Lab = (See Studio classroom)

LAN = A Local Area Network that depicts any computer network technology that operates at high speed over short distances (up to a few thousand meters). A LAN may refer to a network in a given department or within a given firm or campus. It differs from computer networks that cross wider geographic spaces such as those networks on a WAN network.  A LAN does not use the publc arteries of the Internet like intranets and VPNs. (See also Internet,  TCP/IP, WAN,  Intranet, Wireless,  Extranet, and Virtual Private Networks (VPN))

Glossary of Wireless LAN Terms

Access Point (AP): A device connected to the wired local area network that receives and transmits signals to wireless clients; this device must also be connected to the wired LAN if connections to external networks are required.

Authentication: A process that verifies that the user has permission to access the network; often associated with the process of joining a Bluetooth piconet or WLAN.

Channels: Another name for frequencies, especially within a defined band.

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS): A spread spectrum technique that uses a "chip" (redundant bit pattern for each bit to be transmitted) to encode the signal to ensure more reliable delivery; the technology employed in IEEE 802.11 implementations.

Frequently Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS): A spread spectrum technique that uses a range of frequencies and changes frequencies during the transmission; the technology employed in HomeRF (SWAP) implementations.

Industry, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) Band: An unregulated radio frequency that uses the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands for communication; these bands were approved by the FCC in 1985.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM): A multiplexing technique used in 802.11a WLANs; this technique minimizes the effect of multipath distortion encountered in 802.11b networks.

Spread Spectrum Transmission (SS): A technique that takes a narrow signal and spreads it over a broader portion of the radio frequency band.

Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) Band: An unregulated radio frequency that uses the 5 GHz band for communication; this band is divided into three sub-bands and are intended for use by short-range, high-speed wireless digital communication devices.

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity): Another name for IEEE 802.11b standard; this trademark is owned by WECA and devices that comply with it assure interoperability among vendors.

Wired Equivalent Protocol (WEP): The IEEE specification for data encryption between wireless devices defined by the IEEE 802.1x standard.

Wireless Local Network (WLAN): A local area network that is not connected by wires but instead uses one of the wireless technologies.

Laserdisc = (See Videodisc and Videodisc-digital)

LCD = Liquid Crystal Device computer/video panel and projector displays. Miniature television sets, laptop computers, and notebook computers generally use some type of LCD display due to difficulties in manufacturing portable cathode ray tube monitors. LCD displays may come in black and white, gray scale, and various degrees of color depth. The panels that can be laid on top of overhead projectors for displaying computer images on walls and large screens are called "LCD panels." LCD panels differ as to whether they can display full-motion video as well as computer images. For a review of some of the leading vendors and their panels, see NewMedia, September, p. 89, and NewMedia, February 1994, p. 85. One of the top new generation projectors is the Sharp XG-E850U that is so bright it is "bringing the obsolescence of CRT-based projectors one step closer" according to a quotation from Videography, October 1994, p. 112. (See also Three-beam projector)

LD = Videodisc. (See Videodisc)

LDAP = (See Internet Messaging).

Legacy = An adjective that refers to technology associated with old corporate programs, such as those on mainframes. Increasingly used as a put-down, the opposite of cutting edge.

Lindspire (Lindows) = Linspire^TM is a full-featured operating system like Microsoft Windows XP or Apple Mac OSX. Linspire offers you the power, stability and cost-savings of Linux with the ease of a windows environment. In addition, Linspire features exclusive CNR technology that makes installing software on Linspire fast and easy -- simply find the software you want in the CNR Warehouse, then click and run it!   Watch a 5-minute Flash Demo to quickly learn more about Linspire and CNR --- http://www.linspire.com/lindows_sales_intro.php 

Lindows Inc. on April 14, 2004  changed the name of its Lindows operating system to Linspire, responding to a federal judge's refusal to halt Microsoft Inc.'s trademark infringement lawsuits outside the U.S.

See operating systems.

Linear presentation = (See Hypermedia and Timeline presentation)

Links = These are the hypertext connections between Web pages. This is a synonym for hotlinks or hyperlinks.

Linux = (See Operating System)

Listserv = an email system where users "subscribe" to join in on group messages. A message sent to the listserv is sent to every subscriber's mail box. A listserv is similar to an email "bulletin board." However, users of bulletin boards do not receive the messages in their mail boxes without first going to the bulletin board to view a listing of messages. There are thousands upon thousands of listservs on topics of mutual interest from sewing to microbiology. It is common for college courses to have a listserv so that instructors and students can all communicate easily with group messages. Over 70,000 interest groups (at this writing) are linked at http://www.liszt.com/.    Comparisons with bulletin boards, email groups, chat rooms, etc. are made in the e-mail definition of this glossary.  See e-mail, Chat Lines, IRC, USENet, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, webcasting, andtelephony.

Chris Nolan at Trinity University wrote the following in an email message on October 7, 1998:

I was told by my book editor today that L-Soft, the owner of the Listserv software, sent a letter to the American Library Association about the use of the term "listserv" in some recent ALA publications. L-Soft claims that the term is trademarked and therefore cannot be used as a generic term for these sorts of bulletin board/mailing list systems, much like Xerox not being used as a generic for photocopying. Although I had only used the term once in my manuscript, ALA's editors felt that I should either capitalize the term to refer to the L-Soft software or use other terms to describe the more general concept.

Checking L-Soft International's web site, I see that they clearly state that LISTSERV is a trademark of their company.

Linux -  (See Operating Systems.)

Live = When used in reference to a World Wide Web file, this term designates an object linked to another layer of information.

Livelink = (See Groupware).

Local bus = (See Bus)

Logic Bomb = (See Security)

Lotus Notes = a networking set of application programs from Lotus Development Corporation, now owned by IBM Corporation, which allows organizations to share documents, databases, and exchange electronic mail messages. Purportedly, Lotus Notes was the major reason why Lotus was purchased by IBM Corporation. An interactive web server called Domino was introduced in 1996 so that Lotus Notes users could build intranets on the internet. For example, the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand makes extensive use of Domino for worldwide groupware applications. Java applets will give web browsers the look and feel of Notes. The main web site for Lotus Notes is at http://www2.lotus.com/home.nsf. See also Groupware and CollabraShare.

Lotus ScreenCam = (See Video.)

Loop = A set of statements in a program executed repeatedly, either a fixed number of times or until a specified condition is true or false.