Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101 Explanations Travolution ● Home ● News ● Research ● Advisory Board ● Analysis ❍ e-commerce trends ❍ General Analysis ❍ Consumer Trends ● Sm@rt Agent ● Subscribe ● Blog ● Advertise ● Supplier Directory Analysis Email a friend Related Links ● Handy Group becomes mobile travel agent 101 Explanations (22 September 2006) As the online world has developed, we’ve also seen a rise in technical jargon. But what does it all mean? Tricia Holly Davis clears up the confusion |-|3ll0. Don’t rub your eyes, readers: the opening word is not a gross oversight or the work of a crazed and overworked sub editor, but rather a very modern abbreviation for “Hello”. http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true (1 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
Transcript
1. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations Travolution Home q News q Research q Advisory Board q
Analysis q r e-commerce trends r General Analysis r Consumer Trends
Sm@rt Agent q Subscribe q Blog q Advertise q Supplier Directory q
Analysis Email a friend Related Links Handy Group becomes mobile
travel agent q 101 Explanations (22 September 2006) As the online
world has developed, weve also seen a rise in technical jargon. But
what does it all mean? Tricia Holly Davis clears up the confusion
|-|3ll0. Dont rub your eyes, readers: the opening word is not a
gross oversight or the work of a crazed and overworked sub editor,
but rather a very modern abbreviation for Hello.
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(1 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
2. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations In technical jargon, this is known as Leetspeak, the
process of condensing words and phrases down to a few key, yet
seemingly random, syllables or characters. Popular with the saggy
jean-wearing, MP3-blaring generation you loathe being stood next to
on the tube, (but must accept because theyre the only ones who will
know how to fix your laptop when Carl, the hippie IT guy, finally
retires), Leetspeak is one of the terms Travolution chose for its
101 Explanations a jargon buster for the online travel industry. In
our efforts to select and decipher some of the most frequently used
jargon in the online travel world (trust us, we couldve filled the
Oxford English Dictionary 1,000 times over), we asked some of the
industrys leading companies, including Yahoo!, consumer travel
websites, global reservations systems, Wikis and self-booking
tools, for their input. Not surprisingly, many of the answers we
received were a bit on the techy side, but we did appreciate the
fact that some companies saw the humour in how much our lexicon has
changed, courtesy of technology. Amusing as some of the jargon is,
fluency in it has become a prerequisite for successfully
transacting business in todays high-tech world. Geek-speak has gone
mainstream, so, with that in mind, |-|4p3 r34Dn9 (thats Leetspeak
for happy reading). 1 ACPI Advanced Configuration and Power
Interface specification is an open industry standard first released
in December 1996. It defines common interfaces for hardware
recognition, motherboard and device configuration and power
management. 2 Adwords Words advertisers pay to associate with their
company. In the online world, advertisers pay for top placements on
search engines. So, for instance, typing the word flights into
Yahoo! produces a top result for Cheapflights.co.uk. 3 ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is a form of DSL a data
communications technology that enables faster data transmission
over copper telephone lines than a conventional modem can provide.
4 Affiliate A commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or
a larger entity. Affiliates can also be referred to as publishers.
