Introduction
CD-Rom: An optical disk made of foil in a plastic coat, that stores computer files. Much larger in terms of storage capacity than a floppy disk.
Downloading: The process of copying a computer file from the Internet onto your own PC is called downloading. A file such as a music (MP3) file or a document is made available to the Internet by storing it on a server. To download the file, you usually click on a link to it, or else right-click and choose ‘save target as’ (in Internet Explorer) or ‘save link as’ (Mozilla Firefox). A box pops up asking you where on your hard disk you want to store the file; you choose the location for storage, click the button and the file is copied onto your hard disk (or downloaded).
E-government: E-Government is a set of services that the state delivers to the public via the Internet. For example, the ability to pay tax online (at revenue.ie) is an E-Government service. E-Government has advantages for the consumer (no queuing, easy access) and for the government (low cost, efficient processing of information). Increased delivery of E-Government services is a priority for governments across Europe, including Ireland.
E-mail: (Electronic mail) Email is a service that sends messages across the Internet from one human user to another. Like a letter, email is person-to-person and it stores messages until they are read.
Link/Hyperlink: A link, or hyperlink, is a part of a web page that, if clicked with a mouse, opens a different web page. Links are usually shown in blue and underlined on a webpage.
Online: A word used as shorthand for ‘on the Internet’ or‘connected to the Internet’.
Online catalogue: Internet access to lists of items available in libraries.
Purchase online:The action of buying products and services over the Internet by consumers.
Website:A website is a collection of web pages which displays information on a particular topic. Common types of websites include company websites (information about the company), online shops (where you buy goods and services and pay by credit card) and personal websites (where individuals share their interests). A website may consist of just one page of information, but will usually contain several pages, all linked together. All the pages in a website usually share the same ‘domain’ name. For example, all the pages in the large online shop Amazon have an address (URL) that starts with ‘www.amazon.com’.
