Glossary of Internet Terms - Learn the Lingo! (A-C D-F G-L M-Q R-T U-Z)
Mailing List - similar to listserv, this is an e-mailing list users can subscribe to. Most mailing lists focus on a certain subject or common trait among its members (parents, for example).
Modem - A hardware device installed inside a computer that allows it to communicate with other computers over telephone lines. A modem enables "dial-up" access to the Internet. Modems are defined by the speed in which data may travel through it.
Monitoring software - A type of software product that allows a parent or other monitor to track the Internet Web sites or e-mail messages that a user visits or reads, without necessarily blocking access.
Mouse - A hand-held peripheral hardware device attached to your computer, which allows users to give commands to the computer by clicking a button on the device.
Multimedia - A combination of two or more types of information such as text, images, graphics, audio, and video.
Netiquette - defined as proper behavior while using the Internet. It is an unwritten set of on-line guidelines for manners and appropriate behavior when communicating on-line.
Newsgroups - are discussion groups on the Internet focusing on a specific topic or topics where users can read and "post" comments (similar to a traditional bulletin board). Newsgroups, which have no connection to news organizations or current events, cover a wide variety of topics.
Online Service Provider - a commercial service that provides dial-up access to online content, the Internet and other areas. For example, America OnLine, Prodigy and others have online content that only members of the service may access as well as direct access to the Internet.
Parental controls - software and/or online features that enable parents to monitor, track and filter the content to which their children have access.
Password - a secret word or other alphanumeric combination to control user access to a computer program, Web site or other area of the Internet. Parents may find using passwords vital in their efforts to monitor access their children have to online content.
Peripherals - other pieces of hardware connected to your computer, such as the keyboard, modem, etc.
Plug-in - a software program that works with Internet Web browsers to play audio and video.
Posting - The "uploading" of a message from the user's computer screen to a discussion group or other public message area on the Internet. The message itself is called a "post."
