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Glossary of Internet Terms

Banner: an eye-catching message, usually in full color that takes up several square inches on a Web page. A banner may contain imagery, text, animation, and audio. By clicking on a banner the Internet user is directly transferred to the Web site the banner makes mention of.

Bit (Binary Digit): a single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. A bit is the smallest unit of computerized data.

Byte: a set of bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte.

Bits per second (BPS): a measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.

Browser: short for Web Browser; it's the tool (program) that allows you to surf the web. You probably used your Web Browser to locate this page. The most popular Web Browsers right now are Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer.

CGI: a set of rules that describe how a Web Server communicates with another piece of software on the same machine. Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web server and does something with it, like putting the content of a form into an e-mail message or turning the data into a database query.

Click-through: clicking on an advertising banner, thereby jumping to the Web site advertised by that banner. Also referred to as a hit.

Cookie: the most common meaning of cookie on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the Server. Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about a user than would be possible without them.

CPM: cost per thousand impressions, in US dollars. An average impression cost of $0.01 is the same as a CPM of $10.00.

Cyberspace: a term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer, the word Cyberspace is used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.

Dial-up: to connect to a computer by calling it up on the telephone using a modem.

Digerati: the digital version of literati, it is a reference to a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip or otherwise in-the-know in regard to the digital revolution.

Domain name: An Internet identifier for electronic mail addresses and Web location; domain names are issued by InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center).

Finger: an Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites.

Firewall: a form of computer security that protects proprietary information from being accessed from computers outside the organization through external telecommunications.

Frequency: the total number of times the same person or household is exposed to an advertising message or campaign.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol is a method for delivering ordinary text information over the Internet. It allows you to download a file from, say, the Library of Congress, to your computer.

GIF: an acronym for Graphical Image Format a common format for image files, especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same color. One of the most popular image formats on the web today.

Gigabyte (GB): 1000 Megabytes

Gopher: a widely successful method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web).

Hit: a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; for instance, viewing a page with 3 graphics results in 4 hits to the server: 1 for the HTML page and one each for the 3 graphics. Also referred to as click-through when measuring banner ad performance.

HTML: Hypertext Markup Language - The language that converts raw ASCII text into formatted text, hyperlinks, and graphics for display in a World Wide Web browser.

HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol - The set of rules for transferring text from a web server to a browser over the Internet.

Hypertext: information linked in a web structure on a computer allowing all works referenced in a particular work to be instantly accessible. Hypertext links can be graphical, video, and audio in addition to text.

Impression: a.k.a. Page View, when one banner is viewed by one person one time.

Internet: the "net" is a global library and discussion center in cyberspace. As the "network of networks", it is an aggregation of computer and information networks all over the world that is expanding every day.

InterNIC: Internet Network Information Center. The InterNIC administers domain name registrations on behalf of its parent organizations, NSI (Networks Solutions Inc.).

Intranet: a private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software you would find on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use.

IP Number (Internet Protocol Number): a unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, such as 165.113.245.2. Every machine on the Internet has a unique IP number but it's usually a lot easier to remember the Domain name.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat): a huge multi-user live chat facility.

ISP (Internet Service Provider): an institution that provides access to the internet in some form, usually for money like AOL.

JAVA: a network-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that can be safely downloaded to run animations, calculators and other fancy tricks.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): a file format designed for use with photographic images.

Keyword: a word you might use to search for a Web site. For example, searching the Web for the keyword "computers" might offer the Apple web site

Kilobyte (KB): a thousand bytes.

Megabyte (MB): a million bytes.

Modem: an electronic unit that connects a computer to a data transmission line (like a telephone line).

Newsgroup: any collection of posted messages on a specific topic found in USENET. Also known as online discussion groups.

Reach: The number of viewers exposed to an ad on the World Wide Web.

Run of Category: For advertisers interested in reaching a group of potential customers in a specific content area, most ad networks deliver many separate categories. Each category offers a more direct way to reach prospects in a contextual manner while ensuring the best possible results and ROI.

Run of Network: A Run of Network buy delivers all sites with a wide range of potential customers from hundreds of demographic targets. Most ad networks' Run-of-Network products let you determine which audiences, on what sites, during which day-part, respond best to your message with the highest results, maximizing your ROI.

Search Engine: online software that helps you navigate the morass of information on the Internet.

Shareware: proprietary software that can be freely copied and distributed.

Signature: a file, typically up to five lines long, inserted at the end of e-mail message or USENET news articles. Besides a name and an e-mail address, signatures usually contain a postal address, slogan or logo.

Spam: inappropriate use of a mailing list, newsgroup or other networked communications facility to send the same message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it; the equivalent of digital junk mail.

SQL (Structured Query Language): a specialized programming language for sending queries to databases.

Telnet: the command and program used to login from one Internet site to another.

URL: an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator, URL is an address for the exact location of information on the Internet.

USENET: a large, informal collection of newsgroups that exchange "news" similar to bulletin boards on other networks. USENET predates the Internet, but these days, the Internet is used to transfer much of USENET'straffic.

World Wide Web: the World Wide Web is a particular location of information on the Internet. Often confused with the Internet, the Web is only one section of the online universe. Its major technical asset is the ease with which it supports hypertext.