Packet INternet Groper. n. A utility program that sends a simple message (generally 64 bytes) from one computer to another. General Internet. Pings test whether a particular host is operating, returning estimates about round-trip time and how much information (number of packets) may be lost. Blogs. Pings notify search engines and news aggregators that new content has just been uploaded or edited. v. To use a ping utility.

n. A small software program that extends the functionality of Web browsers, blog authoring software, or other software applications.

Portmanteau of iPod and broadcast. n. A downloadable file, generally audio or video, designed to be played asynchronously on digital players (not just Apple iPods). v. To record and make available such a file.

See entry.

n. Internet. A specification, sometimes a standard, that determines how computers will communicate with each other. Examples: HTTP, FTP, and TCP/IP.

n. A file that records the URLs of web pages that contain links that visitors have used to access your website or blog. If the originating website was a search engine, you can generally view the keyword(s) used in the search.

n. Web. The most common method used by search engines to determine the order in which search results will be displayed; relies heavily on the number and placement of keywords.

Really Simply Syndication, Rich Site Summary, or RDF Site Summary. n. An XML-based format used to generate a newsfeed. Individuals may subscribe to syndicated RSS content and have it delivered to their news aggregators. It is unlikely that RSS will be updated; Atom is currently thought to be the most likely successor.

n. Ongoing project of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), under the direction of Tim Berners-Lee, that is working on a semantic framework for web content that will allow software to determine the type of HTML page—blog, catalog, or glossary, for instance—promising to improve search relevance ranking.

Search Engine Optimization. n. Techniques used to improve search engine ranking for websites and blogs. As a discipline, SEO is in constant flux as search engines continually adapt to an ever-changing content and delivery environment.

v. To be mentioned on slashdot.org, which almost always results in a huge increase in traffic, sometimes slowing or crashing web servers. Now often used to describe any major increase in traffic due to mention on a popular website.

n. The text, tags, and instructions that make up a web page. Can be viewed by choosing View Source from most browser file menus.

n. Internet. Unsolicited content, generally commercial in tone, inserted into email, newsgroups, blog and wiki comments, and HTML metatags, often clogging networks and annoying humans. v. To create and send spam. [Coined after a Monty Python skit that repeated a reference to a canned pork product, ad nauseum.]

n. An automated software program that generates spam.

n. A small automated software program sent out by a search engine to discover, download, analyze, and index individual web pages for the purpose of keyword searches and subsequent page ranking. The length of time between visits from traditional search engines like Google or Yahoo can be weeks or even months. Sometimes called a bot or crawler.

n. A blog built expressly as a spam vehicle.

Abbreviation for statistics. n. Web stats applications measure and report the number of pages viewed, number of unique visitors within a given time period, and what search terms or links on other sites readers used to find your blog. Stored in a referral log.

n. Computer science. A type of metadata that acts as a label identifying data in memory. Markup languages. n. A sequence of characters contained within angle brackets that denote page elements or formatting. Blogs and social networks. A user-generated categorical label that is freely chosen and generally shared across networks. v. To assign tags. Sometimes called folksonomy.

n. A semantic visualization illustrating a distribution of user-applied tags with the more commonly used terms represented in a larger font and/or with greater opacity. Sometimes called a mindmap or weighted list. Example: http://technorati.com/tags

n. Blogging. A set of rules that determines the look and feel of a blog. The ability to customize a blog differs greatly among blog authoring systems. Sometimes called themes or skins.

n. Internet. A series of comments posted in response to a single online entry. Originally used to describe conversations taking place on bulletin board services (BBS’s), where it is usually displayed in an indented, branching format. Sometimes used to track email or blog conversations.

n. Blogging. One who posts provocative entries or comments with intent to disrupt conversations and/or incite angry responses. v. To post such entries or comments.

Portmanteau of ubiquitous and computing. n. Research focusing on networked computers embedded in everyday objects, such as appliances, clothing, cultural artifacts, buildings, and vehicles. Allowing constant connectivity and access. Sometimes called pervasive computing. [Coined by Mark Weiser, who claimed to be influenced by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s novel Ubik.]

Uniform Resource Locator. n. Used to identify the unique address of a web page, generally beginning with a protocol such as http:, ftp:, or mailto:, and ending with the web page’s domain name, directory, and specific page name. Although the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has deprecated the term in favor of the more accurate URI (Universal Resource Identifier), URL remains the more commonly used term.

Portmanteau of video and blog. n. A blog that presents video as its primary format, along with some contextual metadata describing the content.