P2P = Peer to Peer Networking.  Not just a chaotic haven for Napster fans, peer-to-peer networking is getting praise from the button-down side of e-commerce for the business problems it can solve.  http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012201/2663715/ 

For my Threads on the Napster/Wrapster/Gnutella/Pointera/FreeNet Paradigm Shift in Web Serving and Searching, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/napster.htm 

Packet = A discrete unit of data bits transmitted over a network.

Paintbrush software = Software used to create new or modify imported graphics images and photographs. Options and prices vary widely. Important features to look for are the variety of filters that enable importing a wide variety of types of graphics images, the ability to resize and change aspect ratios of pictures, and the layering of objects in an image such that images behind layers can be recovered (this is a feature of Adobe Photoshop that is not available in most other software options). Alternative software features and options are reviewed in the annual NewMedia Tool Guide from NewMedia magazine in the 1995 edition. 2-D graphics software options are listed on pp. 40-43. 

Photoshop 7.0 Overview Adobe's Photoshop 7.0 has officially hit the shelves! Evany takes a whirlwind tour of new features like the File Browser, Healing Brush, and the beefier Brush palette, then shares her opinions --- http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/02/16/index1a.html 

For a great alternative that is easier to use than Adobe Photoshop, much less expensive, and far less demanding of computer power, try Paintshop Pro from JASC --- http://www.jasc.com/ 

(See also Animation and Texture)

PAL = Phase Alternation Line television standard for most western European nations. For example, videotapes recorded under PAL standards will not play on the NTSC tape players found in the Western Hemisphere and Asia. (See also NTSC and SECAM)

Palette = A table of available simultaneous colors that paints pixels on the screen.

Panning  = 

Video:  Panning effects are created by moving  the "camera" (usually from side to side) while keeping the subject in the viewfinder.  Zooming entails making the image more or less magnified.

Audio:  Positionings of sounds to the left or right in a stereo sound field, creating the effect of different instruments playing in different parts of the room. You must be able to control panning in order to take advantage of the stereo capabilities of high-end synthesizers and some MPC boards.

Paradox = A relational database PC system from Borland International. See GainMomentum, Relational database management, and 4GL Database Languages.

Parallel processing = (See Multitasking)

Parser =  a program that receives input from sequential source program instructions, interactive online commands, markup tags, or some other defined interface and breaks them up into parts (for example, the nouns (objects), verbs (methods), and their attributes or options) that can then be managed by other programming (for example, other components in a compiler). A parser may also check to see that all input has been provided that is necessary.  See HTML. 

Password = A secret word used to identify a user.

Patch = A set of tone-generating parameters that determine the instrument imitation (flute, violin, etc.) of a synthesizer.

PC = A Personal Computer that is compatible with the IBM desktop computers. PCs that are not manufactured by IBM Corporation are typically referred to as "clones." Generally, programs written on any PC will play on another PC. Most PC users now run under Microsoft DOS or Microsoft Windows operating systems. Newer and more advanced processors include OS/2 from IBM and Windows 2000 from Microsoft Corporation. Programs written on a Mac operating system will not usually run on a PC. Differences between Mac and PC computers have led to constant frustrations for authors since there is no single standard for authoring materials that can be used across the computer market. This is especially frustrating for authors of CD-ROM learning and entertainment materials. PC computers using the early Intel 8088 processor were called XT models. The XT's gave way to the AT models containing the 80286 or higher level Intel processors. Now the model names usually contain the processor specifications such as Intel 386, 486, and Pentium designations. The top-rated PCs at the end of 1994 are Dell Dimension (Rank 1), Micron PCI (Rank 2), Gateway P% (Rank 3), and IBM ValuPoint (Rank 4) according to PC Computing, December 1994, p. 126. Two pages later, that same magazine ranks the best-buys in portables as TravelMate 4000M from Texas Instruments (Rank 1), Latitude XP from Dell (Rank 2), and ThinkPad755C from IBM (Rank 3). (See also Bus, Amiga, Mac, SGI, SUN, and PowerPC)

pcd = (See Photo CD)

PCI = (See Bus)

