A computer term used to describe a series of mathematical steps that a computer does to process something. A computer has an algorithm for adding effects to a picture or for how Google ranks a site once its content has been indexed.

The amount of information that a connection to the Internet can process at any one time. You can think of bandwidth as the size of a pipe. If you have a small pipe, less water can pass through. If you have a larger diameter pipe, than more water gets through.

A web site designed to share information that is updated often. A blog is often used like a journal to share thoughts and feelings on issues or on happenings in a company or organization. Blogs can be silly and not have much value but they can also be a key advertising and marketing technique.

A Contact Relationship Management Database is designed for tracking information and clients and others that organizations interact with. CRM databases are designed to show the relationships between contacts, their organizations and the actions that they take. For example, one might buy widgets and attend trainings on how to use their new widgets.

A CMS is a website that uses a database to deliver content to viewers. CMSs make it possible to easily to change content on a page without having to make changes to the code of the page. A good CMS will also make it so that you can change the content independently of how that content is displayed.

Crimes committed using the Internet. Cyber crimes usually involve identity theft or malisons use of content on a computer for activates like corporate espionage. Some hackers /cyber criminals use their skills just to stop computers systems from functioning properly.

A development framework is used as a generic starting point for creating software or Internet applications that can accomplish many specific tasks. It is like being able to build a very specific type of factory in a space that was designed for any type of factory.

Services like Constant Contact that help you do mass emailing. These services will help you follow the Can SPAM law, maintain your list, and design emails that will work for your email recipients.

A firewall is a security tool to keeps other users and malicious code off of your computer. You can think of it as a gate keeper for your computer - the good data is allowed to come in and the bad data is not.

The Hard Drive or Hard Disk Drive is the primary long term storage for most computers. When you start your computer the information needed to open Windows or another operating system is loaded from the hard drive. Software like Word or QuickBooks as well as your files are also saved on the hard drive.

When files are added to the computer their key contents like their file name, tags , other attributes and in some cases their content are added to an index. It is far quicker to search an index of the information than it is to search each file when you want to find information.

Refers to software that makes it code open to the public. Generally open source projects are free and have many people contributing to them.

Some of the popular open source projects are becoming well known. For example Linux and Drupal (the platform that this site is created in.)

An operating system is an application like Windows or Mac OS which allows the user to access the computer's functions. In today's world, operating systems provide graphical user interfaces with icons to computer functions so users do not need learn all of the commands necessary to interface with the computer.

Advertising used on the Internet by Google and others wear the advertiser only pays for the numbers of users who click on their ad not the numbers of impressions (times the ad appears on a page).

A type of attack when malicious website developers try to emulate a site that they are not. For example Chase uses chase.com but their is a phishing site called chasebank.com. Phishing can also be when a site looks for you to put too much information like your social security number.

Short term memory that your computer uses to process the information that you are currently using on your computer. New software needs more RAM then some older applications in order to run well .

A device used to share an Internet connection with other computers. Often a router will also have a firewall included in it as well as other tools for managing and securing an Internet connection.

Relay Simple Syndication is a protocol for aggregating (gathering) information from around the Internet. Read this FAQ for more information.

A tool for gathering RSS content from providers on the Internet. Also known as an aggregator.

Tools that connect people online based on existing friendships/relationships, similar interests, creative communities or for businesses networking. Examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, Ryze, You Tube, and countless others. This You Tube video explains much of social networking very well.

Unsolicited and unwanted e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail. SPAM is often to sell explicit products or for refinancing scams. The Federal Trade Commission provides lots of valuable information.

Software that covertly gathers information about a user and their Internet usage while he/she navigates the Internet. The spyware transmits the information to an individual or company that uses it for marketing or other more sinister purposes.

Technology used to efficiently send videos or other large files over the Internet.

Tags have different meanings in different applications or websites. Tags mark data by attaching different terms or labels to content. In a Contact Relationship Management Database you might tag contacts as large donors or other key attributes.

USB thumb drives often called USB keys have many different names but they all allow you to store data on a small device that plugs into the USB port on a computer.

Marketing efforts that promote users to pass a marketing piece on to one or more people in order to help the marketer increase the number of people that see their massage. For example when someone posts a successful YouTube video and everyone shares it with their friends through email and social networks you can say that it has gone viral.

A virus is a malicious program that gets installed on a computer and attempts to cause damage to the system or individual files.

VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol or IP. It is a phone service that users the Internet rather than standard telephone systems to transfer the signal for your call. You can do VOIP for free with Skype and other providers when you want just talk to other people also using a computer to connect.

The standard for wireless Internet access. The common use for WiFi is to describe any wirless Internet access as being WiFi. The WiFi logo is often posted in coffee shops, meeting rooms, and hotels when they have available WiFi access.

A computer virus that passes its way through e-mails. Often times worms are capable of forcing your e-mail client to send e-mails without your knowledge.