Digital+Media+Terms

=**Digital Media Terms**=

Feeling like there are a lot of terms you are not sure of? No problem here is a quick definitions of what some of these digital media terms mean.

Audacity is a free program that can be downloaded on a PC or Mac. It is a sound-editing program. It is most often used by PC users to create podcasts. You can download Audacity at [|http://audacity.sourceforge.net] an open source recording application. You will also need to download a Lame MP3 encoder found at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows.
 * Audacity**

A Web log, or “blog” consists of comments posted on a Web site and organized topically and chronologically. Each post consists of a title and description and may include links to other resources, including multimedia files.
 * Blogs**

Creative commons refers to a special type of copyright license. If a piece of work has a creative commons license you are free to share the work (copy, distribute, and transmit the work) or to remix (adapt) the work. However, you need to give credit to the original author, use the work for non-commercial purposes, and share alike meaning that if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. Often you will see an image like this if a piece of work has a creative commons license.
 * Creative Commons**

A podcast is an audio (and possibly other media) file that can be downloaded to your computer. You may even subscribe to a podcast and it will automatically update itself. Once downloaded, you can play the file on your computer immediately or later. Also you can transfer the file to your digital music or multimedia player, such as the iPod. Podcasting is similar to a VCR or TiVo because it allows you to listen to your selected podcasts whenever you like. Also, because of the portability of player devices, you can listen to audio files from the Internet as you go about your daily activities.
 * Podcast**

[|CommonCraft Video] on Podcasting

Sometimes you will see a picture that looks like this. This means you can subscribe to this content (often its a web site, blog or series of podcasts. You can do this in a program such as [|iTunes] or [|Bloglines]. This makes life much easier because now instead of having to go out and bring the new content to one site for you so you don't have to keep visiting all of your favorite sites for new updates. If you subscribe in iTunes you can download podcasts you subscribe to onto your iPod. Sometimes sites will have a button you can click that will automatically subscribe you. More often there will be a URL address that ends in rss such as [|**http://mdmc2007.com/rss/**] which you will need to copy into a program such as iTunes or Bloglines. In iTunes you click on **Advanced** and click on **Subscribe to Podcast** and then you can paste the url there. In Bloglines click on the **Feeds** tab and click **Add** and then paste the URL. More information is available at the [|Feed 101 Site].
 * RSS Feeds**

A Web-based service where shared lists of user-created Internet bookmarks are displayed. Social bookmarking sites are an increasingly popular way to locate, classify, rank, and share Internet resources through the practice of tagging and inferences drawn from grouping and analysis of tags. Some social bookmarking services let users list other users who have bookmarked the same Web sites. (Definition courtesy in part of Wikipedia.)
 * Social Bookmarking**

Also called the Read Write Web. Includes technologies such as blogs, wikis, RSS, instant messaging (IM), social networking and podcasting promise to bring a step-change in collaborative working and participation.
 * Web 2.0**

Wikis are online web pages that multiple people can add and revise content. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. Common features of a wiki include: · The name of an article is embedded in the hyperlink. · Articles can be created or edited at anytime by anyone (with certain limitations for protected articles). · Articles are editable through the web browser. · Each article provides one-click access to the history/versioning page, which also supports version differencing ("diff") and retrieving prior versions. · Each article provides one-click access to a discussion page particular to that article where authors can have discussions about the content they are posting · The most recent additions/modifications of articles can be monitored actively or passively. Wikipedia. (2007). Wiki [Electronic Version]. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki.
 * Wikis**

The term widget has been in use since the 1920's. It is a blending of window and gadget, widget. The term created by George s. Kaufman in a play entitled, Beggar on Horseback. A widget is a small mechanical device that users can interact with on a computer. In computing terms, a widget is a graphical interface (small mechanical device) that appears as a window either embedded in a webpage or as widget engine incorporated as part of an operating system. Dashboard is part of Apple's OS 10.4 operating system. Widgets are adding to Apple's website everyday. You can check the weather, view the time, track flights in progress, use a calculator and much more.
 * Widgets**