Appendix C—Glossary of Terms

Terms Defined on the Survey Form:

Advanced telecommunications - refers to modes of communication used to transmit information from one place to another including broadcast and interactive television, networked computers, etc.

Broadcast television - refers to network television such as NBC, CBS, etc. Cable television - refers to subscription television such as CNN, Learning Channel, Discovery, etc.

Closed-circuit television - refers to the transmission of television on noncommercial lines (e.g., inhouse broadcast).

E-mail (Electronic mail) - refers to text messages transmitted across networks and usually accessible only by the addressee.

56Kb - refers to a digital transmission speed of 56 Kilo (thousand) bits per second.

Instructional rooms - refers to rooms in the school building used for any instructional purposes (includes classrooms, labs, media centers, art rooms, rooms used for vocational or special education, etc.).

Internet - refers to a network of networks all running the TCP/IP protocols, sharing the same underlying network address space as well as the same domain name space, and interconnected into a network of information.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) - refers to data communication that integrates voice and data.

Local area network (LAN) - refers to the linkage of computers and/or peripherals (e.g., printer) confined to a limited area that may consist of a room, building, or campus that allows users to communicate and share information.

Modem - a device which connects between a computer and a phone line to translate between the digital signal of the computer and the analog signal required for telephone transmission.

News groups - electronic conferences/discussion groups similar to maillists. News group messages, called articles, are not mailed to a subscriber's e-mailbox but are distributed to a subscribing system's news server. The single copy is then accessed by all users on their network-connected machines. Each news group focuses on a subject area.

One-way video with two-way audio or two-way computer link - refers to the ability to transmit or receive picture in one direction with the capability to communicate in two directions (interactively) via computer or some audio method.

PPP (Point to Point Protocol) - refers to a protocol that allows a computer to use TCP/IP (Internet) protocols (and become a full-fledged Internet member) with a standard telephone line and a high speed modem. See SLIP.

SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) - refers to a protocol that allows a computer to use TCP/IP (Internet) protocol using serial lines such as dial-up telephone lines. See PPP.

T1 rate - refers to a digital transmission speed of 1.544 Mega (million) bits per second.

Two-way video and audio - refers to the ability to transmit and receive picture and sound simultaneously in real time.

Wide area network (WAN) - refers to a data communications linkage designed to connect computers over distances greater than the distance transmitted by local area networks (e.g., building to building, city to city, across the country, or internationally), that allows users to communicate and share information.

World Wide Web (WWW) - refers to a system that allows access to information sites all over the world using a standard, common interface called hypertext to organize and search information. It simplifies the process of finding a site, connecting, locating the appropriate documents and downloading the information through the use of a browser (e.g., Netscape, MOSAIC).

Terms Used in the Survey Report

Archie - a research tool on the Internet for finding network host computers that have programs or data files which can be transferred to your machine.

Browsers - software application that allows the user to access a server computer on the Internet (e.g., Netscape).

Gopher - software which permits searching files on the Internet on remote hosts using layered menus. Text from these files can be read online or the files can be transferred to your computer.

MOSAIC - World Wide Web browser or client capable of accessing data via protocols such as Gopher and World Wide Web directly that will receive and display a wide variety of data types.

Netscape - a browser software application that allows the user to access a server computer on the Internet.

VERONICA (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) - an Internet search tool that does keyword searches of indexes of Gopher documents at Internet sites.

Sample Universe and Classification Variables Common Core of Data (CCD)

Public School Universe - a database containing one record for each public elementary and secondary school in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and 5 outlying areas, as reported to the National Center for Education Statistics by the State Education Agencies each year. Records on this file contain the state and federal identification numbers, name, address, and telephone number of the school, county name and codes for the state, school type, enrollment size, and other selected characteristics of the school.

Instructional level

Elementary - schools beginning with grade 6 or lower, but having no grade higher than 8. Secondary - schools with no grade lower than 7.

Combined - all other regular schools.

Metropolitan status

City - a central city of a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA).

Urban fringe - a place within an SMSA of a large or mid-size central city and defined as urban by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Town - a place not within an SMSA, but with a population greater than or equal to 2,500, and defined as urban by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Rural - a place with a population less than 2,500 and defined as rural by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Geographic region

Northeast - Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Southeast - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Central - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

West - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

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