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Symbols and #'s
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Symbols and #'s

@: The “at” sign or “@” symbol is now an integral part of the Internet, it is primarily used to separate the domain name and the user name in an e-mail address.
3G/4G: 3G or 3rd Generationcellular phone commmunication standard of multimedia that includes wireless voice telephone, video calls, and wireless data, all in a mobile environment. 3G, compared to earlier generations, allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates. 4G is 4th generation cell phone communications and has yet to have a true definition of what extinguishes it from 3G yet, other than speed.
404: A technical term for Not Found 404 This is usually an error message seen on a Web page to indicate a requested URL was not found on a server.
86: Online term usually referred to as a chat acronym used online in chat, blogs or text messaging, meaning to get rid of something. For example, if you typed, “I am excited to 86 my old junker car,” it would be understood that you are getting rid of your old vehicle.

A

Address: A web address or URL is used for locating a site or web page.
Avatar: An avatar is a digital representation or icon of a person on the computer. This avatar can be something you use as a representation of yourself in order to participate in games, chat rooms, on 3-D sites and in virtual worlds.
Airdogs: The title of a game offered by Web Wise Kids for High School Students that emphasizes Digital responsibility and the consequences of bad choices; Cyber Bullying, piracy and illegal downloading. Click HERE to find out more.
Acronym: Chat acronyms, or common chat lingo, especially among teens are used to shorten phrases or words to just a couple letters or numbers. Chat acronyms are often used in chatting online, Social networking sites and through SMS (Cell phone text messaging) For example, LOL means Laughing out Loud. POS stands for Parent over Shoulder. You can see a more complete list of chat acronyms here

B

Back Button: A button at the top of your browser that takes you back to the previous page. Sometimes it is shown as just an image of an arrow pointing to the left.
Browser: A browser is a program that links you to pages on websites around the world. To find a website, type in a URL (web address) or click a link or a button in the toolbar. Examples of a browser are FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Chrome. Which one is your favorite? Click to this survey to let us know
Bookmark: In the context of the World Wide Web, a bookmark is a feature in the menu of your web browser. Sometimes it is called favorites or Internet shortcuts. It’s a virtual way to mark your favorite sites or most frequently visited sites so that you can return to them easily next time. Newer browsers allow users to access their bookmarks from any computer.
Byte: The unit of measure, used to describe the size of a computer hard drive, CD, DVD, or memory. See gigabyte, megabyte, or terabyte for more information.
Blog: Shortening and combining of the words “web” and “log”. A blog is a website that usually is maintained by an individual for commentary, a journal, or other things they want to share. The movie, “Julie and Julia” is about a girl who started decided to “cook [her] way through the Julia Child cook book and write a blog about it.” It only takes a minute to start a free blog through blogger.com or wordpress.com. The webwisekids blog is located at __________.
Backup: To backup a file is to make an extra saved copy of a document, file or program. You should make backups of all important work. A backup of a file on the hard drive can be saved on a blank CD/DVD or thumb-drive.

C

CD: You know what a CD is used for if it has music or audio files on it. CDs are also popularly used for computers. As of 2007, over 200 billion CDs have been sold worldwide. For a computer, a CD-ROM – or compact disc usually with read-only memory, is used to store digital data from a computer. If you buy a blank CD listed as a CD-RW, this CD can have files erased and re-written (saved) to it. Most CDs are “CD-R”, meaning that once a CD is saved with the data you want; it becomes read-only and can no longer be recorded on.
CPU: Central Processing Unit (CPU)is the processor or box that houses the components like the harddrive for a computer.
Chat or Chat Room: Real-time text conversation between users in a chat room with no expectation of privacy. All chat conversation is accessible by all individuals in the chat room while the conversation is taking place. Click here to see a list of commonly used chat acronyms.
Chat-Roulette: Chat-roulette (CR) is real-time chatting with random strangers via web cam and chat/texting. You have a limited amount of time to chat and can be “nexted” quickly instead of talking to the person you’ve been matched with. CR was described as super-voyeuristic and “the go to site if you want to chat with the most socially depraved people” by buzzfeed.com. CR currently averaging about 20,000 users on a typical night. Click here to read the Chatroulette 101 guide.
Cursor: A pointer that indicates a position on the computer screen. You can usually move the cursor with your mouse.
Cyberbully: A Cyber Bully or Digital Hater is someone who has taken traditional bullying and moved it to digital technology. This can be done through cell phones, social network sites, email and/or any personal web sites. See Airdogs andIt’s Your Callfor educational games that empower youth to be smart about their digital lives. Recent news articles have highlighted the suicides of cyberbullying victims and felony charges of the perpetrators. See Wired With Wisdom forparents to learn more.

