Resolution: The size and quantity of dots that make up a printed page, screen or scanned image.

Runtime: Error An error that occurs during the execution of a program.

Scanner: An input device used to copy a printed document into a computer’s memory in digital form, without requiring manual keying.

SCSI: Small Computer System Interface. A standard for connecting a hard drive to a computer.

Serial Port: An outlet on a computer used to attach a device, such as a modem. A serial port sends data (bits) down the wire one at a time (in a series).

Service Pack: It is an update to a software version that fixes an existing problem, such as a bug or provides enhancements to the product that will appear in the next version of the product.

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol is a set of communication protocols that encompass media access, packet transport, session communications, file transfer, e-mail, and terminal emulation. TCP/IP is supported by a large number of H/W and S/W vendors and is available on many computer systems, from PCs to mainframes.

Troubleshoot: To isolate the source of a problem and fix it. In the case of computer systems, troubleshoot is usually used when the problem is hardware related. UNIX: A multiuser operating system.

Upgrade: A new version of a software or hardware product designed to replace an older version of the same product.

UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply. It is a power supply that includes a battery to maintain power in the event of a power cut for several minutes to some hours.

Utility: A program that performs a very specific task, usually related to managing system resources.

Vector Graphic: A method of creating graphic images on a computer by telling it to draw lines in particular positions. An advantage of a vector graphic is that it can be enlarged or reduced in size without loss of sharpness or distortion. Most modern image creation and editing packages can save images in vector graphic format.

Video Card: An electronic circuit board inside a computer, which controls the display on the Monitor, i.e. the computer screens. Video cards are usually add-on cards inserted into expansion slots, although sometimes video circuitry is incorporated into the Motherboard. Usually referred to as a graphics card these days.

Videoconferencing or Video Conferencing: A computer-based communications system that allows a group of computer users at different locations to conduct a “virtual conference” in which the participants can see and hear one another as if they were in the same room participating in a real conference.

Videodisc: A technically obsolete Storage Medium, an Optical Disc, 12 inches in diameter, used mainly to store still images or video clips. Now replaced by CD-ROMs and DVDs. See CD-ROM, Digital Video Disc, Interactive Video (IV).

Videodisc Player: Equipment used for accessing information – usually still images or video clips – stored on videodiscs. Now technically obsolete.

Video Memory: The dynamic memory available for the computer’s Display Screen. The greater the amount of memory, the greater the possible colour depth and resolution of the display. Also known as Video RAM (VRAM).

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE): A VLE is a Web-based package designed to help teachers create online courses, together with facilities for teacher-learner communication and peer-to-peer communication.

Virtual Reality: The simulation of an environment by the presentation of 3D moving images and associated sounds, giving the user the impression of being able to move around with the simulated environment. Users wear helmets and visors that convey the images and sound and gloves that give them the experience of touching objects.

Virtual World: A type of online three-dimensional imaginary world or game in which participants and players adopt amazing characters or avatars and explore the world, engaging in chat or playing complex games. See Avatar, MMORPG, MUVE.

Virus: A virus is a nasty program devised by a clever programmer, usually with malicious intent. Viruses can be highly contagious, finding their way onto your computer’s hard drive without your being aware of it and causing considerable damage to the software and data stored on it.

Visual Display Unit (VDU): A Monitor connected to larger computers. Usually referred to as VDU. Rather an old-fashioned term nowadays, Display Screen being the currently favoured term.

Vodcast: A contraction of Video Podcast. A type of Podcast that incorporates video as well as audio.

VoIP: Abbreviation for Voice over Internet Protocol, i.e. audio communication using the Internet instead of telephones. Skype and Ventrilo are examples of VoIP.

Volatile Memory: Used to describe the internal main Memory of a computer that loses its contents when power is switched off. RAM is volatile memory as the information is stored in memory chips as an electric charge.

W3C: Abbreviation for World Wide Web Consortium. An international non-profit organisation which acts as a resource centre for the World Wide Web, and is active in setting technical standards.

WAN: Abbreviation for Wide Area Network. A network of computers located at geographically separate sites.

WAP: Abbreviation for Wireless Application Protocol. A system that enables you to browse online services, e.g. relating to information about the weather, traffic conditions, shopping, etc via a special type of mobile phone. WAP is the mobile phone equivalent of the World Wide Web.

WAV: Short for Waveform Audio Format. A format for storing high-quality audio files. Somewhat hungry in terms of storage space compared to the MP3 and WMA audio file formats.

Web 2.0: Contrary to what many people think, Web 2.0 is not a new version of the World Wide Web. The term arose as the name of a series of conferences, the first of which was held in 2004: https://www.web2summit.com. Essentially, Web 2.0 is an attempt to redefine what the Web is all about and how it is used, for example, new Web-Based communities using Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis and Social Networking websites that promote collaboration and sharing between users.

Webcam: A camera connected to a computer that enables it to transmit images and videos to the Internet.

WebCT: A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Blackboard and WebCT announced an agreement to merge in October 2005. Effectively, Blackboard has now taken over WebCT.

Weblog: The full form of the term Blog.

Webmail: A facility for creating, sending and receiving messages via the Internet. Webmail offers an alternative to using email software such as Outlook or Eudora.

Webquest: A Webquest is a task-oriented activity in which the learner draws on material from different websites in order to achieve a specific goal.

