J

JAWS: Screen reader for visually-impaired readers; or a scripting language.

K

L

Listserv: A group that communicates via e-mail. Participants send their messages to the central software running at the listserv’s e-mail, often referred to as a “majordomo,” and this message is sent on to all listserv members. Listserv members subscribe and unsubscribe by sending messages to the majordomo and can also opt to subscribe to a digest version of the listserv, which sends out one message with all posts written in a specific time length or the number of messages.

Logocentric: The tendency to use Western thought to try to locate the center argument, thought, or idea within any text or discourse.

LOL: Acronym for Laugh Out Loud usually used when a funny statement is said via text or messaging and the sender wants the recipient to know it was said in jest. 

Lulz: The “happiness” one feels when hurting or annoying someone online, usually by being a troll; sometimes used for general happiness.

M

Moderator: A forum member given specific responsibility to monitor posts made on the forum or on specific subforums. Moderators are typically appointed by the administrator to act as surrogates, and often possess the ability to ban members and lock or delete threads or posts, but do not possess the full range of power reserved by the administrator. Moderators are typically selected from a pool of dedicated community members, and can be “global” (with jurisdiction over the entire forum) or “local” (jurisdiction over specific subforums). Often shortened to “mod.”

Multiple-Object Oriented spaces (MOO): An early precursor to a chat room; a text based online virtual reality system where many players, or users, can be connected at once.

Moodle: A free Course Management System, or CMS, that can be used to create an online classroom. Some of features of Moodle include discussion boards, question and answer forums, wikis, and a place where a syllabus, course related material and links, and student work can be posted and reviewed. Moodle can be customized to the institution that uses it.

Multimedia: Media and content that uses different content forms (text, video, images, etc.).

Multimodal Writing: Using a variety of modes of discourse, including text, video, audio, graphics, and hyperlinks, to compose a piece to communicate something .

MySpace: A social networking site similar to Facebook. MySpace is known for its accessibility to musicians; for instance, bands can set up MySpace pages and make their discography available through MP3 playlists. Another distinguishing feature is the ability of all MySpace users to customize their profile pages through use of HTML or CSS coding.


N

Navigation: Traveling through websites and documents in search of information.


Newbie: Term used, often in a derogatory fashion, to refer to anyone who is new to a particular online space such as a forum, discussion board, or game.  In games, often replaced by “lowbie” in reference to the low rank/level of the character.


National Information Infrastructure (NII): Technology based communication infrastructure.

O

Object-oriented programming systems (OOPS): Using objects (data structures and functions) to design applications and computer programs.

On the Fly: In software, an action taken that changes settings while immersed in another process, usually a term used to express how easy certain software is to use. Example: ABX software allows users to change font settings on the fly with easy keystrokes.


Open Source: Code of software made available to the users so that those users can modify and customize that software. Complex projects with many contributors use this process with much success, the Open Office Suite and Drupal being two primary examples.

Operating System: The interface used by a computer; e.g. Windows XP, Windows Vista, Macintosh, Linux.