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Database: A collection of data saved in one area for easy search and retrieval of files.
Digital Hater: See CyberBully. Digital haters are people who spread hate and rumors via digital technology. They arecyberbullies and can be prosecuted for crimes against minors for their actions.
Domain Name: A domain name is an identification label that references an area on the internet. The Web Wise Kids domain name is webwisekids.org
Download: To download means to bring a file to your local computer from a remote server or internet.

E

E-mail: E-mail stands for electronic mail in which messages are transmitted digitally.
Emoticon: An icon to portray an emotion. (i.e. to form a smile, a user would type a colon and a single parenthetical mark : )
Encryption: The process of tranforming information to protect the data and make it unreadable except for the intended recipient.

F

Favorites

A Favorite is a tool provided in your browser to bookmark a web site that you want to return to on a regular basis.

Favicon

An icon associated with a particular website, and typically displayed in the address bar of a browser.

File Extension

Every file name has a period or dot plus a sequence of letters and/or numerals at the end of its name. This sequence is used to indicate the type of file and the computer program that opens it. For example: .doc is a document that is usually opened in Microsoft Word. A .mp3 file is an audio file that is opened usually by a music player like Window’s Media Player or iTunes.

A short series of letters and/or numerals at the end of a personal computer filename, used to indicate the type of file

Firewall

Firewall is a system that secures a network, shielding it from access by unauthorized users.

G

Gaming: Means “playing a game.” Gaming also refers to the gaming industry as a whole, and has become a favorite pass time for people of all ages. It is important to pay attention to the ratings for games, as they will help you deterimine if they are age-appropriate for your child.
Gigabyte: “giga” means “billion”. A gigabyte is the same as a million bytes or a thousand megabytes (MB). The measurement of the number of gigabytes describes the size of your hard-drive, by counting the billions of bytes. Terabyte (TB) drives are now commonly accessible and have a capacity of just over a million megabytes.

H

History: A list of web sites that you have visited on your browser. You can use this feature to monitor the sites your children have visited.
Hacker: A term used to describe someone who is an expert computer programmer or someone who accesses private computer information illegally.
Hard Drive: The hard drive is primary storage device that saves large amounts of data in a computer.
Homepage: The web page that your browser brings up when you open it or it can be the main page of any web site.
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) – this is the format used for creating documents for the web.

I

Instant Message: Instant Messaging or “IM” is a form of real-time communication between two or more people on the computer, usually through text but can also use pictures.
Intranet: A private network used inside a company or organization. An Intranet can have web pages that are only accessible to company employees.
Internet Shortcuts: A shortcut is the ability to use a key on the keyboard to quickly access something instead of using the mouse. For example, “Ctrl” + “S” usually saves a file and “Tab” will move you between fields on an online form.
It’s Your Call: The title of a game offered by Web Wise Kids for Middle and High School students, addressing Responsible use of mobile devices and cell phones. Click HERE to find out more.
ISP: Internet Service Provider (ISP) – The ISP is the company that provides Internet service to their customers. Examples of ISPs: Verizon Fios, Comcast, AT&T and Juno.

J

Java: Java is a computer programming language used for dynamic programs that are viewed on the internet.

K

Keyword: A word or words related to your topic that will help you find information within a search engine. You will want to use more than one keyword in order to find the best information. (i.e. teens and computers, youth Internet use, adolescents online)
Kilobyte (K): A unit of measure, making up about 1,000 bytes.

L

Listserv: An electronic mailing list that allows users to send e-mail to one address where it is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers of the listserv.
Login or Log In: A login will securely connect you to a web site and help the web site save personalized data and settings that you provide.To login, you are usually required to provide a username and a password. Make sure you read the Privacy Policy for the site so that you know what they are doing with your information.