Web Server or Webserver: A computer or a software package running on a computer that delivers, i.e. serve. Every Web server has an IP Address and possibly a Domain Name. For example, if you enter the URL https://www.scholarify.in in your browser, this sends a request to the server whose domain name is scholarify.in. The server then fetches the page named index.htm and sends a copy of it to your browser. By far the most popular Web server software in use worldwide is the Open Source Apache software. Litespeed, NGINX etc. are also the web servers.

Website: An area on the World Wide Web where an organisation or individual stores a collection of pages of material – Web pages. The pages are usually interlinked with one another and with other websites. Every website has a unique Web Address or URL. The full URL of the Scholarify website is https://www.scholarify.in

Wifi: Wireless Fidelity, also known as wireless networking, a way of transmitting information without cables that is reasonably fast and is often used for laptop computers within a business or a university or school campus instead of a Local Area Network (LAN) that uses cable connections.

Wiki: A website or similar online resource which allows anyone to set up a resource in which content can be created collectively. Its important feature is that it allows anyone who views the wiki to add to or edit the existing content as if they were adding to or editing, for example, someone else’s Word document.

Wild Card or Wildcard: In a question-answer dialogue which aims not to be over-sensitive about spelling, the teacher may decide to allow for aberrations by declaring certain characters “wild”.

Windows: The name of a range of several different Graphical User Interface (GUI) operating systems produced by the Microsoft Corporation. Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 were the first operating systems of this type, produced by Microsoft, to appear in the early 1990s. Microsoft Windows is currently the most widely used GUI for personal computers. It exists in various versions, e.g.Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP.

Windows Explorer: Microsoft’s tool, provided as part of Windows, that enables you to inspect and manage folders and files stored on your computer. My Computer is an alternative tool, also provided as part of Windows.

Wireless Mouse: A Mouse that does not require a cable connection to a computer, but which operates via infrared or radio signals.

Wizard: Software that guides the user step-by-step through a complex task, such as setting up software on a network or configuring a printer to output data in a special format, e.g. for printing labels from a database program.

WMA: Abbreviation for Windows Media Audio. Microsoft’s audio encoding format which offers high-quality output with lower file sizes. See MP3, WAV, which are alternative audio file formats.

Word: A popular word-processing package, produced by Microsoft. See Word-processor.

Word snake: An exercise in which all the spaces in a sentence have been removed, the learner’s task is to put the spaces back into the correct positions in the sentence.

Workstation: A term that is rather loosely used these days. Most people use it in the context of any computer that forms part of a Network. Formerly, this term was applied to a particular type of powerful computer used for scientific and engineering calculations, e.g. the Sun Workstation.

WorldCALL: The worldwide umbrella association for CALL. https://www.worldcall.org, which has the aim of helping countries that are currently underserved in the applications of ICT. The First World Conference on CALL was held at the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 1998. The Second World Conference on CALL took place in Banff, Canada, in 2003. The 2008 WorldCALL conference will take place in Japan.

World Wide Web: Usually referred to simply as the Web. This is the most powerful and fastest-growing Internet service. The World Wide Web was the brainchild of Tim Berners-Lee, who in 1989 invented the HTML coding language that is the basis of the Web. The Web became a public service in 1993. It is a huge collection of resources of information, including learning materials, which is accessed by means of a computer program known as a Browser. The World Wide Web is only part of the Internet, but many people treat both terms as synonyms.

Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C): An international non-profit organisation which acts as a resource centre for the World Wide Web and is active in setting technical standards. The current Director of W3C is Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web.

Worm: A computer worm is a self-replicating hostile computer program, similar to a Computer Virus. A virus attaches itself to and becomes part of another program, but a worm is self-contained and does not need to be part of another program to propagate itself. Worms can cause considerable damage to computers.

WORM: Acronym for Write Once Read Many. Now a rather dated term, originally applied to a type of Optical Disc on which information could be written just once and could not be amended or erased.

Write Protect: To protect a Storage Device, File or Folder so that its contents cannot normally by altered or erased. This may be done physically, e.g. by moving a notch on a floppy disc’s casing, or more commonly these days – through software that designates the device, file or folder as read-only.

WYSIWYG: Acronym for What You See Is What You Get, dating back to the pre-Windows and preMac period, when what you saw on the screen, e.g. in a Word document, was not necessarily what appeared on your Printer – something we now take for granted.

XML: Abbreviation for eXtensible Markup Language. XML is a specification emanating from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that allows Web designers to create their own language for displaying documents on the Web. XML is an extension to the standard language for creating Web pages, HTML, and makes it possible to create websites containing more complex interactivity.

Yahoo: A popular Search Engine.

Y2K: Millennium Bug.

YouTube: A website to which you can upload your own video clips and view video clips uploaded by others

Zip Disc: A portable type of disc used to store around 100Mb of data. Zip discs have become obsolete since the arrival of smaller and more convenient storage devices with much greater storage capacity, e.g. the increasingly popular Flash Drive or Memory Stick.

Zip Drive: A type of disc drive that accepts portable zip discs. Zip drives themselves are also portable and can be connected to almost any computer.

Zip: Used as a verb to describe the process of compacting files or programs in order to cut down the amount of storage space they require by compressing them into one tightly-packed file and thus to make it easier for them to be transported on floppy discs or transmitted electronically to other locations, e.g. via the Internet. Proprietary programs, such as WinZip or WinRar, can be used to zip data and files.