Jargon Encyclopaedia

Who/What/Why:
Our Jargon Encyclopaedia is written for teachers and other educated people who aren't experts on Networks or the Internet, but who would like to know and understand a little bit more, if only to have a grasp of what children, adverts or technicians are talking about.  In order to get the most from this encyclopaedia you will need a better-than-The-Sun level of English and a reasonable (or world-weary) sense of humour, but no technical computing knowledge.  We think that covers most teachers!

May Contain Nuggets
In here you will find translations of most Internet and network-related jargon, acronyms and other geek-speak into plain English (but not too dumbed-down), along with contextual analyses and a few nuggets of RS infotech wisdom thrown in for good measure.  Oh, and a healthy dose of irony and sarcasm.  Despite the humour, we believe this encyclopaedia is entirely accurate, and the facts have been carefully researched and/or checked.  If you have spotted a factual mistake, please let us know a.s.a.p.  If you are right, we will probably send you a homehelp Discount Voucher to thank you, even if the truth is unpalatable.

Cross References
To avoid too much duplication you will notice that there are lots of cross-references within the encyclopaedia, which are capitalised and Look Like This.  External references (i.e. to other Web Sites) look like this.  So that you don't lose your place, Firefox and Opera users can simply middle-click (press the wheel on your mouse) to open links in the background.  With other Browsers, try right-clicking these references - you will normally see an "open in a new tab/page/window" option.

Many of the entries have normal English meanings other than their specific computer meaning.  These have been ignored, because you can look them up in a one of your free school dictionaries (or on the Internet, e.g. here).

Further Reading:
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of encyclopaedias of varying quality on the Internet, most having a very narrow, eclectic focus.  For a good quality, slightly more technical reference than ours, try the Webopedia.  For a really in-depth technical read on all things computer-related as well as life, the universe and everything, try the excellent and huge "Wikipedia" encyclopaedia at www.wikipedia.org.  By the way, the name comes from the Internet term Wiki, not from the teen-speak term "wickid", although the Wikipedia is pretty good by any standard!  Be aware that some Internet encyclopaedias are thinly-diguised advertising Directories.

Credits:
Many thanks to the following people for proof-reading all the draft entries (no mean feat) and making suggestions for additions and improvements:
Bernard E.,  David B.,  Ged W.,  Kit B.,  Richard S.,  Sabine R.

Debits:
For any lawyers out there:
This is clearly a guide for laymen, not a technical manual or specific professional advice, so before you start getting too excited by our approach do check the case law on fair comment, professional opinion and free speech...
To be absolutely clear, RS infotech does not accept any liability in tort towards anyone "relying on the content" (in the legal sense), since anyone relying on a publication such as this is easily shown to be not a "competent person" (only in the legal sense).