5 Affiliate marketing Refers to the e-commerce version of the
traditional agent/referral fee sales channel concept. An e-
commerce affiliate is a website that links back to an e-commerce
site. 6 Ajax
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(2 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
3. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, just like its
acronym, Ajax, makes things a whole lot faster. The application
remembers what was on your web page before you pressed a button on
the browser. Instead of waiting for an entire new web page to load,
you can view applications in real time. Online maps are an example
of an application that uses Ajax. You are allowed to change views
of the map in real time without waiting for the entire page to
reload. 7 API Application Programming Interface. Its primary
purpose is to describe how computer applications and software
developers may access a set of (usually third party) functions
without requiring a detailed understanding of the functions
internal workings. 8 ASP An application service provider is a
business that provides computer-based services to customers over a
network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes
called On-demand software. 9 Avatars In Hindu philosophy, an avatar
refers to the bodily manifestation of a higher being. In
technology, this is accomplished via sophisticated graphics to
portray a virtual image of a user. 10 Batch job A batch job is a
catch-all term for basically anything that runs on a particular
schedule. Most often batch jobs run late at night performing
maintenance, backing up data, etc. 11 Berrycasting Bid adieu to
your co-workers! As if constant access to e-mail isnt addictive
enough, berrycasting takes Blackberry-aholics to a whole new realm
of connected joy by offering you the ability to download video and
audio content straight to your Blackberry. 12 Blog Short for
weblog, it is a type of website such as our own
Travolution.blogspot.com where entries are displayed in a reverse
chronological order and provide commentary or news on a particular
subject. The word blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to
maintain or add content to a blog. 13 CD-ROM Compact Disc,
Read-Only-Memory. An adaptation of the CD, designed to store
computer data in the form of text and graphics, as well as hi-fi
stereo sound. The original data format standard was defined by
Philips and Sony in the 1983 Yellow Book. 14 CGI Common Gateway
Interface is a standard protocol for interfacing external
application software with an information server, commonly a web
server. This allows the server to pass requests from a client web
browser to the external application.
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(3 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
4. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations 15 Click-through rate A method of measuring the
success of an online advertising campaign. A CTR is obtained by
dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad on a web page by
the number of times the ad was delivered. For example, if a banner
ad is delivered 100 times and one person clicked on it, then the
CTR would be 1%. 16 Click-per-call/pay-per-call A similar concept
to pay-per-click (PPC). However, in pay-per-call the advertiser
receives a phonecall, usually initiated through a web form.
Pay-per-call offers less vulnerability to fraud as the provider can
block associated phone numbers. 17 Cookie A term derived from
fortune cookie, it is a small parcel of information stored on users
computers by websites in order to uniquely identify the user across
multiple sessions. 18 CPA Cost per action is a phrase used in
online advertising and online marketing circles referring to the
optimal form of buying online advertising, from the advertisers
point of view. 19 CPM Characters per minute. Refers to how many
characters one can type per minute. 20 Daemon A little auto
response program that typically runs as part of an e-mail system.
It sends reminder messages such as your message has been delivered.
A daemon could be a web server, a mail server or a database server.
21 Desktop alert A downloadable tool that sits on a computers
desktop and acts a messaging system for products and news. 22 DNS
An essential component of contemporary web use, the Domain Name
System translates domain names (computer hostnames) to IP
addresses. It also lists mail exchange servers accepting e-mail for
each domain. 23 Dongle The device that hangs off the back of your
PC so you can connect it to various pieces of hardware. 24 Download
This can refer to any transfer of information, especially
summarised information, analogous to a
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(4 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
5. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations briefing. 25 Duplexing The capability of a printer to
print on both sides of the paper. A more tongue-and-cheek
definition is the process by which someone asks for one thing when
they actually mean something else. 26 E-commerce Electronic
commerce or EC is the buying and selling of goods and services on
the Internet. In practice, this term and a newer term, e-business,
are often used interchangeably. For online retail selling, the term
e-tailing is sometimes used. 27 Emoticon Also called a smiley, it
is a sequence of ordinary printable characters, such as :-), ;o),
^_^ or :-(, or a small image, intended to represent a human facial
expression and convey an emotion. 28 Firewire A standard for very
fast data transfer, popular for applications that use very large
files, particularly video editing. Requires special hardware,
generally added to a computer as an expansion card. 29 Flash Refers
to both the Adobe Flash Player and to a multimedia authoring
program used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform
(such as web applications, games and movies). 30 Flash memory A
form of non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically
erased and reprogrammed. 31 Flickr A photo management and sharing
application. Flickr really kicked off the whole Web 2.0 move
concentrating on providing what the community wanted in a photo
sharing and management application, and making the user interface
intuitive to use. When it was bought by Yahoo!, its popularity
increased even more, with the Yahoo! user base now having access to
Flickr. 32 FTP File Transfer Protocol is a commonly used protocol
for exchanging files over any network that supports the TCP/IP
protocol (such as the Internet or an intranet). There are two
computers involved in a FTP transfer: a server and a client. 33 GDS
Global distribution systems, also known as computer reservation
systems, are used to store and retrieve information and conduct
transactions related to travel. Originally designed and operated by
airlines, they were later extended to travel agents as a sales
channel.