PCM = Pulse Code Modulation of audio waveform sampling that records actual values rather than the ADPVM difference between samples. This decreases fidelity with higher resolution than ADPCM. (See also Audio and ADPCM)

PCMCIA = Personal Computer Memory Card International Association defined standards for memory card external slots (ports) to peripheral devices such as fax modems. PCMCIA slots are common in printers, and notebook/laptop computers, but these "slots" have been troubled technologies from the start. Before buying a computer with PCMCIA slots, readers are advised to read Doe (1994) and Smarte (1994) regarding the problems and hopes for improvements in the future. Doe (1994), p. 172 states that: "User outrage about this incompatibility has scared many people away from PCMCIA." The Type I slots are 3.3 mm thick and serve mainly as memory cards. The Type II slots are more input/output compatible with fax modems and LAN adapters. The Type III slots are 10.5 mm thick and can be used for porting to some auxiliary storage devices such as external hard drives. One problem is that some vendors who claim to have Type III slots are really manufacturing with only Type II slots stacked on top of each other giving rise to a .5 mm incompatibility difference. There is also some doubt whether PCMCIA technology can be expanded to 32 bit and 64 bit processors of the future. Smarte (1994), pp. 204-205 compares performances of leading PC models on various PCMCIA attributes and functions. Readers might especially want to note how many of the computer models "fail" with respect to SCSI performance using PCMCIA slots. Smarte (1994), p. 208 also provides a small glossary of PCMCIA terms. For example, "CIS" depicts Card Information Structure of formatting and data organization on the card. "Plug and play" is a feature that allows changing of cards without having to reboot the system. Smarte (1994), p. 215 also provides a listing of new PCMCIA technologies and their vendors.

PCS = (Wireless Glossary of Terms)

PCTV = (See Information highway)

PCX = (See Graphics)

PDA = Personal Digital Assistant pocket-sized devices for recording of typed or handwritten messages that can later be ported to computers. See Wireless Glossary of Terms. The most innovative device was the Newton developed and later abandoned by Apple Corporation.  Two leading devices that emerged are linked below:

The Psion Series gives you the computing power that you need without the excess weight. It has a touch type
keyboard and full page width touch-sensitive screen, yet weighs less than 13 ounces (or less than 360g), has around 35 hours of battery life and fits into your pocket. The Psion handheld computer is compatible with all leading Windows 95/NT4 word processors, spreadsheets and databases, and synchronizes with schedule and contacts software on your desktop PC, including Microsoft, Lotus, Corel, WordPerfect and other applications. PsiWin 2 - included as standard - docks your Psion to your PC.  See http://www.psion.com/series5/index.html

The market share leader in the latest PDA devices is Palm.  The Internet connections to the world are wireless and use only AAA batteries.   I wish it had a keyboard when it is not connected to a PC.  But theres are some great features in spite of not having a keyboard.  For a Palm product review, see http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/990521palm .
The Palm home page is at http://www.palm.com/ . 

PDA and PDF = Portable Document Aassistant PostScript formatting technology that attempts to provide a viable way of exchanging documents across operating systems and different types of software. The of the best known PDA option is the Acrobat tools from Adobe Corporation that gives rise to PDF documents in Protable Document Format file extensions. Acrobat also provides other utilities such as the Distiller tool that translates PostScript files into a PDF format, the Exchange tool that facilitates insertion of hypertext linkages, the PDF Writer containing printer drivers, and other utilities. For a review of Acrobat, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/wwwsoft.htm. Also see Cross-platform.

I have been playing a little more with Version 4 of Adobe Acrobat.   The most common way to generate an Acrobat PDF file is to create a document in a word processor (say a DOC file) or a spreadsheet (say a XLS file).  With Adobe Exchange installed, you can simply save a second copy of the document as a PDF file.   In the past, I pretended there was a glass barrier in which the original images were behind the glass (and could not be modified with Adobe Exchange) versus Acrobat Exchage things that you could do in front of the glass (such as add annotations, hyperlinks, bookmarks, audio, video, etc.).  Prior to Version 4, any changes in content of the file behind the glass could not be made using Adobe Exchange.  Version 4, however, allows certain types of changes such as "touching up" words, insertion of pages, and renumbering of pages.  However, most serious modifying and editing of text or data are still best accomplished by returning to the word processor or spreadsheet program.  For example, if I added text in a sentence I could not get the longer sentence to easily wrap around and adjust the lines for the added text.  Have any of you found a way to make such text wrappings automatice in PDF text editing?

