Chapter 2: What is the Internet?

Decentralized organization

A company or organization in which there is no one main leader, president, or operating officer. Rather, the organizations leadership is broken up in several different parts of the organization itself.

Web 1.0

A term that refers to the earliest functions of the internet as being a space for posting information, referred to colloquially as "read and retrieve".

Big data

A term that refers to the larger quantities of information organizations can retrieve from internet users regarding their usage patterns and preferences.

Web 3.0

A term that refers to the manner in which networked technologies can be programmed to analyze larger trends in the massive amounts of data provided by their users, refers to colloquially as "the semantic web".

Web 2.0

A term that reflects changes to a more collaborative Internet, referred to colloquially as "create and collaborate".

Internet

As a common noun, a network of networks; as a proper noun, the global network of networks. It is a communication tool that is used for a variety of purposes.

Narbs

Short for narrative bits; a term coined by wake forrest university communication professor Anada Mitra that refers to "an item of personal information posted online, particularly as it contributes, often unwittingly, to a personal narrative that individual is creating online".

You

The most important thing for this book; used this way it refers to the idea that users are in charge of open systems like the internet and thus have the freedom and responsibility for its success.

TCP/IP

Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol; this is a common method of formatting and sending data around the internet. It is not a single protocol but rather represents a series of common protocols that standardize the way data are handled from all computers on a given internet.