A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

A

B

    Back-up. A copy of your file(s) which can serve to restore them if your primary copy (or computer, or server) is destroyed, corrupted, or stolen. Note: back-up and preservation/archiving, are not the same thing – just because you have a copy doesn’t mean that it will be accessible over the long term. Good practice is to

    1. back up your most important files regularly (daily or weekly, depending on how often they change),
    2. keep at least two back-up copies,
    3. preferably on different kinds of media (e.g. CD/DVD and portable hard drive or institutional server), and
    4. to store the back-up copies in a different location (i.e. building, or even city) than the active versions to protect again fire, flood, or theft.

    Born Digital. Materials which were digital/electronic in their original form rather than scanned or re-entered from a paper version, e.g. most Microsoft Word documents are ‘born digital’ materials, unless they have been transcribed from a hand-written version.

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C

    CamTools. University of Cambridge’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). This platform is designed for teaching, but any university staff may request space on the VLE to work on a collaborative university project.

    CARET (Centre for Applied Research and Education Technology). Developed and opperates CamTools, among other internal and external projects.

    Ctrl-S. the handy keyboard shortcut to save files in Windows (just hold down the “Ctrl” key and the “S” key at the same time). Frequent saving can be a blessing if your computer happens to freeze, suddenly lose power, etc. The equivalent shortcut for a Macintosh computer is to hold down the Apple/Command key and the “S”.

    Creative Commons licenses. A method of licensing information which encourages re-use. For example ‘By-Attribution, Non-Commercial’ is a common Creative Commons license – when you mark your file, image, or information with this, it means that anyone can use your information in any way they like, so long as they attribute it to you and don’t use it for commercial purposes.

    CRSid. a computing service ID number issued to all University students and staff, comprised of initials and a number. These are used for e-mail, and for logging into university services through the ‘Raven’ login system.

    Curation. See Digital Curation.

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D

    Data (or Research Data). We refer to ‘research data’ a lot on the Cambridge data management pages. We put nearly all research materials under this umbrella – so, yes, spreadsheets of statistics and equipment outputs are ‘data,’ but so might be research-related e-mails, drafts, interviews, analyses, footnotes, and references.

    Data Management Planning. Data management planning means looking at what you know about your current and likely future data and files and decided what you will do in order to name, store, and protect (e.g. back-up, encryption, etc) them, collaborate on files and documents, and deal with them once the project is completed. This can be a formal process (e.g. creating a full, written data management plan provided to partners and funders) or an informal one, comprised of thinking through the most important aspects of planning for your data and files.

    Data Management Plan. a document that specifies your plans for managing your data and files for a research project. This includes such details as naming and folder conventions, storage space, security and back-up, how you will work with others and share files, and what you will do with the files over the medium or long term. Increasingly funders are requiring some sort of data management plan at the funding application stage or once a grant is funded. (If you have questions about where to start or details along the way, speak with the DSpace@Cambridge support team, your local computing officer(s), or your departmental/faculty librarian).

    Data Planning. See Data Management Planning.

    Data Protection. Deals with the appropriate management of data that identifies individual people. In the UK, data protection is governed by the Data Protection Act 1998 and supported by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

    DCC (Digital Curation Centre). A UK-based centre to support expertise and practice in data curation and digital preservation across communities of practice.

    Digital Curation. a term used to describe the active management of digital files, especially over the long term.

    Digital Preservation. the process of ensuring that digital files are available and comprehensible over the long term. Some examples of digital preservation include ensuring that files are properly documented with metadata so that researchers can understand them years down the line, or converting files from obsolete formats to ones new ones so that modern equipment can read them (also called file migration).

    Digital Repository. A service for managing and storing digital content. Repositories can be subject or institutional in their focus. Putting content into an institutional repository enables staff and institutions to manage and preserve it, and therefore derive maximum value from it. Content might include research outputs such as journal articles or research data, e-theses, e-learning objects and teaching materials, administrative data and research data.

    DMP. See Data Management Plan.

    DOI (Digital Object Identifier). A name which provides a means of persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property (e.g. article) on a digital network and associating it with related current data in a structured extensible way. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found.

    DP. Data Protection or Data Planning.

    DPC (Digital Preservation Coalition). A non-profit membership organisation whose primary objective is to raise awareness of the importance of the preservation of digital material.

    Dropbox. On the data management web pages this most often refers to dropbox.com – one of several internet-based services that allow users to store, back up, sync, and share data online between multiple people or devices/computers.

    DSpace@Cambridge. The University of Cambridge’s institutional digital repository, designed to preserve, share, and maintain digital materials created by members of the University. (For more information, visit http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/ or contact the repository staff: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/repository/about/contact_us.html).

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E

    Eduroam. An international network that allows visiting university members to have wifi access at other participating university campuses. Note: you must be signed up in advance of your journey, and access is limited to certain institutions and buildings.

    e-Mail Client. A computer program used to manage a user's email. Popular email clients include Microsoft Outlook, Pegasus Mail, Mozilla's Thunderbird, and Apple Inc.'s Mail.