M

MP3: A digital music file that allows you to plan music on your computer.
Megabytes: A unit used to measure the storage capacity of a hard drive, CD or memory. One megabyte is equal to just over 1 million bytes.
Mirror Image: One of the digital games offered by Web Wise Kids for High School students. This game tells the story of teenagers Sheena and Megan, best friends who are victimized by a criminal who uses the Internet to lure young women with promises of modeling contracts and online romance. Click HERE to learn more.
Missing: The title of a game offered by Web Wise Kids that tells the story of Zack, a kid in Vancouver, Canada who forms an online friendship with Fantasma and eventually runs away to meet with Fantasma. Players work with a detective to find and rescue Zack and arrest Fantasma. Click HERE for more information.
Mobile Device: A computer or communications gadget that you can carry around with you, such as a cell phone, Nintendo DS, ipod/ipad or mp3 player.
Multimedia: A combination of different media to convey information. i.e. multimedia can contain graphics, animation, and text.

N

Netiquette: The conduct of a person while online that is appropriate and courteous to other Internet users.
Navigate: To move from web page to web page in a browser.
Network: A group of computers that are connected so people can share information.
Nexted: This term is used in Chat-roulette to mean that someone has clicked “next” instead of talking to you via the web cam and chat screen.

O

Online: When a user or computer/technical device is connected to the Internet.
Offline: When a user or computer is not connected to the Internet.
Online Grooming: The process predators use to manipulate and gain the trust of a minor and lead them toward sexually explicit conversations, exposure to sexually explicit materials and ultimately sexual abuse. This process can take minutes or months.

P

Password: A string of characters that is used for authentication, and to prove identity before allowing a user to enter a site or sections of the internet. Your password should be a mix of numbers, letters and symbols so that it isn’t easily stolen.
Paypal: An e-commerce business allowing money to be exchanged through the Internet.
Piracy: Illegally copying software, music or movies. The Web Wise Kids program, Airdogs addresses piracy. Click Here to find out more about the game.
Phishing: This is a scam involving email that falsely claims to be from a legitimate organization. These emails will often ask for social security numbers, passwords and other information that can be used to access your bank accounts and credit cards.
Privacy Policy: This is the policy that a company uses for handling the personal information they collect from visitors to their websites.

R

Real-time: The actual time at which an event occurs. Social Media applications on the Internet often show programs in real-time.

S

Social Network: A website, that provides ways for users to communicate directly with each other on topics of mutual interest and interact with file sharing, blogging, and discussion groups.
SMS: SMS or Short Message Service is a service used to describe Instant Messaging or sending text messages between cell phones or mobile devices.
Social Media: Any website or web service that uses a ‘social’ or ‘Web 2.0’ philosophy. This includes blogs, social networks, social news.
Search Engine: A program that helps you search for information on the internet. Examples of search engines are ask.com, yahoo.com and google.com.
Sexting: The act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, usually between cell phones.
SPAM: Also known as junk e-mail, is unsolicited Email from someone you don’t know.

T

Troll: Someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community such as a chat room or blog
Thumb Drive: A portable and small electronic device used to transport data. These thumbdrives can be called USB drives and connect easily to newer computers through the USB ports.
Text Rage: Cyber Interactions that lead to an impulse or outbreak of anger leading to violence in the real world. You can watch and read a recent news story about text rage here.
Text Messaging: Term used to refer to the exchange of brief written messages between mobile devices
Terabytes: unit of information or computer storage that is equal to 1000 gigabytes
Text Riots: The use of SMS messages on cell phones to encourage real life violence at a particular event or location.
Online: When a user or computer/technical device is connected to the Internet.

U

URL: A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) often is used to describe a web address or the location of a web site. Technically the correct term for a web address is URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) but this term isn’t popularly known like URL is.
User Name: The name you use to identify yourself when you log in to a system or account.
USB: USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It’s a standard sized port that allows devices to be added to a computer (i.e. keyboard, mouse, thumb drives, and mobile devices)

V

Vlog: Similar to blogs, vlogs are a video-based journal provided online.
Virus: A software program designed to infect and destroy files on your computer. Viruses can be installed on your computer through web sites, and file-sharing programs. You should make sure anti-virus software is installed on your computer to help protect you from these files.
Virtual Worlds: Computer-based simulated environment intended for users to inhabit and interact via avatars. Webkinz and Second Life are examples of virtual worlds.

Symbols and #'s
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V

Parents & Teachers

Symbols and #'s

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

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