Popular Technology TermsEssential Glossary for Today’s User

Popular Technology TermsWhen traveling in a foreign country, it’s always helpful to learn a few everyday words and phrases, and the world of computers is no different.

Words such as ‘WIFI’ or ‘P2P’ or ‘VoIP’ for example, are common phrases with which average computer users should familiarize themselves.

If you want to know what all those vague technology terms may mean or even if you are totally unaware of what they mean, here is our summary listing of the of technology terms.

Popular Technology Terms

BYOD

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) (also called bring your own technology (BYOT) means the policy of permitting employees, students, users to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to their workplace or school, and use those devices to access privileged information and applications. The term is also used to describe the same practice applied to students using personally owned devices in education settings.

Popular Technology Terms

Domain Name – Internet addressDomain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses.

Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example:

• gov - Government agencies • edu - Educational institutions • org - Organizations (nonprofit) • mil - Military • com - commercial business • net - Network organizations • ca - Canada • th - Thailand

Popular Technology Terms Domain Name – Internet address

Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.

Let’s break down a school URL and find out what it is telling us. For example:

http://www.parkview.net/mainmenu/principal/principal.htm

(cont.)

net – Domain Name Extension designated for web sites with a network focus

Mainmenu/principal - Directories or folders within which the web page being requested is located.

principal.html - This is the name of the exact file requested. You may be wondering: What is the purpose of slashes? They signify that you are moving deeper within the web site by entering a new folder or directory. For example, the principal.html file is inside the principal folder insider the main menu directory.

http:// - This is a “Protocol Prefix” that designates the file being requested as accessible via Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

www - designates a requested file as World Wide Web document, originally needed to distinguish between Web files and other Internet files, this is often no longer needed. For example, you can go to Parkview High’s web site by typing http://www.parkview.net or just http://parkview.net

parkview - Domain name that points to the server computer of the parkview web site.

Popular Technology Terms

IP - Internet Protocol AddressInternet Protocol Address (IP Address)

A number that uniquely identifies a computer connected to the Internet. It is a four-part numeric address including a unique computer location on the Internet. Each number group is separated by dots

Example: 128.171.17.13

Popular Technology Terms

HotspotA hotspot is a site that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi technology.

Hotspots may be found in coffee shops and various other public establishments in some developed urban areas.

Popular Technology Terms

LANLocal Area Network (LAN)This structure connects hardware devices that are in close proximity as in a building or within an organization. The owner of the devices is also the owner of the means of communications All real-world networks, including the Internet, are a mix of LANs and WANs. For example, company or school networks connect to local servers and individual LANs interconnected into a wide-area network.

Popular Technology Terms

P2PPeer-to-Peer (P2P) refers to file sharing. Generally users share data from one computer to another. The process allows every user to be a server and a client. With P2P, every user on the network can make data available to every other user on the network

Examples of P2P File transfer systems:

Napster

Kazaa

Limewire

Popular Technology Terms

VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol

Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

This software allows users to use a computer to make phone calls. Software connects computers via the Internet and transmits voice data. Savings comes from eliminating toll charges between locations.

Popular Technology Terms

WAN

Wide Area Networks (WANs)

This structure connects devices that are across town, across the country, or across the ocean. The organization must purchase telecommunications services from an external provider for its users to access the Internet and each other.

Popular Technology Terms

WIFI

Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) Wi-Fi was originally intended to be used for mobile devices and LANs, but is now often used for Internet access.

It enables a person with a wireless-enabled computer or personal device to connect to the Internet when in the proximity of an access point. The geographical region covered by one or several access points is called a hotspot.

Popular Technology TermsGwinnett County Public Schools is committed to providing information related to student technology use in a manner that is clear, concise, organized, accessible, and current. To that end, GCPS has provided articles and handouts on its web site.

The resource is provided for information only and is NOT an official policy or procedure of Gwinnett County Public Schools. This resource may be used by schools and the school communities to share information and ideas around student technology use. Should a conflict between the information on this document and the existing policy, regulation or rule occur, then the official or approved policy, rule or regulation supersedes the resources in this document.

Popular Technology TermsWe hope you found this technology tip useful. Feel free to share this tip with colleagues and students.

More technology tips can be found on the IMD website here.

For questions or comments about the technology tips, send email toIMD_Connection_Newsletter@gwinnett.k12.ga.us

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