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) = LinspireTM 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.