Glossary

recordings of background sounds specific to, or characteristic of, a particular mood, time or place, that can be edited into an audio or video piece; for example, crowd noise if you are covering a rally or birdsong if you are making a piece set in a natural environment.

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the name given to technology for recording sound and images that preceded digital technology (and continues to be used) and to the recordings themselves; for example, reel-to-reel tape machines, vinyl LP records, cameras that use film to capture images, and the photos made from that film.

These machines work by analogy: they copy the shape of the sound waves or areas of light, dark and colour that the user wants to reproduce on to a medium such as magnetic tape or film, and play back from the same medium or from another on which the analogue information has been directly imprinted, such as vinyl or photographic paper.

Analogue telecommunications include traditional telephony, and (analogue) radio or television broadcasts.

a neologism used by people in the media to describe the finished audio works which they present.

preparing a video or series of videos to be put onto a CD or DVD disc that will play in a VCD or DVD player. The process often includes adding menus and other graphics.

in computer science, the channel capacity or maximum throughput of a logical or physical communication path in a digital communication system.

a document supplying pertinent information about and analysis of a particular subject, sometimes with policy recommendations.

the word originates in farming, where it describes what the farmer does when s/he throws handfuls of seed grain onto the soil in a wide sweeping movement.

A radio or television broadcast is a program that is transmitted over the airwaves and is therefore available to anyone within range who has a TV or radio tuned to the right frequency.

'To broadcast' is sometimes informally used to refer to the dissemination of radio and television or similar material via the internet; this is more properly called streaming.

the process of writing files or video files onto a VCD or DVD. This requires a CD or DVD writer.

were developed to display text on a television or video screen, providing additional or interpretive information to viewers who wish to access it.

Closed captions typically display a transcription of the audio portion of a program as it occurs (either verbatim or in edited form), sometimes including non-speech elements.

The term 'closed' refers to the fact that only those who choose to decode or activate the captions will see them.

a computer software system for organising and facilitating the collaborative creation of documents and other content.

any technology for compressing and decompressing data. Some popular codecs for computer video include MPEG, Indeo and Cinepak.

a short document, summarising a number of issues, or a consensus or position, often in connection with a meeting or conference. A communiqué is written in a rather more formal style than a press release, and its intended audience is interested parties as well as the public.

a way to reduce the size of audio or video data files. Compression algorithms are typically referred to as audio/video codecs, and as with other specific forms of data compression, there are many different algorithms which achieve the compression effect in slightly different ways.

a computer software system for organising and facilitating the collaborative creation of documents and other content.

a device that stores, organises and plays digital music (or other audio) files. It is more commonly referred to as an MP3 player (because of the ubiquity of the MP3 format), but DAPs may play many additional file formats. See also portable media player.

digital audio tape recorder. A digital sound recording device which gives a better sound quality than most MiniDisc recorders.

a device that stores, organises and plays digital music (or other audio) files. It is more commonly referred to as an MP3 player (because of the ubiquity of the MP3 format), but DAPs may play many additional file formats. See also portable media player.

of a microphone: sensitive to sounds coming from one direction only. Microphones have varying response patterns, from extremely directional through cardioid (a heart-shaped response) and figure of eight (responding only to sounds coming from two opposite sides, useful for dialogue and interviews between two participants) to omnidirectional microphones, which pick up sound coming from all sides.

the science of designing the job, equipment, and workplace to fit the worker. Proper ergonomic design is necessary to prevent repetitive strain injuries, which can develop over time and can lead to long-term disability.

a small-circulation print publication of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via photocopier on a variety of coloured paper stock, made by people who are not professional magazine publishers, but want to communicate their passion for the subject.

Small circulation zines are often not explicitly copyrighted and there is a strong belief among many zine creators that the material in them should be freely distributed and shared.

a data format which provides users (feeds them) with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation. A web feed is also sometimes referred to as a syndicated feed. See RSS.