Version 4 of Adobe Acrobat (particularly the Adobe Exchange module) certainly makes it easier to publish web documents in PDF form rather than HTML or dome other DTD.  Version 4 is a significant upgrade.  The main advantage is that the original document produced on a word processor or spreadsheet program does not have to be edited and touched up in the same manner that an HTML conversion often requires fixing up and images.  For example MS Word tables and Excel tables do not have to be fixed up in a PDF file, but these tables almost always have to be fixed up following a conversion to a HTM file.  Images do not have to be stored in separate files like they do for HTML documents.  Another advantage arises in that the hard copy printout of the PDF file is nearly perfect in terms of looking just like the original DOC or XLS printout. 

But there is one huge disadvantage of a PDF document on the web that is often overlooked. That disadvantage is that a PDF document cannot be scanned by web search engines such as Altavista, HotBot, and Lycos.  If authors want to have their work picked up by search engines, one possibilty is to publish a summary of the PDF document in a separate HTML document.  Include lots of key words and text in the HTML document that will motivate users to click on the hyperlink to the PDF file.

Adding (limited) text editing capabilities will not be viewed happily by all authors.  For example, PDF files are often the files of choice by corporations issuing annual reports.  A main reason is that they print so nicely from PDF files.   Another reason in the past, however, was that users could not modify the text in a PDF file.  With Version 4 of Acrobat Exchange, however, readers can change text, insert pages, import other PDF files, repaginate, etc.  PDF authoring no longer comforts authors that their documents remain "Pretty Decidedly Fixed" after they are downloaded by users.

From Information Week Newsletter on March 6, 2001

The future is wireless, or so we're told. While vendors work out the formula for devices and services that will put wireless clients into every consumer's hands, at least one wireless networking technology has moved out of the early-adopter stage. Wireless Ethernet, defined by the 802.11b standard, is coming into its own as a common technique to connect clients to networks. It is this genuine maturity that new technologies are pushed to achieve. This is the magic place on the product life curve when companies can begin ordering and installing the technology as a solution rather than as an experiment.

We took five separate 802.11b systems to the Review Bunker at the University of Hawaii's Advanced Network Computing Lab to see whether these products truly are as mature as they seem. We wanted to see whether the wireless networking systems would be easy to integrate into an existing network and easy to forget once they were installed. In short, we wanted to find out whether wireless networking systems can replace standard 10Base-T with no performance or management penalties for users and administrators.

Five companies accepted our invitation to this lab test. Cisco, Enterasys Networks, Intel, Proxim and Symbol Technologies brought network access devices, management software and wireless PC cards to the Review Bunker and helped us put the systems through their paces. In the end, we found that there's a lot of good news in wireless networking, along with one little detail that will cause you some trouble. --Curtis Franklin

Read on to find out how they performed: http://update.internetweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y =eCoW0Bdl6n0V30LWBN 

*************************************************** 

Providers Overcome Bluetooth Blues

Bluetooth--a technology that backers in the wireless and computer industry promise will enable cheap, short-range wireless networking--is set to become a reality after more than two years of development.

By this summer, wireless operators will be selling phones with Bluetooth transceivers, small chips that can communicate at distances up to 30 feet and wirelessly connect to PCs and PDAs.

Wireless service providers are excited about the prospects. They expect gadget fans and road warriors to use their cellular networks to connect Bluetooth-enabled devices to the Internet and corporate LANs.

