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Analog: The technology used for more than 50 years to transmit conventional TV signals. The waves used in analog broadcasting take up much more bandwidth than do the zeros and ones used in digital broadcasting.
Archive: Off-line storage of video/audio onto back-up tapes, floppy disks, optical disks, servers, etc.
Back Channel: A means of communication from users (viewers) to content providers. Today, a simple type of back channel is an Internet connection using a modem.
Bandwidth: The amount of information that one can send through a connection. Bandwidth is measured in bits-per-second (bps). A standard page of English text contains about 16,000 bits.
Broadband: High-speed transmission of data. Broadband Internet typically refers to connections using devices faster than dial-up modems, such as cable modems, DSL, and T1 lines. A broadband connection should be able to handle high-grade voice communications. Dial-up modems are not broadband devices.
Datacasting: The inexpensive process of sending large amounts of data to specific televisions and computers via a digital television signal.
Digital Television (DTV): Refers to transmitting a broadcast signal by encoding it as zeros and ones, the digital binary code used in computers. DTV can provide higher quality video and audio or provide four, five, or more channels in the same bandwidth required for one analog channel. In addition to picture and sound, digital broadcasts can transmit large amounts of data (see Datacasting).
Distance Learning: Using communications technology to create interactive learning experiences between educators and students separated by space or time.
DVD: "Digital Versatile Disk." (Formerly Digital Video Disk.) Storage medium the same size as a CD but with seven times the capacity on a single side. Today most DVDs are used to display full-length movies, plus additional material such as outtakes, director's notes, and theatrical trailers.
Fiber Optics: Transmitting data through light pulses along glass or plastic fibers. Fiber cables can carry much more information at a time than regular copper wire. Long distance telephone networks run over fiber-optic cables.
High Definition Television (HDTV): A digital television format that offers approximately twice the clarity of today's standard television. Provides crystal-clear, widescreen pictures with compact-disc-quality surround sound. HDTV duplicates movie theater display quality.
Interactive Television: TV programming with interactive content and enhancements, blending traditional TV viewing with the interactivity of a personal computer.
Nonlinear Editing: A type of editing where video clips can be copied, edited, and rearranged without having to rerecord previous edits, as would be necessary with traditional editing. The digital nonlinear editing process is nondestructive, as it uses computer hard drives rather than videotape. Nonlinear editing software for home PCs is easy enough to use that nonprofessionals can edit quality productions.
On-Demand: Video/audio or other data that is transmitted anytime to the end-user upon request.
Repurpose: To alter and enhance content so it can be used in a variety of ways over a variety of distribution platforms, such as adding links to a video for a webcast or special features for a DVD.
Multicasting: Broadcasting several channels at once via digital signal in the same space previously needed to broadcast one analog channel. Eventually, a WHYY-DT viewer might be able to receive Sesame Street or Nova at the same time and choose which program to view.
Streaming media: Multimedia content – such as video, audio, text, or animation –that is displayed on a computer screen at the same time it is being received from a source such as the Internet.
Videoconferencing: The process by which two or more geographically-separated parties can communicate face-to-face via monitors and microphones. The signal used in videoconferencing is usually, but not always, digital and is most commonly sent over high-speed telephone lines or the Web.
Webcasting: Using the Web to deliver a live or delayed audio or video broadcast.
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