Glossary
Quick Jump: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
ATHENS - The Athens system provides access management for subscription services supplied by publishers and subscription agents.
AV - Audio/Visual
B
BECTa - British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (formerly NCET). BECTa co-ordinates educational and technological developments across the compulsory and post-compulsory educational communities. BECTa also seeks to evaluate information and communications technology (ICT) practice; support existing applications of ICT; and investigate emerging technologies and associated pedagogy.
Benchmarking - Comparing evaluation findings between different institutions
Broadband - Network bandwidth capable of supporting multi-media applications (such as video-conferencing).
C
Caching - A process whereby retrieved data (eg from abroad) is stored locally, on a temporary basis, in the expectation that it will shortly be required by others. Caches can be local (to a site or institution) or national (see JANET Web Caching Service). Also see Mirroring.
CILIP - The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
Cookie - A small piece of data that is stored on your computer and sent over the Internet to the web site with which it is associated. They allow a website to keep track of information from one visit to the next and across pages. Most web browsers have cookies enabled by default.
CURL - Consortium of University Research Libraries
D
DDA - Disabilitiy Discrimination Act
DfES - Department for Education and Skills
DNER - Distributed National Electronic Resource. The working title for the concept of an electronic resource which appears seamless to the user. Available through JANET, staff and students will be able to access resources effectively and efficiently through intuitive and customised interfaces.
DPA - Data Protection Act
Dublin Core - Dublin Core is shorthand for the Dublin Metadata Core Element Set which is a core list of metadata elements agreed at the OCLC/NCSA Metadata Workshop in Dublin, Ohio, in March 1995. The Dublin Core is positioned as a simple information resource description. However, it also aims to provide a basis for semantic interoperability between other, probably more complicated, formats. (see Metadata and Z39.50).
E
EIS - Electronic Information Services
Electronic Journal - A learned journal, but not necessarily refereed, on the Internet. Electronic journals offer reduced time to publication, allow hyperlinking to other documents, and, in some cases, are enhanced by multi-media materials.
F
Follett report - Sir Brian Follett, who chaired the review team who produced a report for the Joint Funding Councils on Libraries and IT in the higher education community in December 1993, which has come to be known as the Follett Report. It made a number of recommendations to address the problems of library provision within higher education.
FTP - File Transfer Protocol. FTP allows a person to transfer files between two computers, generally connected via the Internet.
G
Graduate skills - The intellectual, practical, applied, self-management, interpersonal and communication skills valued by graduate employers.
H
HEDS - Higher Education Digitisation Service.
HEFCE - Higher Education Funding Council for England.
HEFCW - Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
HEI - Higher Education Institution
HESA - Higher Education Statistics Agency
HESDA - The Higher Education Staff Development Agency
HND - Higher National Diploma
HTML - HyperText Markup Language, used to mark up documents for use on the World Wide Web. It enables hypertext links to be followed, thus linking documents over the Internet.
I
ICT - Information and Communication Technology.
ILT - Institute for Learning & Teaching in higher education
Information literacy skills - The underlying study skills students require to undertake study at HE level and to help them in their future careers and education. SCONUL have defined seven headline skills (see http://www.sconul.ac.uk/pubs_stats/pubs/99104Rev1.doc for further details)
Information Strategy - A strategic plan to exploit information resources in the broadest sense. This will often be part of an hierarchy of strategies under an institutional strategy or business plan; in turn an information strategy may include an Information Systems or Information Technology strategy.
Internet - A world-wide group of networks using a common protocol, the Internet Protocol (IP) so that services such as email and the World Wide Web can be provided seamlessly.
IP - Internet Protocol
IPR - Intellectual Property Rights
ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network. A form of connectivity which offers data and voice communications at much higher rates than standard telephone connections.
ISP - Internet Service Provider
IT - Information Technology
J
JANET - Joint Academic NETwork. This links all higher education institutions, Research Council sites, many FE colleges and other bodies with a legitimate interest in working with the higher education and research community.
JISC - Joint Information Systems Committee. JISC is an independent advisory body that works with further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities use to use ICT to support learning, teaching, research and administration.