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(5 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
6. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations 34 GPS Global Positioning Systems broadcast precise
timing signals by radio to GPS receivers, allowing them to
accurately determine their location (longitude, latitude, and
altitude) in any weather, day or night, anywhere on Earth. 35
Hashing A computer algorithm used to categorise information. Its
like the Dewey Decimal System, although nobody under the age of 20
remembers the Dewey Decimal System anyway! 36 HDML Handheld Device
Mark-up Language. Often compared to Wireless Mark-up Language
(WML), it is a language that allows the text portions of web pages
to be presented on mobile telephones and PDAs via wireless access.
37 Hotspot A location where a computer can connect to a wireless
network and access the Internet. 38 Hot swapping Otherwise known as
hot plugging, it is the ability to remove and replace components of
a computer, such as a USB device, while it is operating,
eliminating the need to shut down and reboot the machine. 39 HTML
HyperText Mark-up Language was designed for the creation of web
pages with hypertext and other information to be displayed in a web
browser. 40 IP Internet Protocol has become an industry standard
and, although it was originally designed for wide area networks
(WANs), it is now widely used on local area networks (LANs) as
well. 41 ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network is a type of
circuit switched telephone network system, designed to allow
digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone
copper wires, resulting in better quality and higher speeds than
analogue systems. 42 Java Refers to a number of computer software
products and specifications from Sun Microsystems (the Java
technology) that together provide a system for developing and
deploying cross-platform applications. 43 Joe Spam e-mail
apparently promoting a website that actually has nothing to do with
it. Intended to get the owner of the website in trouble.
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(6 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
7. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations 44 Jpeg Joint Photographic Experts Group. Pronounced
JAY-pehg, it is a term for any graphic image file produced by using
a jpeg standard. 45 Killer app A software application that is
destined to dominate the industry. Modern history of the commercial
web is littered with stories of failed killer apps such as the
iCat, which was supposed to scan barcodes of offline items and
forever link the online world to the offline world. It had a
scanner literally shaped like a cat. 46 LAN A local area network is
a computer network covering a small local area, such as a home or
office, and is most likely to be based on switched Ethernet or
Wi-Fi technology running at 10, 100 or 1,000 Mbit/s. 47 Landing
page A web page used frequently by advertisers to track the
effectiveness of an ad. Its the first page youre asked to visit,
and youre either automatically redirected or asked to continue
clicking links until you get the information you were looking for
in the first place. 48 Leetspeak Derived from the term elite, this
is alphanumeric computer slang originally used by hackers and
gamers. It is now being integrated into the mainstream. 49 Link rot
Have you ever clicked on a link and ended up nowhere? Then you know
this link has rotted! Its when nobody updates the link on the page,
and it just becomes inactive and useless. 50 Lingubot A toolkit for
making websites understand natural language. For example, the
Lingubot on Teletext- holidays.co.uk allows users to ask questions
and it will send out a reply from a database of pre- determined and
learned answers. 51 Locale A set of parameters that defines the
users language, country and any special preferences that the user
wants to see in their user interface. Usually a locale identifier
consists of at least a language identifier and a region identifier.
52 Lockup An event which causes a computer to get stuck and refuse
to operate. The computer is then said to be hung or locked up. 53
Malware
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(7 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
8. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations A catch-all term for software installed by stealth for
malevolent purposes. These may include displaying unwanted ads
(adware) and spying on your activities (spyware). 54 Mark-up
language Combines text and extra information about the text, such
as its structure or presentation. The best-known mark-up language
in modern use is HTML, one of the foundations of the web. 55 Mashup
Mashups are wacky but creative combinations of web content. Content
is sourced from a public interface, API, web feed or javascript.
