Index

Computer Jargon

DUN:  Dialed-up Networking.  Software and rules for connecting your Windows 95 computer to the telephone network and Internet.   Just to confuse you, Microsoft calls it "DUN" in Windows 95, and "RAS" in Windows NT; most experienced people just pronounce it "razz." (see RAS)

IAP:  Internet Access Provider.  A company that connects your local computer or network to the Internet.  They usually don't provide any end-user services, like mail or chat groups.

ISDN:  Integrated Services Digital Network.   A new and highly versatile way to use a regular telephone line.  ISDN allows high-reliability data transmission at up to 128,000 bits per second (bps), or two simultaneous voice or fax calls, or half-and-half (64,000 bps and one voice call).   There are three separate channels on the same pair of wires, which is why you have to have special equipment at your end and a special contract with the telephone company.  Technically, there are two "B" (or bearer) channels, each capable of sending or receiving data at up to 64,000 bps or being used by a single voice call. There's another, slower "D" channel, used to coordinate use of the bearer channels between your equipment and the phone company..

ISP:  Internet Service Provider.  A company that connects your telephone or ISDN call to the Internet.  They also store your incoming e-mail until your connect (contrast with IAP).

LAN:  Local Area Network.  A group of computers connected together within a particular room, building or campus.

POP:  Point of presence.  A place where an ISP has a local telephone number.  It might be nothing more than a closet full of phone equipment that connects to the ISP's local major computer site

RAS:  Remote Access Service ["razz"].   The rules for connecting one Windows-based computer to another over a telephone or ISDN line.

Router:  Computer equipment that connects a cluster of computers on a LAN to your local ISP or IAP so you can access (and be accessed from) the Internet.

Culture/Behavior Jargon

Behavior:  Some change in performance of an object (a person or thing) that can be seen, heard, felt, smelled or tasted.

Culture:  "The pattern of presuppositions evident in behavior."  It's the set of unwritten rules that people adopt...in a country, a company, a workgroup.  Because those rules are seldom consciously examined, they can pervade an organization and impede progress.  Just as the child takes "air" for granted, we take large parts of our culture for granted.  For more exploration, see "Cowboys, Communicators, Collaborators...and Communities."