike the hard disk, which can become completely full of data so that it won't accept any more, RAM will not ever run out of memory. It keeps operating, but sometimes more slowly than you may want.
• URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) is the web address of the site you want to visit. Site addresses begin with the convention ( http:// )
• Web
is all of the resources, servers, computers and users connected on the Internet. The Internet has been described as "a universe of network-accessible information; an embodiment of human knowledge."
• Address bar
The address bar in a browser is where you type the "address" or for the site you want to visit. For example, if you want to visit The American Museum of Natural History's main site, you would type http://www.amnh.org. Generally: .org = organization; .edu = educational institution; .com = commercial site;
• Attachments
When you send an email to someone, an attachment allows you to send something additional along with it (i.e., you can send a Word document to your instructor through cyberspace).
• Browser
is an application program that provides a way to format digital information so that we can look at, read, hear, and interact with all the materials available on the World Wide Web.
• Cache
(pronounced "cash"). This is a place to store something temporarily. When you visit a web page, the pages are stored in the cache directory on your hard disk. When you return to a page you've recently visited, the browser can retrieve it from the cache rather than from the page's server. This saves time and lessens the network the burden of additional traffic.
• Cookie
is a special text file that a Web site puts on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time. A cookie records your preferences when using a particular site. For your online course, cookies are used to handle your user ID and password information whenever you log in to the site. We are aware that privacy is an utmost concern for our students. We use cookies to ensure the privacy of your account when you enter secure parts of our site. Cookies allow you to log in, participate in classes, and access chat areas.
• Desktop
Icons sit on your desktop when you first turn on your computer. Icons that are seen frequently are "My computer" (PC), "Recycle Bin", "Trash, " and any shortcuts you may have enabled to access frequently used programs.
• Firewall
A firewall is a set of related programs that many companies set up so employees can't do certain things on the Internet, such as chat. A firewall can also prevent people who do not work at your company from accessing the company's private data resources.
• Hard Drive
is part of a unit, often called a "disk drive," "hard drive," or "hard disk drive," that stores and provides relatively quick access to large amounts of data on an electromagnetically-charged surface or set of surfaces. Today's computers typically come with a hard disk that contains several billion bytes (gigabytes) of storage space.
• Hardware
describes the physical aspects of computers and related devices. For example, your monitor, modem, and keyboard are all pieces of hardware.
• HTTP
(Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application protocol that is the foundation for the Internet. It is the code and the set of rules for transferring files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. As soon as a Web user opens their Web browser, the user is indirectly making use of HTTP.
• Internet
The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). The Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility that is available to millions of people worldwide.
• Internet Explorer
is a Web browser that is produced by Microsoft. IE is available for free, and its main competitor is Netscape Navigator. IE comes with all Windows 95 and 98 software packages, but Windows users may also use Netscape if they choose.
• ISP
(Internet Service Provider). An ISP provides individuals and companies access to the Internet and other web services. An ISP is a service you pay for, similar to service with a phone company. An ISP can also give you access to email.
• Link
Links make the World Wide Web a web. Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another. The most common form of link is the highlighted or underlined word or picture that can be selected by the user (with a mouse or in some other fashion), resulting in the immediate delivery and view of another file.
• Login
is the procedure used to get access to an operating system or application, usually in a remote computer. Almost always a logon requires that the user have (1) a user ID and (2) a password. When you login to your course, your computer is connecting to the computer where your college's online data is stored.
• Modem
is a piece of hardware that enables you to connect to the Internet through analog phone lines. Some modems per second transfer rate. Faster, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), LAN (Local Area Networks), and Cable modems increase the rate that digital information can travel to and from your computer.
• Netscape Communicator / Navigator
Netscape is one of the two most widely used Web browser. Its competitor is Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
• Server
is the computer hardware and the software program (housed in that computer) that serves requested HTML pages or files. The browser on your computer " requests" HTML files from particular servers.
• Site
A website is a collection of Web files on a server that includes a beginning file called a homepage. For example, many companies, organizations, or individuals that have websites have a single address that they give you. This is their homepage address. From the homepage, you can get to all the other pages on their site.
• Software
is a general term for the various kinds of programs and computer codes used to operate computers and related devices. Every single keystroke and event triggered by your computer use has an associated bit of code that someone has written which enables your actions to mean something to the computer. Some widely distributed software is available for free, other programs may be quite expensive.
• RAM
(random access memory) is the place in a computer where the operating system, application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor. RAM can be compared to a person's short term memory and the hard disk to the long-term memory. Unlike the hard disk, which can become completely full of data so that it won't accept any more, RAM will not ever run out of memory. It keeps operating, but sometimes more slowly than you may want.
• URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) is the web address of the site you want to visit. Site addresses begin with the convention ( http:// )
• Web
is all of the resources, servers, computers and users connected on the Internet. The Internet has been described as "a universe of network-accessible information; an embodiment of human knowledge."