The coming of age of Bluetooth means more traffic over the network and more demand for wireless services, say wireless operators. --Jonathan Collins, tele.com

Read on: http://update.internetweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y =eCoW0Bdl6n0V30LWCO 

Pentium = A CISC high speed processor that followed the 486 processors of Intel. The Pentium runs much faster than the 486 in most instances and, thereby, is a better alternative for graphics, audio, and video processing. It is also better suited to newer operating systems such as Windows Chicago and Windows 2000. Early versions tended to overheat and had an unknown life and reliability. Later versions of Pentium processors such as the P54C overcame all doubts about Intel's ability to produce a cool running CISC processor at speeds up to 100 MHz and plans to produce even faster Pentiums. These newer versions dispel all doubts about "Intel's aim to crunch the PowerPC" according to Information Week, February 21, 1994, p. 60. The comparative advantages, and they are serious advantages in the market, are the ability to run DOS and Windows applications in direct rather than emulation form in Pentium processors. This is not the case with PowerPC alternatives. Also, some users prefer CISC to RISC. (See also Mulimedia Video Processor, NexGen, RISC, and CISC)

Peripheral Component Interconnect = (See Bus)

PERL  = (See CGI.)

PersonaLink Service = (See PDA)

Phase Change Dual (PD) = A technology for recording rewritable compact discs that was developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. of Osaka, Japan. The PD phase change on tiny disc crystals is achieved with a laser beam burning that makes them more or less reflective. The PD rewritable discs, however, cannot be read on standard CD-ROM players. This limits the market for developers. However, the rewritable feature has many useful attributes. The capacity of a PD disc is currently 650 MB and the player/recorder sells for less than $1,000. (See also CD)

PHP = a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language.  This may sound a little foreign to all you folks coming from a non-Unix background, but PHP doesn't cost anything.  The PHP web site is at http://www.php.net/ .  Also  see Shell.

Photo CD = A CD that contains up to 100 high quality photographs developed by Kodak from 35 mm film directly onto a CD-ROM or a CD-I disc. PhotoCD files generally have a pcd extension and can be played back on Kodak software. New Photo CD Portfolio and Create-It software from Kodak (800-CD-KODAK) facilitate presentations such as classroom lectures and outside presentations to be pressed to Photo CDs. However, the Photo CD disc only stores graphics images (including text stored as a graphic) and will not store files that can be executed in computer software such as playing back a ToolBook book or HyperCard stack or storing a Lotus or Excel spreadsheet file. (In contrast, a CD-ROM disc will store computer files that can be read into execution files.) Reading of such discs requires special software. Also, CD-ROM drives have to be sufficiently fast (e.g., double or triple speed) to playback Photo CD discs. CD-I and related machines that play on television sets rather than computers will also play Photo CD discs. For a guide to Phot o CD usage see Brannon (1993). For the Photo Factory software package see Multimedia Store in Appendix 6. A production guide is provided by Larish (1993). (See also Dry camera and Video from digital (DV) camcorders)

Photography = (See Dry camera)

Phreaker = the skilled saboteur who relies on guile and the fallibility of employees in an information system.  Employees do not necessarily have to be co-conspirators.  The phreaker takes advantage of their innocence and trusting nature.  The term is used in contrast to a hacker and a cracker.  A hacker is a person who relies only upon technology to hack into the system (e.g., by breaking the encryption code.)  Whereas a hacker usually breaks in without intention to harm the system or for personal gain, a "hacker" turns into a "cracker" when the intention becomes more sinister.  A "phreaker" may do some hacking or cracking, but the to be a phreaker the saboteur must also rely upon human fallibility.  (See also firewall.)

Hi Speer,

I always appreciate it when you inform me about a broken link. The link http://www.iste.org/Publications/Books/Future is now repaired at http://WWW.Trinity.edu/rjensen/prelim.htm I am glad that you are doing your assigned homework for the New Orleans workshops. I also just realized that you may not receive this since you are about to board the plane in Aukland.

When I started to type this response, it dawned on me that you and some other subscribers to the aecm might be interested in phreaking. Phreaking will become the major concern in design of internal control systems and evaluation of assurance service risks by CPAs. I am using the term in the present context described and illustrated at

http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0727/31ebhat.html

I mentioned previously that John Howland and I included phreaker Bruce Sidlinger in writing a case that is now in the final competition in the AICPA's academic/practitioner case competition. Quite on his own, Bruce did some geeking on phreaking. It turns out that the early history of this term has a somewhat different meaning than its meaning in present-day usage. Bruce's message to me is reproduced below:

Bob
Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-736-7347 Fax: 210-736-8134

Hi Dr J,

just found a writeup on the subject:

...There was never an Oscar Meyer Weiner whistle that I can recall, but there was a Captain Crunch whistle.

