Internet 101/102: Untangling the Web

welcome | bibliography | glossary

I. How does it work?

II. What's really out there?

III. How can I search?

IV. Why should I evaluate?

V. How do I cite sources?

Glossary

Client
The name given to a computer that is able to access information available on the Internet.

Commercial databases
Searchable (and sometimes viewable) content which is organized and maintained by companies who sell subscriptions to institutions, organizations, or individuals for access. This content could exist solely online or also be available for subscription via paper, such as journal articles.

Domain name
Sites are allowed to register for domain names according to their function and purpose. Some common domain names are: .edu for educational institutions, .com for commercial businesses, .gov for government organizations, .org for nonprofit organizations

Electronic mail (email)
Electronic messages sent and received over the Internet.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
FTP allows your computer to retrieve files from a remote computer.

Home page
The main page of a web site. Example: The UTSA Web site consists of hundreds web pages, but http://www.utsa.edu is the University’s home page.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
The programming code used to make most Web documents.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
The protocol used to transmit Web documents between computers.

Hyperlink
A link within one Web document to another place on the Internet.

Hypertext
The linked text within a web page that contains connections to other items on the Internet, such as another web page, web site, email address, or sound file.

Internet
An international network of computer networks that share a common set of rules for sending and receiving information. Items that use this international network include: email, the Web, Telnet, and Usenet.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Serves as the gateway between your computer and the Internet. People use modems to dial-in to their ISP and access the Web.

Meta-search engines
These tools search for keywords by using multiple search engines and/or web directories at one time.

Meta-tags
Descriptions in the behind the scenes coding of web pages input by web page authors. Search engines look for keywords within these descriptions.

Modem
Hardware that allows your computer to dial-in to an ISP and access the Web.

Search engine
Computer programs designed to search web pages by using keywords.

Server
The computers that store the information accessed on the Internet are known as servers.

Telnet
Software that lets you access a remote computer and use it as if you were there.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The "address" of a web site or page. This web page's address is: http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Research/Internet101/webgloss.html

Usenet
A collection of notes (usually emails) on various subjects that are posted to the Internet. Each subject collection of posted notes is known as a newsgroup.

Web browser
The software on your computer that retrieves and displays information from web servers and manages links between documents. Examples include Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Web directory
Web directories are organized by subject categories and are compiled by people instead of computer programs.

Web site v. Web page
A web site is a collection of individual web pages that all linked together for a common purpose.

World Wide Web (Web, WWW)
The part of the Internet that uses hypertext links to move between documents. Contains text, graphics, sound, etc.