Adobe Flash is a multimedia software platform developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular way to create animation, advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and, more recently, to develop rich internet applications.

a large group of people, convened via social media or viral emails, who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. While flash mobs began as apolitical actions, they may share characteristics with political demonstrations.

Free/Libre/Open Source Software is software which is liberally licensed to grant the right of users to study, change, and improve its design because the source code is available.

from 'free' and 'software', is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee. Freeware is generally proprietary software available at zero price, and is not necessarily Open Source.

The author usually restricts one or more right/s to copy, distribute, and make derivative versions of the software. Freeware is also different from shareware, which obliges the user to pay after a trial period, or to gain additional functions.

an image format that is widely used on the internet. It supports animation and allows a separate palette of 256 colours for each frame. The GIF format is unsuitable for reproducing colour photographs and other images with continuous colour, but it is well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of colour.

a stand-alone or computer hard-drive and program used to record, store and edit sounds. Any computer with some memory capacity can be used to manipulate sound – for recording sounds from external sources a sound-card interface may be needed.

stands for Hypertext Mark-up Language, which is the predominant mark-up language for creating web pages. It provides a means of describing the structure of text-based information in a document by denoting text as links, headings, paragraphs, lists, etc, and allows the user to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects.

a company that offers its customers access to the Internet, website hosting and related services

a stage in the process of preparing a publication for printing, during which one places the elements of the publication (photos, text, headings, captions, cartoons etc.) on the pages, making decisions about how things will look. This can be done manually or with a computer, and usually happens in several stages, with changes being made at each stage.

in word processing, a code that signifies the end of each line of text. When word processing documents are saved as ASCII text files, some word processors insert a hard return at the end of each line of text.

If the text file is opened up in a word processor or text editor with different margins from those on the original document, the text will not flow like the original.

A mashup is a web page or application that combines data or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service.

a magneto-optical device initially intended for recording and storing up to 74 minutes of digitalised sound on a small disc. MiniDisc recorders and readers can also be used for general-purpose storage of data.

a term used to describe the quality of image produced by a digital camera.

in data processing, metadata provides information about, or documentation of, other data managed within an application or environment. This information commonly defines the primary data, and may include descriptions of its context, quality, condition or characteristics.

a form of multi-media blogging which lets users to send short text updates, photos or audio clips and publish them either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user.

These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including SMS, email or via the web.

a magneto-optical device initially intended for recording and storing up to 74 minutes of digitalised sound on a small disc. MiniDisc recorders and readers can also be used for general-purpose storage of data.

(NTSC) is the analogue television system that was used in most of the Americas, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Burma, and some Pacific island nations and territories. After over a half-century of use, the vast majority of over-the-airwaves NTSC transmissions in the United States were replaced with ATSC on June 12, 2009 and will be by August 31, 2011 in Canada.

in photography and image processing, colour balance is the adjustment of the intensities of the different colours.

An important goal of this adjustment is to render accurate colour reproduction in the prevailing lighting conditions; the method is called grey balance, neutral balance, or white balance.

Video cameras may have a setting which allows the colour balance to be altered while aiming the camera at something white or neutral grey.

(National Television System Committee) is the analogue television system that was used in most of the Americas, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Burma, and some Pacific island nations and territories. After over a half-century of use, the vast majority of over-the-airwaves NTSC transmissions in the United States were replaced with ATSC on June 12, 2009 and will be by August 31, 2011 in Canada.

see directional.

computer software for which the source code, and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders, are provided under a software license that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified forms.

the recording, preservation and interpretation of historical information, based on the relation of personal experiences and opinions by someone who lived through the times in question.

It often takes the form of eye-witness accounts of past events, but can include folklore, myths, songs and stories passed down over the years by word of mouth. While it is an invaluable way of preserving the knowledge and understanding of older people, it can also involve interviewing younger generations.

