Glossary P - Q - R - S - T

package diagram

package: A bundle made up for transportation

package description

Provides classes for handling communication between CPU, in/output devices and storage device (host computer)

PAN

Level: Component
See: personal area network

performance

Level: Occurrence
an event in which generally one group of people (the performer or performers) behave in a particular way for the benefit of another group of people (the viewer or viewers, or audience). Sometimes the dividing line between performer and audience is blurred.

peripheral

An auxiliary device, such as a printer, modem, or storage system, that works in conjunction with a computer.

personal area network (PAN)

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer devices (including telephones and personal digital assistants) close to one person. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters. PANs can be used for communication among the personal devices themselves (intrapersonal communication), or for connecting to a higher level network and the Internet (an uplink).
Personal area networks may be wired with computer buses such as USB and Firewire.Wireless PANs can also be made possible with network technologies such as IrDA and Bluetooth.

plan

A systematic arrangement of elements or important parts; a configuration or outline
A drawing or diagram made to scale showing the structure or arrangement of something

planning

Overview of the act or process of drawing up plans or layouts for some project or activity.

platform

A system platform is the basic technology of a computer system's hardware and software that defines how a computer is operated and determines what other kinds of software can be used.

plug-in

Level: component
A hardware or software module that adds a specific feature or service to a larger system. For example, there are number of plug-ins for the Netscape navigator browser that enable it to display different types of audio or video messages. Navigator plug-ins are based on MIME file types.

presentation

Level: occurrence
The act of making something publicly available/presenting something at a specific point in time.

preservation

Refers to actions taken to prevent further changes or deterioration in objects, sites, or structures.

project

Level: top-level
A project corresponds with the entire, distinct process of a well-defined activity. Examples could be a research project, a festival, an artistic project with all its manifestations over the years.

prototype

Metadata for entity: occurrence
A test machine, circuit or program which is designed for demonstration purposes. It also enables the testing of the new product's design before the product is put into production. Problems or deficiencies in the products design can be discovered and corrected. When the prototype is sufficiently refined and meets the functionality, robustness, manufacturability and other design goals, the product is ready for production.
See also: demonstrator

publication

Level: component
The act of making content publicly known by means of distributing physical copies of this content.

public space

Communcative physical space which is open and accessible to passers-by

real-time

Occurring immediately. The term is used to describe a number of different computer features. For example, real-time operating systems are systems that respond to input immediately. They are used for such tasks as navigation, in which the computer must react to a steady flow of new information without interruption. Most general-purpose operating systems are not real-time because they can take a few seconds, or even minutes, to react.
Real time can also refer to events simulated by a computer at the same speed that they would occur in real life. In graphics animation, for example, a real-time program would display objects moving across the screen at the same speed that they would actually move.

registration

A record, in any visual, auditive or textual medium, of a specific activity.

rendered sketch

Rendering: Refers to the process of adding realism to a computer graphics adding three-dimensional qualities such as shadows and variations in color and shade.
See also: sketch

report

A formal account of the proceedings or transactions of a group.
A formatted and organized presentation of data.

resources

A bibliography or list or research references

research

Metadata for entity: occurrence
A process of inquiry in order to discover, interpret or revise facts, events, behaviors, or theories, or to make practical applications with the help of such facts, laws or theories. The term "research" is also used to describe the collection of information about a particular subject.
See also: research and development

research and development (R&D)

Basic and applied research, used in order to support the development of projects, standards or guidelines and of new and improved products and processes.
See also: research, research and development period, aRt&D

research and development (R&D) period

Level: Occurrence
Collective team effort in a limited period of time (usually several weeks to months) where different disciplines bring in crucial conceptual aspects and research objectives from their own field of expertise to realize a specific occurrence or component as part of a larger project/occurrence.
See also: research and development

scenario

An outline or model of an expected or supposed sequence of events.
See also: use case scenario

schematic (scheme)

A structural or procedural diagram, especially of an electrical or mechanical system

screenshot

An image taken by the computer to record the visible items on the monitor.

script

Another term for macro or batch file, a script is a list of commands that can be executed without user interaction. A script language is a simple programming language with which you can write scripts.