Some map APIs have spawned a wide array of Web 2.0 sites offering
services we cant imagine we ever lived without. 56 Master/slave
Self explanatory: one X, where X is anything from a database to a
hard drive is the master, and the slave follows exactly what the
master does, typically replicating information from the master. 57
Meta search A search engine that sends user requests to several
other search engines and/or databases and returns the results from
each one. They allow users to enter their search criteria only one
time and access several search engines simultaneously. 58 MIME
Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension. An encoding system mainly
used to send e-mail attachments. E- mail was originally designed to
use plain text, so programmes and graphics need an escort for
e-mail systems to be able to send them. 59 MPU Message Plus Unit is
a form of web advertising, usually in the form of a web banner. It
is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking browsers to
the website of the advertiser. 60 New media A relatively new field
of study that has developed around cultural practices, with the
computer playing a central role as the medium for production,
storage and distribution. 61 NMA Non-Maskable Interrupt is used in
the event of non-recoverable hardware errors, methods for system
debugging and system resets. 62 Pay per click A method of charging
for advertising on the Internet. Also known as cost per click.
Depending on the search engine, minimum pay-per-click charges range
from 1p to 25p.
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(8 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
9. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations 63 PBX Private Branch Exchange is a telephone system
within an enterprise that switches calls between enterprise users
on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number
of external phone lines. The main purpose of a PBX is to save the
cost of requiring a line for each user to the telephone companys
central office. 64 PDA Personal digital assistants are handheld
devices originally designed as personal organisers, but they have
become much more versatile over the years. Many PDAs can access the
Internet, intranets or extranets via Wi-Fi, or wireless wide area
networks. 65 PDF A Portable Document Format encapsulates a complete
description of a 2-D document (and, with the advent of Acrobat 3-D,
embedded 3-D documents) that includes the text, fonts, images, and
2-D vector graphics. 66 Peer-to-peer A type of network where
computers are connected together directly, rather than via a
server, allowing them to access each others hard disk. 67 Plug and
play Allows the addition of a new device without requiring
reconfiguration or manual installation of device drivers. Unlike
with hot swapping, the computer must be turned off before
installing a PnP device into an expansion slot. 68 Portal Sites on
the web that typically provide personalised capabilities to their
visitors. They are designed to use distributed applications,
different numbers and types of middleware and hardware to provide
services from a number of different sources. 69 Price comparison
site An online, classified listings service, (eg Cheapflights)
where advertisers can promote products and, typically for a travel
site, users can search for offers based on cost, destination or
route. 70 RAS Remote Access Server refers to any combination of
hardware and software to enable the remote access to tools or
information that typically reside on a network of IT devices. 71
RFI A Request for Information is a document that is issued by a
company or government to a wide group of potential suppliers to
enable them to register an interest in becoming a preferred
supplier for the project.
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(9 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
10. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations 72 ROI Return on Investment is a frequently used term
to measure the benefits (either tangible monetary gain or
intangible increased public recognition) of investing ones time
and/or money. It is used in the travel industry to measure the
benefits of web advertising. 73 RSS A family of data feeds
delivered as an XML file (called an RSS feed, web feed, RSS stream,
or RSS channel) that provide a way for users to receive content
such as text, web pages, sound files, or other media. 74 Search
engine marketing Search engine marketing is a set of marketing
methods to increase the visibility of a website in search engine
results pages (SERPs). The three main methods include search engine
optimisation (see SEO); search engine advertising (aka pay per
click); and paid inclusion. 75 Search engine optimisation Search
engine optimisation is a set of methods aimed at improving the
ranking of a website in search engine listings. The term SEO also
refers to search engine optimisers, an industry of consultants who
carry out optimisation projects on behalf of customers websites. 76
Shock wave Created by Macromedia Inc, it is an application used for
creating animations, games, sound and various special effects on a
web page. 77 SLA A service level agreement is a formal written
agreement between the service provider and the service recipient
and a core concept of IT service management. SLAs are most common
for the provision of IT services, particularly Internet services.
78 Social bookmarking Concept used by aggregator websites to find,
classify, score and rank content on other sites. Mainstay of sites
such as Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us. 79 Tagging The process of
adding a number of brief, additional descriptors to websites, blog
entries, or photos to make it more easily discoverable via search.
