Mslexia

Mslexia, the magazine for women who write | www.mslexia.co.uk

Essentials

INTERNET JARGON

Internet: the catch-all term describing the global network of computers that can link to one-another using telephone lines and satellites.

Modem: a piece of hardware that links your computer to the internet. One end of a cable is plugged into your computer and the other goes to a telephone socket. Your modem dials other computers’ numbers in the same way that you use the telephone to ring somebody else. This is termed a 'dial-up' connection.

Broadband: a high-speed internet connection, capable of carrying a large number of moving images or a vast quantity of data simultaneously. The connection is usually via coaxial (ISDN) or optical cable as opposed to a telephone connection. There are different types and speeds of broadband connection available – check and compare before having it installed.

Internet Service Provider (ISP): the company that provides your internet access. (e.g. AOL, Tiscali and Wanadoo) – either dial-up or broadband.

Browser: your window to the internet. The most popular – though not necessarily the best – is Microsoft Internet Explorer, but you can choose from a myriad of Browsers such as Safari and Firefox. You can’t access the internet without one; it would be a bit like reading an unbound book that has had its pages scattered across a football field. The browser is to the internet-user as binding is to a book.

Search engine: websites designed to let you search the internet for anything you may be interested in. You can search by names, keywords, internet addresses, phrases. Popular ones are Google, MSN, Lycos and Yahoo – also try Ask Jeeves, Dogpile (a metasearch engine that combines search engines).

Domain (site, website or address): a place on the internet where specific information is held. The place is made accessible to other computers via a specific domain name. Mslexia’s, for instance, is mslexia.co.uk and is the means of accessing our site.

Link: a highlighted image or phrase within one website that you click on to call up another site and take you to it directly. These allow you to access sites that you are not familiar with or do not have the addresses for.

Navigate: a term used to describe the act of using links in particular sites to go from one place to another. Surfing is the slang word for the act of moving through internet sites by following along a trail of links.

E-zine – Electronic magazines: the online equivalent of print magazines. From specialist ‘literary’ webzines that publish poetry and prose, to online magazines and fanzines that accept features, there’s a vast global range to pitch to. As with terrestrial mags, you need to identify your target market and make sure you are submitting to the right place. Payment for material varies greatly: some don’t pay, but instead offer exposure to a broad readership.

Hypertext fiction: internet-based prose based on the way computer data can be filed in a non-linear fashion, and allows for writing with multiple paths and endings. See TrAce (Nottingham University) Hypertext Resources

Weblog: a web page that reads as a journal – be it real or fictional. See www.blogger.com for more details.

E-language: Common abbreviations for use in the quickfire environment of a chatline. (Whether you think they’re witty or naff, at least you’ll know what they’re on about...)
:) happy
:( sad
:| angry
%-) happy-confused
8-0 shocked
;-) winking
:'-( crying
:-* kiss
X-( brain-dead
lol laughing out loud
:-P sticking out tongue
:8) pig
MC:8) male chauvinist pig
:-X my lips are sealed
\o/ Halleluiah
%-) celebrating
%-( hung-over
@}-`-- a rose…

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