Semantic Web

Refers to a proposal for the future World Wide Web, consisting of documents that are put together in such a way that it facilitates automated information gathering and research in a far more meaningful way than can be accomplished with current web search tools. The most basic element is the semantic link.
The usability and usefulness of the Web and its interconnected resources will be enhanced through:

• documents 'marked up' with semantic information (an extension of the <DEFANGED_meta> tags used in today's Web pages to supply information for Web search engines using web crawlers).
• common metadata vocabularies (ontologies) and maps between vocabularies that allow document creators to know how to mark up their documents so that agents can use the information in the supplied metadata,
• automated agents to perform tasks for users of the Semantic Web using this metadata
• web-based services (often with agents of their own) to supply information specifically to agents.

sequence diagram

Depicts object interactions over time: show a user or actor, and the objects and components they interact with in the execution of a use case. One sequence diagram typically represents a single Use Case 'scenario' or flow of events

server

Metadata for entity: configuration
A server in computing is:
A computer software application that carries out some task on behalf of users. This is usually divided into file serving, allowing users to store and access files on a common computer; and application serving, where the software runs a computer program to carry out some task for the users. This is the original meaning of the term.
The term is now also used to mean the actual computer on which the software runs. Originally server software would be located on a mainframe computer or minicomputer. These have largely been replaced by computers built using a more robust version of the microprocessor technology that is used in personal computers, and the server term was adopted to describe such microprocessor based machines.
See also: client-server

site map

See: web site architecture map

sketch

A sketch is a drawing or other composition that is not intended as a finished work. Sketches usually serve to store ideas for later use.

slot

(Specific term used in the context of the Protégé ontology editor) An attribute of a class in an ontology. A slot may be simple metadata (e.g. a name) or may express a relation with an other ontology class.

software

Level: Component
The 'software' component refers to a digital, programmed part of an occurrence.

 

Computer instructions or data.
Software is often divided into two categories:
Systems software: Includes the operating system and all the utilities that enable the computer to function.
Applications software: Includes programs that do real work for users. For example, word processors, spreadsheets, and database management systems fall under the category of applications software

software code

See: source code

software design

Research, conceptualization and planning for a piece of software. Is often used as a synonym for software development, but here distinguished as being a more conceptual activity than the latter.
See also: software development, software, design

software development

The act of creating and realizing a piece of software.
See also: software design, software

software engineering

Software engineering is the technologies and practices that are used to create computer software while improving productivity and quality. These technologies and practices encompass languages, databases, tools, platforms, libraries, standards, patterns, and processes.
Software engineering is the spectrum of applications that create economic and social value. Practitioners have built many successful and important systems, such as email, embedded software, graphical user interfaces, office suites, operating systems, optimizing compilers, relational databases, robotics controllers, video games, and the world wide web. Other important applications include accounting, airline reservations, avionics, banking, and telephony.

source code

Refers to any series of statements written in some human readable computer programming language. A computer program's source code is the collection of files that can be converted from human-readable form to an equivalent computer-executable form. The source code is either converted into object code by an assembler or compiler for a particular computer architecture, or executed from the human readable form with the aid of an interpreter.

space plan

A scale diagram of a room or building drawn as if seen from above, includes the position of (installation) objects.
See also: plan

stage plot

A sketch of a stage drawn as if seen from above, includes the position of (installation) objects
To plot: to produce an image by drawing lines. You can program a computer to plot images on a display screen or on paper.

static preservation

Static preservation proposes to keep all the original objects and preserve them in their original form for as long as possible. For unstable media art, in addition to preserving the original storage media, one would have to preserve the original software and hardware necessary to access that media, and then open and play the original art (file).

status report

Update on proceedings.

storage device

Level: Component
A device that preserves information for retrieval.
See also: computing device

systems design

Level: Component
The process of defining the hardware and software architecture, components, modules, interfaces and data for a system to satisfy specific requirements.

system software

Level: Component
System software is a generic term referring to any computer program or library whose purpose is help run the computer system, as opposed to application software that helps solve user problems directly.
Specific kinds of system software include operating systems, device drivers, compilers, assemblers, linkers, and utilities. Software libraries that perform generic functions also tend to be regarded as system software, although the dividing line is fuzzy; while a C runtime library is generally agreed to be part of the system, an OpenGL or database library is less obviously so.

technical rider

A usually textual instruction list of technology that needs to be present or installed for a performance, concert or an exhibited installation.

telematics

Refers to services and infrastructures which link computer and digital media equipment over telecommunications links.

tender

A formal proposal to buy at a specified price.

topic map

See also: ontology
A model for mapping entities into data structures. The mapped entities or things are topics, which are connected through associations and found in specific occurrences (topic map terminology).
Topic maps are defined as a SGML-based standard by the International Standards Organization (ISO 13250).