T

Tags: Tags are metadata (data that describes or defines aspects of larger pieces of data, i.e., in HTML code) that are assigned to certain items, such as websites, making it easier to relocate those items via searching or browsing.

Technological Pedagogy: Using digital media critically in order to enhance teaching.

Technology Rich: A technology-rich educational environment provides easy access to a wide variety of technologies, including computer labs, networked classrooms, media carts, high speed internet, and wireless internet. 

Toolbar: A menu in a browser, word processor, or other program that gives visual representations of different commands, like “cut and paste” or “reload”; the user can simply click on the pictures to activate the command.


Troll: A person who writes something generally offensive or insulting on a message board or in a chatroom in order to get someone to argue with; when someone responds, a dialogue ensues between troll and responder, after which another “chatter” might jump in with “don’t feed the trolls”; trolls main purpose is to anger someone for their own amusement. 

Trending: Topics on Twitter that have become immediately popular at this particular moment in time. Twitter uses a special technique to figure out what topics are most being talked about in real time

Turnitin.com: A plagiarism detection service that uses a massive database of student work and the web to analyze texts for percentages of similarity to other texts. Some instructors also use the service as a tool to teach students how to cite and quote properly. The Council of Writing Program Administrators and the CCCC-IP Caucus  both have statements about using plagiarism detection services that encourage schools, universities, and instructors to choose best practices in writing pedagogy over such services, stressing that following best practices (specific assignments, multiple drafts, contextual instruction about citation, and so on) are the best deterrent and preventative to plagiarism.

Tweet(ing): A 140-word or less status update sent on Twitter; it may include a link to a picture, a video, or a new blog post.

Twitter: An internet service that lets users tell all of their “followers” what they are doing in 140 words or less. Could be seen as a form of “broadcasting” since it sends text messages (tweets) to the people who follow you, which range from a few to literally a million or more in the case of a popular figure and Twitterer, Ashton Kutcher.

U

V

Visual Coherence: The extent to which visual elements of a composition are tied together with color, shape, image, lines of sight, theme, etc.

Visual Impact: The overall effect and appeal that a visual composition has on an audience.

Visual Organization: Pattern of arrangement that relates the elements of the visual essay to one another in a way that makes them easier for readers/viewers to comprehend.

Visual Salience: Importance or prominence of a visual element.

Vendor Lock: An economic term for a scenario in which the customer is dependent on the goods and/or services of the vendor and cannot switch vendors without incurring penalty. In computing, this often occurs with software vendors who use hardware as a platform for sales by bundling (combining in a non-changeable packet) their software with each computer sold.


W

Web 2.0: Using the Web as a platform for applications or software. With Web 2.0, software usually does not have to be downloaded and Web site vendors, like Google, provide a service that allows a seamless integration of participants as end users and contributors.


Web-Authoring: Making web pages or other content for the web. 

Web-Publishing: Also making web pages or other content for the web. Dreamweaver is commonly called web publishing, or web authoring, software.


Webtext: Text (and more) on the web. An article or book on the web may be text-heavy, but it usually at least has hypertextual links and may have sound, images, or video.


White-Coat Syndrome: This phrase to describe the mindset common to English Departments that one “expert” in the department has all of the technical knowledge.

Wiki: The term “wiki” originally referred to software developed in order to allow collaborative effort toward the development of websites. With the evolution of technology and the growing frequency of Wiki software and Wiki pages, the term has often come to refer to the websites themselves. These websites are typically topic-based and allow for cooperation in contributing and editing content. The element of collaboration varies in degree along a spectrum of sites that are open to the public and those that are open only to specific users/contributors.


Word Processor: A program like like Microsoft Word or Open Office used primarily for designing documents, from academic papers to newsletters to résumés.  

WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get; this computer interface term describes another term, Graphic User Interface (GUI); whereas the original computer interfaces such as MSDOS required typed commands, GUI or WYSIWYG interfaces like Microsoft Windows use graphical icons and point-and-click capabilities; in other words, the user does not have to work with programming language and the output is what the screen looks like.


X

Xtranormal: A website that allows users to easily create animated video clips using text-to-speech technology.

XML (eXtensible Markup Language): A text format that uses tags and attributes to delimit data so that it can be interpreted and displayed by different applications in different ways. Whereas HTML is mainly concerned with formatting that governs the display of content, XML allows users to define content separately from the formatting so that the content can easily be reused without having to conform to different formats.