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Check internet.com's database of over 3,000 defined computer-
and Internet-related terms |
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Ad Clicks
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Number of times users click on an ad banner.
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Ad Click Rate
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Sometimes referred to as "click-through," this is the
percentage of ad views that resulted in an ad click.
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Ad Views (Impressions)
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Number of times an ad banner is downloaded and presumably seen by
visitors. If the same ad appears on multiple pages simultaneously,
this statistic may understate the number of ad impressions, due to
browser caching. Corresponds to net impressions in traditional media.
There is currently no way of knowing if an ad was actually loaded.
Most servers record an ad as served even if it was not.
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Backbone
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A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a large pathway
within a network. The term is relative to the size of network it is serving. A backbonein a small network would probably be much smaller
than many non-backbone lines in a large network.
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Bandwidth
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How much information (text, images, video, sound) can be sent through
aconnection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of text
is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move approximately 15,000
bitsin one second. Full-motion full-screen videorequires about
10,000,000 bits-per- second, depending on compression. (See also: 56K,
bit, modem, T-1)
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Banner
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An ad on a Web page that is usually "hot-linked" to the
advertiser's site.
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Browser Caching
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To speed surfing, browsers store recently used pages on a user's disk.
If a site is revisited, browsers display pages from the disk instead of
requesting them from the server. As a result, servers under-count the
number of times a page is viewed.
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CGI
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Common Gateway Interface. An interface-creation scripting program that
allows Web pages to made on the fly based on information from buttons,
checkboxes, text input, etc.
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CPM
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CPM is the cost per thousand for a particular site. A Web site that
charges $15,000 per banner and guarantees 600,000 impressions has a CPM
of $25 ($15,000 divided by 600).
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Cyberspace
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Coined by author William Gibson in his 1984 novel
"Neuromancer," cyberspace is now used to describe all of the
information available through computer networks.
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Domain Name
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The unique name of an Internet site; for example www.cyberatlas.com.
There are six top-level domains widely used in the US: .com
(commercial) .edu (educational),.net (network operations), .gov (US
government), .mil (US military) and .org (organization). Other, two
letter domains represent countries; thus; .uk for the United Kingdom
and so on.
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Gross Exposures
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Each time a Web server sends a file to a browser, it is recorded in the
server log file as a "hit." Hits are generated for every
element of a requested page (including graphics, text and interactive
items). If a page containing two graphics is viewed by a user, three
hits will be recorded - one for the page itself and one for each
graphic. Webmasters use hits to measure their server's work load.
Because page designs vary greatly, hits are a poor guide for traffic
measurement.
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Hit
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Each time a Web server sends a file to a browser, it is recorded in the
server log file as a "hit". Hits are generated for every element of a
requested page (including graphics, text and interactive items). If a page
containing two graphics is viewed by a user, three hits will be recorded -
one for the page itself and one for each graphic. Webmasters use hits to
measure their server's work load. Because page designs vary greatly, hits
are a poor guide for traffic measurement.
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Host
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An Internet host used to be a single machine connected to the Internet
(which meant it had a unique IP address). As a host it made available
to other machines on the network certain services. However virtual
hosting has now meant that one physical host can now be actually many
virtual hosts.
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HTML
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HyperText Markup Language is a coding language used to make hypertext
documents for use on the Web. HTML resembles old-fashioned typesetting
code, where a block of text is surrounded by codes that indicate how it
should appear. HTML allows text to be "linked" to another
file on the Internet.
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Hypertext
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Any text that that can be chosen by a reader and which causes another
document to be retrieved and displayed.
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Internet
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A collection of approximately 60,000 independent, inter-connected
networks that use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from ARPANet of
the late '60s and early '70s.
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IP address
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Internet Protocal address. Every system connected to the Internet has
a unique IP address, which consists of a number in the format A.B.C.D
where each of the four sections is a decimal number from 0 to 255.
Most people use Domain Names instead and the resolution between Domain
Names and IP addresses is handled by the network and the Domain Name
Servers. With virtual hosting, a single machine can act like multiple
machines (with multiple domain names and IP addresses).
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IRC
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Internet Relay Chat is a worldwide network of people talking to each
other in real time. |
ISDN
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Integrated Services Digital Network is a digital network that moves up
to 128,000 bits-per-second over a regular phone line at nearly the same
cost as a normal phone call.
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Link
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An electronic connection between two Web sites (also called "hot
link").
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Listserv
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The most widespread of maillists. Listervs started on BITNET and are
now common on the Internet.
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Newsgroup
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A discussion group on Usenet devoted to talking about a specific topic.
Currently, there are over 15,000 newsgroups.
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Page
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All Web sites are a collection of electronic "pages." Each
Web page is a document formatted in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
that contains text, images or media objects such as RealAudio player
files, QuickTime videos or Java applets. The "home page" is
typically a visitor's first point of entry and features a site index.
Pages can be static or dynamically generated. All frames and frame
parent documents are counted as pages.
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Page Views
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Number of times a userrequestsa pagethat may contain a particular
ad. Indicative of the number of times an ad was potentially seen, or
"gross impressions." Page views may overstate ad impressions
if users choose to turn off graphics (often done to speed browsing).
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RealAudio
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A commercial software program that plays audio on demand, without
waiting for long file transfers. For instance, you can listen to
National Public Radios entire broadcast of All Things Considered and
the Morning Edition on the Internet.
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Server
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A machine that makes services available on a network to client
programs. A file server makes files available. A WAIS server makes
full-text information available through the WAIS protocol (although
WAIS uses the term source interchangeably with server).
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Sticky
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"Sticky" sites are those where the visitors stay for an extended period of time. For instance, a banking site that offers a financial calculator is stickier than on that doesn't because visitors do not have to leave to find a resource they need.
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T-1
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A high-speed (1.54 megabits/second) network connection.
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T-3
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An even higher speed (45 megabits/second) Internet connection.
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TCP
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Transmission Control Protocol works with IP to ensure that packets
travel safely on the Internet.
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Unique Users
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The number of different individuals who visit a site within a specific
time period. To identify unique users, Web sites rely on some form of user registration or identification system.
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UNIX
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A computer operating system (the basic software running on a computer,
underneath things like data bases and word processors). UNIX is
designed to be used by many people at once ("multi-user") and
has TCP/IP built-in. Unix is the most prevalent operating system for
Internet servers.
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Valid Hits
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A further refinement of hits, valid hits are hits that deliver all
information to a user. Excludes hits such as redirects, error messages
and computer-generated hits.
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Visits
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A sequence of requests made by one user at one site. If a visitor does
not request any new information for a period of time, known as the
"time-out" period, then the next request by the visitor is
considered a new visit. To enable comparisons among sites, I/PRO uses
a 30-minute time-out.
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