    Emulator. In computing, this refers to a piece of software that makes one piece of equipment perform the functions of another. For example, a certain emulator may allow you to display and use files created on a piece of software which is no longer available. Note: If you can find an emulator to read your old file, but don’t have compatible hardware for your data (e.g. an old floppy drive), you still won’t be able to access it.

    Encryption (Data). A process of modifying or changing the actual data into another form to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of those data when storing it or moving it across a network.

    End User Agreement (or User Agreement). A legal contract between the manufacturer and/or the author and the end user of an application. The contract details how the application can and cannot be used.

    Ethics. In research, ethics pertains to how people and animals, and data about them are treated. In the data management web pages, ‘ethics’ most commonly refers compliance with the professional and legal rules (e.g. the Data Protection Act) pertaining to sensitive, personal, or confidential information. These rules include things like informed consent and data security.

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F

    FOI (or FoI) (Freedom of Information). Covers procedures by which people can request information held by public authorities (including universities). In the UK, FOI is governed by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and supported by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

    FTP (File Transfer Protocol). a facility for making files available to others over the network. Usually used for files (or collections of files) that are too large to email.

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G

    GIS ('Geographic Information System' or 'Geospatial Information System’). A system that captures, analyses, stores, manages, and renders digital information about a geographic area (e.g. a population map). One of the most common GIS computer programs is ESRI ArcGIS, which is commonly used in Archaeology, Sociology, Urban Planning, and several other disciplines.

    Google Docs. A free, web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form, and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to work collaboratively to create, share and edit documents online.

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H

I

    Incremental project. Incremental was a University Library project, funded by JISC from January 2010 through March 2011 to provide resources to support researchers in their management of data. This data management website is a product of that project.

    IPR (Intellectual Property Rights). This refers to the legal rights that individuals and institutions have over intellectual property, determining who can copy, distribute, adapt, use, or make a profit off of it. Common types of intellectual property rights are copyright and patents.

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J

    JISC. An organisation which provides resources and guidance for advancement in digital technologies to improve education and research at UK higher education institutions. JISC funded the Incremental project, which developed this data management website.

    JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group). This is a common image format. It is supported by all web browsers, and uses a very efficient means of compressing image data. On the down side, JPEG’s compression is lossy, so every time a JPEG file is resaved it will lose information and degrade the image.

    JPEG2000. a newer image format offering the potential for lossless compression, designed to replace the common JPEG format. It is not yet widely supported (e.g. cannot be viewed in most web browsers), but may become widespread in future years.

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K

L

    Lapwing. a University wifi service available at various places around the campus, using Raven (CRSid and password) to log you in.

    Lossless. this term is used in reference to file compression, particularly with images. If a format has ‘lossless’ compression, that means that the file will not lose information when created or re-saved. For example, PNG files use lossless compression.

    Lossy. this term is used in reference to file compression, particularly with images. If a format has ‘lossy’ compression, that means that when files are created, and every time they are re-saved, they will lose information. For example, JPEG has lossy compression; while they are good for efficiently reducing the size of an image, it will become grainy and blurred as you change and re-save it.

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M

    Metadata. Often called ‘data about data’. This can include anything from a ‘data dictionary’ with variable names, file names which include the date of data capture, or a document with author and reference information for your files. For the purposes of this website, we use ‘documentation’ and ‘metadata’ interchangeably.

    Migration (or Digital Migration). often used to describe the process of moving data from one file format to another. May also refer to adopting a later version of a software application.

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N

    Non-proprietary. In the simplest cases, a non-proprietary format is a format which doesn't have restrictions on its use and over which no one (e.g. a company) claims substantial IPR restrictions. Preservation experts recommend using non-proprietary formats for the longer term primarily because a private software company can go out of business or stop producing a compatible version of the software in whose format your data was saved, and no one will have the rights or knowledge to provide it anymore.

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O

P

    PDF (Portable Document Format).

    PDF/A (Portable Document Format/Archival). A version of PDF which stores more information than standard PDF (e.g. additional information about fonts), making it more relaible for longer term preservation.

    PNG (Portable Network Graphics). A type of images format with lossless compression and moderate web browser support.

    Proprietary. See Non-Proprietary.

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Q

R

    Raven. a password protected login system for university services, such as hermes e-mail, the University Lookup web service, and Lapwing wifi access on campus. It requires your CRSid and password.

    Repository. See Digital Repository.

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S

T

U

V

    VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). An online service which allows teachers and students, or colleagues to share files and curriculums, or discuss academic materials. At Cambridge, CamTools is a VLE.

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W

    Web 2.0. This term refers to online technologies designed to increase or enhance community interaction or collaboration. These include wikis, blogs, and social networking sites, among others.

    Wiki. An online tool that allows multiple users to add information to a source. The best known wiki (i.e. Wikipedia) is public, but wikis within your own intranet, or research group’s servers, or access-limited web pages can also be good tools for collaborative working and building shared information. (Note: CamTools sites have a wiki function).

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X

Y

Z

Other Glossaries
Computing Service Jargon File
Geekgirl's Plain English Computing: Handy Dandy Computer Jargon Decoder
Digital Curation Centre Glossary (archival perspective)