Understand Digital

Communication
Systems

Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C)

The worldwide web consortium is the main organisation
for the world wide web.
The purpose of the Worldwide web consortium is to
develop the standards of the world wide web, they also
engage in education and develop software and it serves
as an open forum for discussions about the web.

Wireless Access Protocol (WAP)

Wireless Access Protocol is accessing information over a
mobile wireless network, a WAP browser is a web
browser for mobile devices that use this protocol.
Most mobiles dont use WAP in Europe and the US as
most support fill HTML so there isnt any need to WAP
markup.

Global System for Mobile (GSM)

The GSM is a standard developed by the ETSI to
describe the protocols for second generation digital
networks used by mobile phones.
In 2014 this has become the default global standard for
mobile communications.

3rd Generation Protocols (3G)

3G is a set of standards used for mobile devices
services and networks that comply with IMT-2000
specifications.
3G finds applications in wireless voice telephony, mobile
internet access, video calls and mobile TV.
3G telecommunication networks support services that
provide an information transfer rate of at least 200
kbit/s.

Multimedia Message Service (MMS)

MMS is the standard way to send messages that include
multimedia content to and from mobile phones.
It extends the core SMS capability that allows exchange
of text messages only up to so many characters. Unlike
SMS, MMS can deliver a variety of media including
video, images or audio.
The most popular use for MMS is sending photographs
from camera equipped devices.

General Packet Radio Service

(GPRS)
GPRS is a packet oriented mobile data service on 2G
and 3G cellular communication systems. GPRS usage is
typically charged based on volume of data transferred.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for
exchanging data over a short distance from mobile
devices. Bluetooth uses short wavelength radio waves
and allows distances between 10m and 100m
depending on the device.

Broadband (Asymmetric Digital

Subscriber Line Cable)
ADSL is broadband through a telephone line. Unlike dial
up, ADSL works alongside the frequencies used in
telephone calling this allows you to continue to make
phone calls while using the internet.
It enables faster data transmission through a single
connection but allows users to download data and make
voice calls at the same time.

Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Voiceover Internet Protocol is a technology that allows
you to make voice calls using a broadband Internet
connection instead of a regular phone line.
Some VoIP services may only allow you to call other
people on the same service but others may allow you to
call anyone who has a telephone number.

Email
Email is a method of exchanging digital messages from
an author to one or more recipients. Modern emails
operate across the internet or other computer networks.
Todays email systems are based on a store-and-forward
model instead of one were both recipients have to be
online.

Instant Messaging (IM)

Instant Messaging is a type of online chat which offers
real time text transmission over the internet. Short
messages are transmitted between two parties when
each user chooses to complete a thought and select
send.

Short Messaging System (SMS)

Short Messaging System is a text messaging service
component of phone, web or mobile communication
systems. It uses standardised communication protocols
to allow fixed line or mobile devices to exchange short
messages.

Internet
The internet is a global system of interconnected
computer networks that use the standard internet
protocol suite to link several billion devices worldwide.
The internet is a network of networks that consists of
millions of private, public, academic and government
networks linked by a broad array of electronic
networking technologies.

Bulletin Boards
Bulletin boards are a place intended for posting public
messages to advertise items wanted to buy or sell,
advertise events or just provide information.
Online bulletin boards are also called message boards
and are normally used on internet forums and they
serve the same purpose as a physical bulletin board.

Discussion Forums
An online discussion forum is a site were people can
hold conversations in the form of a message, they differ
from chat rooms as messages tend to be longer than
one line of text and are temporarily archived.
Forums also have specified associations such as
conversations being called threads or topics so people
can choose what they want to join or just read. A
discussion forum will also include a number of sub
forums each of which might have several topics.

Weblogs (Blogs)
A blog is a discussion published on the internet and
consists of discrete posts and are displayed in reverse
chronological order on the site.
Most blogs are work of an individual but recently there
has been a growth in small group blogs named multiauthor blogs.

Newsgroups
Newsgroups are discussion pages and messages are
posted from many users in different locations.
Newsgroups are similar to discussion forums on the
Internet.

Internet Telephony
The hardware and software that enables people to use
the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone
calls.
For users who have free, or fixed-price Internet access,
Internet telephony software provides free telephone
calls.

Conferencing (Video and Audio)

Video/Audio conferencing allows 2 or more locations to
communicate by video and audio transmissions.
Video conferencing differs from videophone calls in that
its designed to serve multiple locations instead of
individuals.

MMPRPGs (Massively Multiplayer

Resistant Online Role-Playing
Games)

MMPRPGs blends role playing games with massively

multiplayer online games in which a large number of
people interact with one another within a world.

Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world.
Second Life is similar to MMORPGS however the creator
says its not a game.

Worldwide Web (www)

The worldwide web is an information system of
hypertext documents and other digital resources that
can be accessed via the Internet.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

An Internet service provider is an organisation that
provides Internet for the public. Internet Service
Providers can be organised in a few ways such as
commercial, non-profit and privately owned.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

URL is a reference to a resource that specifies the
location on a computer network and the mechanism to
retrieve it.
URLs occur most commonly for reference web pages but
they are also used for file transfer, email and many
other applications.

Domain Name
A domain name is an identification that defines
administrative autonomy and authority or control within
the Internet.
Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures
of the Domain Name System, any name registered in
the Domain Name System is a domain name.

Top Level Domain

A Top Level Domain is one of the domains at the highest
level Domain Name Systems on the Internet.
The Top Level Domain names are installed in the root
zone of the name.

Domain Name Registration

Registering a Domain Name for a website is an
important part of marketing for many professionals.
Registering a Domain Name allows you to have a
Domain Name with your product name, business slogan
or brand name.

Hosting
A hosting service is a type of online hosting service
which allows individuals and organisations to make their
website accessible via the World Wide Web.
Web hosts are companies that provide space on a
server owned for use by the client.

Social Networking
Social Networking is a platform to build social relations
among people who share interests, activities,
backgrounds or real life connections.
Social Networking allows people from all around the
world to communicate freely and easily with one
another.

Information Sharing
Information Sharing refers to one-to-one exchanges of
data between a sender and receiver, these exchanges
are implemented via loads of open and proprietary
protocols.

Adding content (E.g. Videos to

YouTube)
Adding content is uploading something to a website
over the internet.
Uploading videos to places such as YouTube and
Facebook allows people to watch, comment and like
your videos and give you feedback on them.

Tagging Content
Tagging content is a keyword or term assigned to a
piece of information.
This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows
it to be found again by browsing or searching.
Tags are normally chosen informally and personally to
the items creator or by the viewers.

Methods (Email, Text, Web Pages,

Messaging)