K
Key skills - Key skills are a range of essential skills that underpin success in education, employment, lifelong learning and personal development. Key skills qualifications (levels 1-4) in communication, application of number and information technology (IT) are available across all post-16 routes
L
LAN - Local Area Network
LearnDirect - Ufi's learning services are being delivered under the branding "learndirect"
lifelong learning - all learning (from cradle to grave, formal and informal)
LSC - Learning and Skills Council (responsible for funding and planning education and training for over 16 year olds in England)
M
MAN - Metropolitan Area Network. A regional, high bandwidth network which connects together many organisations, including higher education institutions. HEIs can access JANET via their local MAN.
Metadata - Information describing an information resource, sometimes referred to as data about data.
Mirroring - The holding of a duplicate, or mirror, copy of a body of information locally to improve delivery to end users and avoid network-induced delays, especially across international links.
MIS - Management Information Systems. A computer system which provides information on an organisations performance.
MLE - Managed Learning Environment A collection of learning resources which enable users to engage, discover, organise, reflect and publish materials.
Multicasting - Transmitting information (especially video and audio) to a discreet number of specified destinations, as distinct from transmitting to a single destination ('point to point') or to an undefined and potentially unlimited number ('broadcasting').
N
NGfL - National Grid for Learning. A government initiative to set up a national focal point for learning on the Internet. Primary, secondary and tertiary education, lifelong learning services, museums and other cultural bodies and industry are all expected to contribute to the development of the Grid.
non-traditional students - Students from socio-economic groups with limited previous experience of HE eg certain ethnic minorities, working class
NVQ - National Vocational Qualification
O
P
PA - Publishers Association
PALS - Publisher and Libraries Solutions Committee
PC - Personal Computer
Portal - A network service that brings together content from diverse distributed resources
Q
QAA - Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
R
RDA - Regional Development Agency
RDN - Resource Discovery Network. A distributed service which seeks to enrich learning, research, and cultural engagement by facilitating access to high-quality Internet resources through the development of subject-based gateways.
RSLP - Research Support Libraries Programme, funded by the UK HE funding bodies.
S
SCONUL - Standing Council of National and University Libraries
SCOP - Standing Conference of Principals
SME - Small to Medium-Sized Enterprise
Stakeholder - Someone who requires an evaluation to be carried out, is informed of the findings or participates in the evaluation, as an evaluator or subject
Subject benchmarking - The QAA has published benchmark statements designed to make explicit the general academic characteristics and standards of honours degrees in the UK
SuperJANET - A high speed, broadband backbone that forms the core of JANET.
T
TTA - Teacher Training Agency
U
UCAS - Universities Clearing and Admission Service
UCISA - Universities and Colleges Information System Association
Ufi - University for Industry
UK Mirror Service - The UK Mirror Service superseded HENSA (from 2 August 1999) to become the primary mirror service for the academic community. A JISC funded service.
UKOLN - Formerly known as 'The United Kingdom Office for Library and Information Networking' UKOLN is a centre of expertise in digital information management, providing advice and services to the library, information, education and cultural heritage communities.
UK-Online - UK online is a government-led initiative to enable everyone in the UK to gain access to the Internet by 2005 and to make the UK one of the world's leading knowledge economies.
Universities UK - Formerly known as the CVCP, Universities UK's task is to support the work of universities and promote their interests. In particular, it aims to increase understanding of the value of their work throughout the UK and campaign for adequate funding to meet their needs.
V
VLE - Virtual Learning Environment. A set of teaching and learning tools including curriculum mapping, student tracking, online support, electronic communication and links to external resources.
VTS - Virtual Training Suite
W
W3C - World Wide Web Consortium: a global industry consortium run jointly by the Laboratory for Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of technology and INRIA in France. It exists to develop common standards for the evolution of the World Wide Web. JISC is a member of W3C.
WAN - Wide Area Network
WWW - The World Wide Web is a system where multi-media resources are provided in a standardised way and linked indefinitely, providing a truly world-wide information system. It has recently expanded enormously so that the majority of traffic on the Internet is now for WWW use.
X
XHTML - The latest incarnation of HTML.
Y
Z
Z39.50 - A NISO (National Information Standards Office) standard protocol for metadata - information describing an information resource, such as a dataset. Consistently defined metadata permits rapid and effective browsing of a wide range of data resources, an essential requirement for efficient use of electronic resources distributed across a network.