IT for Aged Care Providers: A Step by Step Guide
Computer Jargon - what does it all mean?
For a more comprehensive glossary, try: www.gartner.com/6_help/glossary/GlossaryMain.jsp.
Application – A specific use for a computer or program, such as for accounts payable or payroll. The term is commonly used in place of the terms "application program," "software" or "program." Examples of programs and software include pre-packaged productivity software (such as spreadsheets and word processors) and larger, customized packages designed for multiple users (such as e-mail and workgroup applications).
Bandwidth – How much information you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second (bps.) A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 57,000 bits in one second. Full-motion, full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.
Blog – (weB LOG) A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently.
Top of pageBroadband – Generally refers to connections to the Internet with much greater bandwidth than you can get with a modem. There is no specific definition of the speed of a "broadband" connection but in general any Internet connection using DSL or a via Cable-TV may be considered a broadband connection.
Consulting – Third-party advice and guidance on enterprise management or IT issues. Three categories of consulting services can be defined as follows:
- Management consulting, which includes assistance with the development or execution of corporate business strategy, business processes or change management.
- Information System consulting, which includes system architecture design or development, and IS organisational planning.
- Application or technical consulting, which includes application project management and development, technology assessment, and product tuning.
Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) – Planning to ensure the timely recovery of information technology assets and services following a catastrophe, such as fire, flood or hardware failure. As such planning is increasingly coordinated with broader business recovery plans that go beyond IT, it is now commonly referred to as business continuity planning (BCP).
Domain Name – The unique name that identifies an Internet site. A domain name is your address on the web. It's the information that people type in to find your web site. Typical domain names include www.rspca.org.au or www.doha.gov.au.
FAQ – (Frequently Asked Questions) FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of answering the same question over and over.
Fire Wall – A security boundary set up around your networked or online systems (including hardware and software) to prevent unauthorised access or use.
Home Page (or Homepage) – Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organisation, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. "Check out so-and-so's new Home Page."
Top of pageFilter – An internet content filter is a piece of software that helps manage access to online content on your home computer.
Hardware – Machinery and equipment associated with computing devices. A computer is composed of both hardware and software. The software provides the instructions, and the hardware performs the processing.
ICT – Information and Communications Technology. See also IT. Communications here usually refers to telecommunications (such as telephones).
Internet – the total of interconnected computer networks the world over, linked together for the purpose of exchanging information among people. Also referred to the as the world wide web, or the web. The Internet connects tens of thousands of independent networks into a vast global internet and is probably the largest Wide Area Network in the world.
Intranet – internal computer networks operating within organisations for the exclusive use of employees and specified outside parties. These networks are usually used for internal administrative functions such as human resource management, software sharing and information management.
ISP (Internet Service Provider) – an organisation (usually commercial) that provides connections to the internet.
IT (Information Technology) – A very general term referring to the entire field of Information Technology - anything from computer hardware to programming to network management. Most medium and large size companies have IT Departments.
LAN – (Local Area Network) A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.
Login – Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password).
Verb: the act of connecting to a computer system by giving your credentials (usually your "username" and "password").
Top of pageNetworked IT – usually used to describe two or more computers which are electronically linked, enabling the transfer of data. Includes the Internet but also covers internal computing networks, facsimile and video-conferencing.
Online – connected to the Internet.
Outsourcing – paying another person or company to provide a service to your organisation (such as technical support).
SLAs (Service Level Agreements) – contractual arrangements that outline in detail the items and activities to be delivered (for example, YXZ software to be up and running 98% of the time).
Server – A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g. "Our mail server is down today, that's why e-mail isn't getting out."
Spyware – A somewhat vague term generally referring to software that is secretly installed on a user’s computer and that monitors use of the computer in some way without the user’s knowledge or consent. Spyware is usually installed without a user’s knowledge as part of the installation of other software, especially software such as music sharing software obtained via download.
Software – Programs that control computer hardware. The two primary categories are system software (which governs the workings of the computer itself, such as the operating system and utilities) and application software (which performs specific tasks for the user, such as word processing, spreadsheets and accounts payable).
Vendors – Commercial providers of IT software, hardware and services.
Top of pageVirus – A chunk of computer programming code that makes copies of itself without any conscious human intervention. Some viruses do more than simply replicate themselves, they might display messages, install other software or files, delete software or files, etc. A virus requires the presence of some other program to replicate itself. Typically viruses spread by attaching themselves to programs and in some cases files.
VOIP – (Voice Over IP) A specification and various technologies used to allow making telephone calls over IP networks, especially the Internet. Just as modems allow computers to connect to the Internet over regular telephone lines, VOIP technology allows humans to talk over Internet connections. Costs for VOIP calls can be a lot lower than for traditional telephone calls. Because the IP networks are packet-switched this allows for vastly different ways of handling connections and more efficient use of network resources.
WAN – (Wide Area Network) Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.
Web – Short for "World Wide Web."
Web page – A document designed for viewing in a web browser. Typically written in HTML. A web site is made of one or more web pages.
Web site – The entire collection of web pages and other information (such as images, sound, and video files, etc.) that are made available through what appears to users as a single web server. The term has a somewhat informal nature since a large organisation might have separate "web sites" for each division, but someone might talk informally about the organisation’s "web site" when speaking of all of them.
World Wide Web – see Internet.
Work-arounds – A bypass of a recognised problem in a system. A workaround is typically a temporary fix that implies a genuine solution to the problem is needed.
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