8. Glossary

AARNet
The Australian Academic and Research Network which links all Universities and other bodies with a legitimate interest in working with the higher education and research community.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
An experimental network protocol that works at a constant bit rate (CBR) thus offering guaranteed response and, ATM is, therefore, particularly suitable for real time applications such as voice and video. Broadband Network bandwidth capable of supporting multi-media applications.

CTI
The Computers in Teaching Initiative was established by the UGC and Computer Board in 1984 to encourage the development, evaluate the potential, and promote the awareness of IT for teaching in HE. 139 pilot projects were set up.There are now 20 centres covering specific subject areas.

Caching
A process whereby retrieved data (e.g. abroad) is stored locally in the expectation that it will shortly be required by others.

CAUDIT
Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology

Hypertext
Text that contains pointers to lead users to other related text elsewhere on the Internet which adds to, or expands on, the text currently being read.

Hypertext Mark up Language (HTML)
The computer language which is used to mark up documents to enable hypertext links to be followed, thus linking documents over the network .

Information Services
Services whose core function is the provision of information.

Information Strategy
A strategic plan to exploit information resources in the broadest sense throughout an organisation. This will often be part of an hierarchy of strategies under an institutional strategy or business plan; in turn an information strategy may include an Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) strategy.

Information Superhighway
Or less dramatically: Information Highway or Global Highway. A set of computer networks of a national and international scale which are very widely available, especially to the public, and containing a wealth of information. The Internet is widely regarded as the prototype of an information (super)highway.

Information Systems (IS)
An application or process (usually computer based) for exploiting information.

Information Technology Services
Services whose core function is the provision of services related to IT as opposed to services whose core function is other than services related to IT even if they use IT in order to provide those services.

Integrated Data Service Network (IDSN)
A form of intermittent connectivity of one or more pairs of 64Kbps lines offering data and voice transmission.

Internet
A group of networks world wide (but mostly in North America and Europe) using a common protocol, the Internet Protocol (IP), such that data can be transmitted seamlessly. In particular the Internet supports facilities such as e-mail and World Wide Web (WWW).

Internet Protocol (IP)
A de facto network communication standard with a common set of addressing standards used by the Internet.

Knowledge representation
A symbolic or quantitative representation of knowledge is generally combined with reasoning and decision making procedures developed in research on Artificial Intelligence (AI), so as to produce an Intelligent Knowledge-Based System (IKBS), often referred to as an "expert system".

MCA
Multi Channel Architecture, a proprietary hardware design developed by IBM for their second generation personal computers (the PS/2 series). See also OS/2.

Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN)
A high speed network (usually 34Mbps or 155Mbps) linking sites within a region. The JISC is promoting the development of MANs as a cost-effective way of achieving SuperJANET connectivity.

Multi-media
Information that contains a range of data including text, graphics, moving images and sound.

Navigation tools
Tools which facilitate easier identification and access to networked information over the Internet.

OS/2
A multi-user, multi-tasking operating system developed by IBM for their second generation personal computers (the PS/2 series). The system offered very significant advantages over MS-DOS, but was largely incompatible with earlier software and showed early teething troubles. It was not taken up with much enthusiasm, although its popularity has increased.

Parallel processing
In conventional computer processing, instructions are actioned in a linear sequence which is defined in the program, so that some actions wait unnecessarily for others to complete. Parallel processing seeks, by a variety of techniques, to enable actions to take place concurrently where logically possible; this can give a very significant gain in performance.

SQL
Structured Query Language is a standardised language fo accessing and updating relational databases. SQL implements an underlying relational theory, and is defined by a series of ANSI standards, although most commercial implementations contain additional features beyond those standards.

TLTP
The Teaching and Learning Technology Programme was launched in 1992 by the UFC, and has funded 76 projects aimed at developing courseware for flexible and open teaching using IT.

Technology Foresight Steering Group
Set up following the Office of Science and Technology's White Paper "Realising Our Potential" to identify those technologies of most importance to the Country's economy.

UNIX
A trade name of Bell Laboratories, who produce a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system (System V) which is increasingly implemented or emulated on many proprietary computers. However other similar systems have been developed over the years, many of which are still in use, and all of which tend to be given the generic name of UNIX. Taken together, they provide a very high level of portability of staff skills, and in many cases of software, across differing hardware.

Video on Demand
Currently an experimental service with the intention of delivering videos to the consumer on-line. This implies a relatively high bandwidth incoming but requires only modest outgoing bandwidth for the consumer to make his or her choice.

Virtual Reality (VR)
A set of techniques for enhancing computer representation (typically simulations) by improving feedback and input such as manipulation of 3D images. Immersive VR may include stereoscopic imaging and tactile feedback.

WAIS
Wide Area Information Service is a de facto standard method of making text items available for free text searching across a network.

WWW
World Wide Web (or W3, or The Web) is a public domain distributed multimedia hypertext system developed by CERN. Information can include text, graphics, sound or video, which can be accessed by selecting highlighted words in a document. Resources are provided in a standardised way and can be linked indefinitely, providing a truly world-wide information system. Use has expanded enormously so that the majority traffic on many networks is now for WWW.

Windows
A multi-user windows operating system for personal computers and small shared machines, released by Microsoft. It is a true operating system, running directly on the hardware and so effectively replacing both MS-DOS and MS-Windows, and offering significant improvements over both.

X-windows
A public domain windowing system developed by MIT. The system is based upon the UNIX client-server environment and permits the user to engage with and display the full graphical output from processes which may be actually running on the local machine or upon a variety of remote ones. It is supported across a range of UNIX and UNIX-like machines.

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WWW Page Updated: 24Oct96
WWW Contact: Shaun Osborne