More recently, the use of video recording techniques has expanded the realm of oral history beyond verbal forms of communication and into the realm of gesture.

computer software for which the source code, and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders, are provided under a software license that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified forms.

short for Phase Alternating Line, an analogue television encoding system used in broadcast television systems in large parts of the world, excluding North America. Other common analogue television systems are SECAM and NTSC.

(from 'panorama') a horizontal camera movement in which the camera pivots around a motionless vertical axis, similar to the effect obtained by standing still and turning one's head. See tracking and zooming.

Portable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe Systems for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents such as books or magazine pages, reports, etc. in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system.

Each PDF file contains a complete description of a fixed-layout (unchangeable by the recipient) document. Formerly a proprietary format, PDF was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008.

art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer and a relationship between performer and audience.

in digital imaging, a pixel (or picture element) is the smallest item of information in an image. Pixels are normally arranged in a 2-dimensional grid, and are often represented using dots, squares, or rectangles. Each pixel is a sample of an original image, and the more samples there are, the more accurately the image represents the original.

(Portable Media Player) an independent digital electronic device that is capable of storing and playing audio or video files in one or more media formats. See digital audio player (DAP).

distributing audio and video files over the internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, which allow the files to be downloaded and played back at the user's leisure on a mobile device or computer. Podcasting with video files is sometimes called vodcasting.

an independent digital electronic device that is capable of storing and playing audio or video files in one or more media formats. See digital audio player (DAP).

(Really Simple Syndication) family of Web feed formats used to syndicate digital content, such as blogs and podcasts. Syndication means that anyone can subscribe to the RSS feed from a particular site, and receive automatic notification when it has been updated; they don't have to visit a website to know that it has new content.

RSS feeds can be read using software called RSS readers, which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.

A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) on a removable SIM Card securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices (such as computers and mobile phones). The SIM card contains its unique serial number, international unique number of the mobile user (IMSI), security authentication and ciphering information, temporary information related to the local network, a list of the services the user has access to and two passwords (regular PIN and unblocking PUK).

A mobile phone offering advanced functions which may normally only be found on a PC. These often have email and internet capabilities as well as a built-in keyboard.

a camera shot during which the camera moves forward, backward, along the side of the subject, or on a curve. Dollies with hydraulic arms can also smoothly 'boom' or 'jib' the camera on a vertical axis. Tracking shots, however, cannot include complex pivoting movements, aerial shots or crane shots. See panning and zooming.

(Universal Serial Bus) in information technology, a cable to connect devices to a host computer. USB was designed to allow many peripherals to be connected using a single standardised interface socket. USB can connect computer peripherals such as mice, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, memory sticks, and external hard drives.

in computing, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that specifies where online an identified resource is available and the mechanism for retrieving it. In popular language, a URL is also referred to as a Web address.

see podcasting.

refers to a film and video effect in which a voice addresses the audience alongside an image which does not contain the speaker. The voice-over may be spoken by someone who also appears on-screen in other segments or it may be performed by a specialist voice actor.

Voice-over is also commonly referred to as 'off camera' commentary. An authoritative-sounding voice-over which explains and interprets the images for the viewer is called a 'voice of god voice-over'.

vox populi, a Latin phrase that literally means voice of the people, is a term used in broadcasting to refer to interviewing members of the 'general public'. Usually the interviewees are shown in public places, and supposed to be giving spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter, and to be neither rehearsed nor selected in any way.

a basic visual guide used in interface design, including website design, to suggest the structure of an interface and relationships between its pages. Typically, wireframes are completed before any artwork is developed. Wireframes allow for the development of variations of a layout to maintain design consistency throughout the site.

a kind of camera shot, appearing to get closer or farther from the subject while actually re-framing it using a zoom lens or digital zoom. A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements with the ability to vary its focal length.

Some digital cameras allow cropping and enlarging of a captured image, in order to emulate the effect of an optical zoom lens. This is known as digital zoom and produces an image of lower resolution than optical zoom. See panning and tracking.