Glossary
AccessMyLibrary
A service offered to libraries from Gale that allows users of Internet search engines to find Gale content. AccessMyLibrary opens up Gale's vault of digital content, giving you direct access to those resources right from search engine results. Also, users can go to AccessMyLibrary.com and browse its nearly 30 million articles directly. Any individual that wishes to access full text content from Gale through this service must first authenticate through a simple three step process to their library's account. Once authenticated, a user will have seamless access to Gale products and other services from the library.
Blog / Weblog
User generated website where people can publish comments on a webpage via a browser. Content entries are sorted by date (with the most recent at the top of the page). The content may be organized based on categories and tags (which are often listed on the right-side of the page).
Bookmark
A browser function that allows users to store links to specific web pages. This makes it easier to return to favorite web pages. Web sites, such as delicious, allow users to organize their bookmarks, share them with others, and access them from other computers.
Browser
A browser, or web browser, is the software used to view web pages and interact with various kinds of Internet resources. The browser interprets the HTML used to format web documents and recreates the page on your screen. There are a variety of web browsers available, the two most common being Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator.
Categories
One of two primary methods for organizing content stored in Web 2.0 applications and environments, the other is "Tags". Categories generally serve to organize content at a higher level than Tags and are used to group pages, blog posts, files, events, or other data into groups. This organizational tool makes discovery of content and navigation easier.
Cookie
A cookie is a small piece of data which is sent from a web server to a web browser and stored locally on the user's machine. The cookie is stored on the user's machine but is not an executable program and cannot do anything to the machine. Whenever a web browser requests a file from the same web server that sent the cookie, the browser sends a copy of that cookie back to the server. In this way, the server knows that it has visited before and can co-ordinate access to different pages on its website. Cookies are also commonly used to personalize web pages for returning website users.
COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources)
An international initiative to improve the reliability of online usage statistics. It is supported by the vendor, intermediary and librarian communities. COUNTER's objective is to ensure that vendor online usage reports are credible, compatible and consistent. This is achieved by the publication of Codes of Practice that specify the content, format, delivery mechanisms and data processing rules for a set of core usage reports that are easily implemented by vendors and easily understood by librarians. Gale offers COUNTER usage reports.
Custom Collection
A subset of titles that focus on specific topics/subject areas to fit a specific need. Available for periodicals or e-books at Gale.
Domain
The domain is the part of a web address that specifies what the organization is and where the computer is located. For example:
- .ac.uk - Academic institution in the UK
- .com - Commercial company in the US
- .edu - Academic institution in the US
Embargo
The period of time imposed by the original publisher before full-text articles may appear in Gale databases.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions. Many companies create documents or website copy (text on a website) referred to as FAQs that attempt to break down complicated information into a more digestible question-and-answer format.
Feed 
The most common type of web content syndication. Feeds are generally done via RSS or ATOM. By subscribing to a feed, a user can consume content from blogs, wikis, websites, or other frequently updated content through their "feed reader" without having to constantly visit the content source online. Depending on the type of reader a user chooses, RSS and ATOM feeds can be consumed in a browser, via email, or on a mobile device.
Goliath
Gale’s online business content service, providing global company and industry intelligence from http://goliath.ecnext.com/. Subscription access includes more than 5 million news articles, company profiles, and industry reports. Visitors may also purchase by the document.
Hyperlinks
A link from one web page to another (links can also point to another location on the same page).
Imprint
A brand name under which a work is published. Gale imprints include Greenhaven, Macmillan Reference, Sleeping Bear Press and Thorndike.
InfoMarks
A persistent URL that allows customers to return to specific search results in Gale’s electronic products.
InfoTrac
Gale’s line of periodical databases. The interface provides a window to Gale's complete collection of proprietary full-text databases, plus the ability to design custom databases and access other publishers' reference products.
IP Address/IP Number
The unique address of a computer in a network. IP addresses follow a specific structure, e.g. 138.255.60.59, and are used to identify each sender or receiver of data sent across the Internet. IP addresses can be likened to a telephone number - when you "call" that number, you are connected to the computer that "owns" that IP address.
Links
Links or better known as Hyperlinks are the core navigation & publishing method of the Internet. A user can access any type of object (e.g. text, images, video,….) by simply clicking on a link within a web page.
Portable Document Format created using Adobe Acrobat software.
Podcast 
Podcasts are a way to deliver digital media files via the Internet for marketing, training or other commercial purposes. These files are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on PCs and portable media players. The term “pod” comes from Apple’s popular music device, the iPod.
PowerSearch
Gale’s interface for periodical databases and e-books. Enables cross-searching of all electronic products. Databases that can be included in a cross-search have a Select box to the left of the database name. A check mark indicates that the database will be searched when you click Submit to launch PowerSearch from Gale.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) 
A form of syndication that lets users "subscribe" to receive new or updated content from blogs, news, or other frequently updated online content sources. RSS is a simple format which can be easily implemented by website administrators and easily consumed by it's consumers. RSS feeds are typically received by a "newsreader" inside a user's browser or email program - some applications can also send RSS feeds to mobile devices.
Tags
One of two primary methods for organizing content stored in Web 2.0 applications and environments, the other is "Categories". Tags are an informal approach of using keywords to classify content for later retrieval. They are usually chosen personally by the author/creator or the consumer of the item vs. being part of a formally defined classification scheme
User Generated Content (UGC)
UGC refers to various kinds of media content that are produced or primarily influenced by end-users vs. traditional content publishers. This is a broad term that describes online tools that allow users to share and express content, such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts.
Web 2.0
A generic term that describes a class of Web-based tools that enable the publishing and management of user-created content. This includes social and professional networking sites, community sites, blogs, wiki's, discussion boards, user-submitted reviews and ratings, and more. Web 2.0 has been a difficult term to define and it continues to be a moving target. Tim O'Reilly, the founder of O'Reilly Media, coined the term Web 2.0 in his article “ What Is Web 2.0.”
Webcast
A media file distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology. A webcast may either be distributed live or recorded. Essentially, webcasting is “broadcasting” over the Internet. A webcast uses streaming media technology to take a single content source and distribute it to many simultaneous listeners/viewers.
Webinar
A seminar conducted remotely over the Web. The "audience" views the slides through their Web browser and hears the speaker’s commentary over their telephone. Conducting a webinar is much less expensive than holding an in-person seminar and can reach a much larger audience (the entire Internet-enabled world).
Widgets 
Many of the Web 2.0 concepts promote a "do it yourself" attitude. Widgets are portable and reusable pieces of software code. A widget is anything that can be embedded within a web page. It is not intended to be a complete application but rather provides a specific feature that can be re-used by other applications.
Wiki
Wikis are websites that allow users to simply create, edit and collaborate on content. The word wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning "quick". A wiki's ease of interaction and operation make it a great collaborative authoring tool for non-technical users.