What happened here is that in the late '60s or early '70s (I can't recall exactly when), someone discovered that a cheap toy whistle given away as a little prize in boxes of Captain Crunch breakfast cereal in America would blow at a tone of just about exactly 2600 hz. Thus you could blow the whistle into the phone, trick the phone company into thinking you'd hung up, and start dialing and playing all kinds of other things without being billed.

This was totally on accident of course. The Captain Crunch people, and whoever actually made the whistles, did not intentionally create such a whistle. It just happened that that was the frequency the whistle created when blown.

On the old phone system, everything was controlled by simple tones. 2600 hz was the tone your phone sent to the system whenever you hung up. Thus, if you generated that tone without hanging up, you were effectively on the system without anyone knowing it. You could make free phone calls to anywhere, and if you had a way of generating other tones, you could do even more to play with the system.

The Captain Crunch whistle was very limited; other much more sophisticated tone generators were used by many phreakers. I even read at one time about a blind gentleman with perfect pitch who could blow 2600 and all kinds of other tones just by whistling-which may sound like a legend, but is actually QUITE believable. The old phone system did EVERYTHING with just a few simple tones, and none of them were difficult to duplicate.

The whistle was more of an item of amusement for the "phreaking" community than anything else I think.

By the way, all of this is more or less irrelevant now; most of the world is now on electronic, digital switching, and those old tones don't do anything anymore.

I shouldn't be considered a 'primary source' on any of this, though for a while there I did used to do a lot of phreaking, back when I was under 18. But that was in the '80s, and near the end of the big era of pirating phone usage. But I did read a whole lot of the underground literature of that day, and did do some playing myself...

Dean Esmay, esmay@syndicomm.com

Bruce D. Sidlinger [BRUCE@Sidlinger.Com]

Physical-image file = A complete, bit-for-bit mirror image of all the files to be burned to a CD-R disk in a recording session, stored on a hard disk. (See also CD-R)

PIC-AECM = Pacioli International Centre for Accounting Education using Computers and Multimedia, Loyola College in Maryland, 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210-2699 Phone: (410-617-2478), Fax: (410-617-2006) email: pacioli@Loyola.edu. The AECM-L mailing list is also available. A description of services is contained in the CETA Newsletter, June, 1994. (See also ANet, International Internet Association, and RAW)

Pink = A forthcoming Taligent multi-platform operating system jointly backed by Apple Corporation and IBM as the next generation of operating systems. The "multi-platform" feature will permit running DOS, Windows, OS/2, Apple/Mac systems, Unix, and PowerOpen. (See also Operating system)

PIP = Picture-In-Picture that can simultaneously display two TV images on the same screen, including images from two separate TV tuners or a TV tuner and VCR tape deck. (See also POP and Video)

Pitch bend = Gradual change in a tone's frequency (highness or lowness). For example, this can be used to create effects like vibrato or to produce more natural note attacks on some instruments.

Pixel = Pix Element or Picture Element (according to Greg Lara). These are the rectangular "dots" that comprise the smallest units of screen color variations. The more pixels that the computer can display per square inch of screen, the higher the resolution of graphics images on the screen. Older CGA resolutions had such large pixels that outlines of individual pixels could be seen in the graphics images. Higher resolutions such as those in Super VGA make it harder to detect pixels without zooming enlargements of parts of the screen. Larger numbers of pixels make graphics modification tasks more tedious.

