DMS Glossary

A glossary or terms related to digital media.

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 - return to glossary index

Aggregator - Aggregators are pieces of software that use web feeds to retrieve syndicated web content.  Podcasts and news articles are examples of the type of content Aggregators receive. Itunes is a popular podcast aggregator. Aggregators are subscribed to a feed once and then will automatically check feeds for new content to download and make available to the user.

E - return to glossary index

Echo cancellation is used in telephony to describe the process of removing echo from a voice communication in order to improve voice quality on a telephone call. In addition to improving quality, this process improves bandwidth savings achieved through silence suppression by preventing echo from traveling across a network. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Endpoint -  the device on a communications network that originates code and processes code that it receives. Examples are PC’s, Macs, laptops, video conferencing systems, digital phones, and all other communications devices on a particular network. Video conferencing codecs are often referred to as endpoints.

G - return to glossary index

Gateway - a computer or a network device that allows packets of data to travel from one network to another. It will relay or translate information between networks of different types, such IP and ISDN.

Grouper - Grouper was developed as an open source toolkit to address the needs of managing groups. Grouper is designed to function as the core element of a common infrastructure for managing group information across integrated applications and repositories. Grouper combines multiple sources of group information, both automated and manual, in managing memberships and other group information in a Groups Registry, a central information asset complementary to a site's Person Registry. Courtesy of Internet2.

H - return to glossary index

H.323 is an umbrella recommendation from the ITU-T, that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network. It is a part of the H.32x series of protocols which also address communications over ISDN, PSTN or SS7. H.323 is commonly used in Voice over IP (VoIP, Internet Telephony, or IP Telephony) and IP-based videoconferencing. Its purpose is thus similar to that of the Session Initiation Protocol. Courtesy of Wikipedia

H.320 is an umbrella recommendation by the ITU-T for running Multimedia (Audio/Video/Data) over ISDN based networks. Courtesy of Wikipedia

K - return to glossary index

Kerberos - Kerberos is a computer network authentication protocol which allows individuals communicating over an insecure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. Kerberos prevents eavesdropping or replay attacks, and ensures the integrity of the data. Its designers aimed primarily at a client-server model, and it provides mutual authentication — both the user and the service verify each other's identity. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

L - return to glossary index

LDAP - In computer networking, the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or LDAP ("ell-dap"), is a networking protocol for querying and modifying directory services running over TCP/IP. An LDAP directory usually follows the X.500 model: it is a tree of entries, each of which consists of a set of named attributes with values. While some services use a more complicated "forest" model, the vast majority use a simple starting point for their database organization. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

M - return to glossary index

Multicast - Multicast is the delivery of information to a group of destinations simultaneously using the most efficient strategy to deliver the messages over each link of the network only once and only create copies when the links to the destinations split.

The word "Multicast" is typically used to refer to IP Multicast, the implementation of the multicast concept on the IP routing level, where routers create optimal spanning tree distribution paths for datagrams sent to a multicast destination address in realtime. But there are also other implementations of the multicast distribution strategy listed below. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

P - return to glossary index

Podcasting - Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video programs, over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The term, coined in 2004, is a blend of the terms "iPod", a popular portable audio device, and "broadcasting." The term podcast, like 'radio', can mean both the content and the method of delivery. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other formats by its ability to be downloaded automatically using software capable of reading feeds like RSS or Atom. Usually a podcast features one type of 'show', with new episodes released either sporadically or at planned intervals such as daily or weekly. In addition, there are podcast networks that feature multiple shows on the same feed. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

S - return to glossary index

SAML - Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an XML standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains, that is, between an identity provider and a service provider. SAML is a product of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Shibboleth - Shibboleth is standards-based, open source middleware software which provides Web Single SignOn (SSO) across or within organizational boundaries. It allows sites to make informed authorization decisions for individual access of protected online resources in a privacy-preserving manner. Courtesy of Internet2.

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) - an application-layer control (signaling) protocol for creating, modifying, and terminating sessions with one or more participants. These sessions include Internet telephone calls, multimedia distribution, and multimedia conferences. Courtesy of Wikipedia

T - return to glossary index

Transcoding - the direct digital-to-digital conversion from one codec to another. It involves decoding/decompressing the original data to a raw intermediate format (i.e. PCM for audio or YUV for video), in a way that mimics standard playback of the content, and then re-encoding this into the target format. Courtesy of Wikipedia

W - return to glossary index

WebAuth - Webauth is a secure web application authentication protocol which uses any username/passphrase based authentication mechanism. The current implementation supports only Kerberos; however, the application is extensible, and can be made to support most anything. The Webauth user interface is a standard branded login screen that allows users to log in and use secured Duke web resources with their existing acpub userid (NetID) and password. It also allows programmers of web services to authenticate users, and provide secured services without having to custom code the user login for each service. Courtesty of the Duke WebAuth page.

Web Conferencing - is a collected set of tools that allows two or more users to interact, meet, and collaborate in real time over the Internet. This includes voice over IP, whiteboarding, screensharing, and many other capabilities.