archival

Organizing, preserving and storing information/items into a permanent record.

ASCII

Acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. An ASCII or tab-delimited text file is one in which each byte represents one character according to the ASCII code and it will contain only text with no special formatting (outside of line breaks and tabs). ASCII or tab-delimited files are sometimes called plain text files.

browser

A program used to access the World Wide Web. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are the most popular browsers.

cache

A temporary holding area in the computer's memory.

database

A collection of stored information in a computerized format.

dialog window

A small window for user input directed at a specific task. After making changes in a dialog window, you usually need to press OK to accept the changes or Cancel to ignore any changes made. Also known as a dialog box.

field

Used to indicate a location into which text may be typed.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol. The FTP URL is used to "put" or "get" files from a server. It moves files between machines.

input device

Any device used to enter information into a computer (i.e. keyboard, mouse and other peripherals such as modems, scanners, digital cameras and graphics tablets).

interface

The connection between the computer and the input device allowing them to work together.

items

Objects imported from files into the Acquisition Station (graphic images, documents, audio and video clips, etc.).

keyword

Words selected for indexing and sorting information so that it can be easily retrieved.

lossless

Refers to a way to shrink a large file into a smaller space without losing information.

lossy compression

Refers to data compression techniques in which some amount of data is lost. Lossy compression technologies attempt to eliminate redundant or unnecessary information.

metadata

Information for indexing and defining CONTENTdm for an item.

network

The connection system that allows computers to send and receive information electronically.

peripheral

Refers to items "outside" the computer: keyboards, monitors, printers, etc.

project

A Project is a saved work session or series of sessions used to organize the tasks that must be accomplished in order to get items into the collection database.

Reserved characters

Illegal characters to use in the naming of a file or project for CONTENTdm are the following: \ / : * ? " < > or |
Other punctuation marks are okay to use, including ! @ # $ % & ( ) ­   ' ` ~ .

server

The computer with a large hard disk that provides information for other computers to access. It is connected via a network.

thumbnail

A miniaturized version of a graphic or page of a document that serves as an identifier of the original item.

TWAIN

An interface that regulates communication between software applications and imaging devices. It is used for acquiring images captured by scanners and digital cameras.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator, a unique address made of a directory name in which files are stored (pathname), the name of the server that hosts the file and the software/manner in which to communicate in order to exchange information (protocol).

protocol://server_name/pathname
An example could be http://www.ourlibrary/photos/

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