The more specific the tags, the greater the odds of
discoverability. 80 TCP Transmission Control Protocol is one of the
core protocols of the Using TCP, applications on networked hosts
can create connections to one another, over which they can exchange
data in packets. The protocol guarantees reliable and in-order
delivery of data from sender to receiver.
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(10 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
11. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations 81 Threat assessment chart A means of measuring the
danger posed by malicious software, such as spyware, and designed
to intercept or take partial control of a computers operation. 82
Top level domain name The last part of an Internet domain name that
is, the letters which follow the final dot of any domain name (eg
com). The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) currently
classifies top-level domains into three types: country code
top-level domains; generic top-level domain; and infrastructure
top-level domain. 83 Trackback When you post to your blog, and
quote another persons blog post, the trackback tells the other
persons blog that you have linked to them automatically. Its an
automatic way of letting people know that you are talking about
something that may interest them. 84 Trojan Taken from the phrase
Trojan Horse, it refers to a programme that is disguised as
something harmless, such as a game, but once launched sabotages the
computer on which it is running. 85 Upload The process of sending
data from a local system to a remote system. 86 URL A frequently
used term to describe an Internet domain name. 87 USB Universal
Serial Bus has become the standard method to connect computers to
peripherals, such as mouse devices, keyboards, and printers. No
more than 127 devices may be connected to a single host controller.
88 User-generated content Refers to online content that is produced
by users of websites, as opposed to traditional media producers
such as broadcasters and production companies. These include
digital video, blogging, podcasting, mobile phone photography and
wikis. 89 Vertical search A search engine with context. Next
generation of search tools that are designed to allow users to find
products and services within a particular field, such as travel. 90
Viewdata A way of receiving digital information at a distance and
displaying it on a screen (eg Teletext). The
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(11 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
12. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations original specification defined various stages that led
the way from rather chunky and blocky graphics to high-quality
photographic images. 91 VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol,
(pronounced vee-oh-eye-pee) is a free or reduced rate phone service
that can be used from anywhere in the world. 92 VPN Virtual Private
Network is a private communications network often used within a
company, or by several different companies or organisations, to
communicate confidentially over a publicly accessible network. 93
WAN Wide area network is a computer network covering a geographical
area, involving a vast array of computers. WANs are used to connect
(LANs) together, so that users and computers in one place can
communicate with users and computers in other locations. 94 Wave A
computer sound recording. These files tend to be quite large, so
sound recordings are often compressed into MP3s on the Internet,
giving a slightly lower quality but producing much smaller files.
95 Web 2.0 Coined by OReilly Media to refer to a supposed second
generation of Internet-based services that let people collaborate
and share information online in a new way such as social networking
sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies. 97 Wi-Fi A
brand originally licensed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to describe the
underlying technology of wireless local area networks (WLAN) and
intended to be used for mobile computing devices. 98 Wiki A website
that can be easily updated and maintained by anyone who uses it.
Normally, a website is protected, and only authorised people can
make changes, but the goal of a Wiki is to do exactly the opposite.
The best known example of a Wiki is Wikipedia.org, an entire
encyclopaedia built and maintained by its user community. 99 XML
The Extensible Mark-up Language is a W3C-recommended
general-purpose mark-up language for creating special-purpose
mark-up languages, capable of describing many different kinds of
data. 100 Yahoo! Search Marketing An ad serving programme run by
Yahoo! Website owners can enrol in this programme to enable text
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(12 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
13. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations advertisements on their sites. These ads are
administered by YSM (formerly Overture) and generate revenue on
either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. Google has
its own AdSense programme. And... 101 Travolution B2B media brand
specialising in the online travel industry and emerging
distribution channels. Sister paper of trade bible Travel Weekly
and published by Reed Business Information. Launched in November
2005, comprising a bi-monthly magazine, a website, blog and events
programme. Email a friend Back to top
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(13 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
14. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations About us q Contact us q Subscribe q Site Map q Terms
& Conditions q
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(14 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26
15. Travolution.co.uk - Analysis - 101 Explanations - 101
Explanations Disclaimer q Privacy policy q RSS q Reed Business
Information Ltd 2007 q
http://travolution.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=483&PrinterFriendly=true
(15 of 15)04/07/2007 11:15:26