Platform = Another word with many meanings. A platform can be a chip, a computer, an operating system, an application--or any combination of them. But it usually refers to a collection of technology that software companies use in making new products. (See also Operating system)

Plug and play = A phase that can have a variety of meanings in different contexts. In the most general sense, it means ease of setup and operation such as when a device can simply be plugged into power and run with ease. In the area of PCMCIA cards, the term means that cards can be removed and replaced with other cards without having to reboot the system. Details of plug and play are given in White (1994). (See also PCMCIA)

Plug-in = Has a meaning that can vary with context. The most common meaning in WWW browsers is reader (runtime, playback, view) software that will "plug" into the browser such that when a file extension (e.g., PDF, TBK, WAV, AVI, MOV, etc.) is encountered the browser will view or download the file automatically and run that file. Most plug-in readers are free. Examples include the PDF Acrobat reader from <http://www.adobe.com/>, the shockwave reader from <http://www.macromedia.com/>, the neuron reader from <http://www.asymetrix.com/>, and movie readers from <http://www.texas.net>. VRML readers are usually browser plug-ins. A summary of browser plug-ins is contained in "Get Plugged In: Navigator Plug-Ins That Liven Up the Web," PC Magazine, May 28, 1996, pp. 44-60. (See also MIME, Internet, Browser, and World Wide Web)

Podcasting = (See below)

"Podcasting Takes Off," by Kevin Bullis, MIT's Technology Review,  October 2005 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/10/issue/datamine.asp?trk =nl

Podcasts--those amateur or professional audio or video programs delivered automatically to a subscriber's computer or MP3 player--let consumers listen to their favorite shows whenever and wherever they want. But though the technology for podcast subscriptions has been around for several years, the mainstream has only recently caught on.

An explosion in podcasts' popularity in the first half of this year, culminating in the launch of a podcast directory at Apple's iTunes online music service, has providers scrambling to keep up with server demands and businesses looking for ways to turn a profit.

Several factors may have sparked podcasting's new popularity: Broadband access and new applications and directories make acquiring podcasts painless, for example, and other programs make creating them a snap. Phenomenal sales of iPods and other portable digital music players, which let people take the show on the road, also likely have helped.

For more on Podcasting see RSS and RDF

POP = Picture-On-Picture that entails wide-screen viewing of up to three TV images simultaneously on 16:9 wide-screen TV. (See also Wide-screen TV, PIP, and Video)

POP3 = (See Internet Messaging).

POP = An acronym for Point of Presence, POP is a service provider's location for connecting to users. Generally, POP refers to the location where people can dial into the provider's host computer. Most providers have several POPs to allow low-cost access via telephone lines.

PORTAL =

A "one-stop" place of information and services for some topical area or grouping of related topical areas.  Following on the heels of my featured knowledge portal in my August 22, 2000  New Bookmarks comes a featured review of "Portals in Higher Education," by Michael Looney and Peter Lyman, Educause Review, July/August 2000 --- http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm00/erm004.html 

A few selected quotations from the Looney and Lyman article are given below:

WHAT ARE PORTALS? 
Let's start with a simple definition, and then explore some of the variations of portals. At the most basic level, portals gather a variety of useful information resources into a single, "one-stop" Web page, helping the user to avoid being overwhelmed by "infoglut" or feeling lost on the Web. But since no two people have the same interests, portals allow users to customize their information sources by selecting and viewing only the information they find personally useful. Some portals also let you personalize your portal by including private information (such as your stock portfolio or checking account balance). Put simply, an institution's portal is designed to make an individual's Web experience more efficient and thereby make the institution as a whole more productive and responsive.

. . .

The two most popular consumer portals are AOL and Yahoo! AOL ( http://www.aol.com ) has over twentyfive million users averaging 12 minutes per session.2 Yahoo! ( http://www.yahoo.com ) has over twentytwo million users averaging nearly 25 minutes per session and is the classic directory portal that most other portals have imitated. Portals often seem similar from one site to another because publishers of generic consumer information, such as InfoSpace ( http://www.infospace.com ) and MyWay ( http://www.myway.com  ), license the same information services to many dot.coms. College.com companies may license these information to companies as B2B (business-to-business) enterprise or use them on student-oriented web pages as a B2C (business-to-consumer) enterprise.

. . . 

According to the Delphi Group's published survey results, 55 percent of Fortune 500 companies are already using an enterprise portal or have plans to develop one in the near future. Enterprise portals are intended to assist employees to be more efficient and productive by centralizing access to needed data services-for example, competitive information, manufacturing and accounting data, 401K information, and other human relations data. Enterprise portals often include news, weather, and sports feeds as a benefit for the employee, giving these portals the appearance of a community portal.

Examples of campus portals:

Some campuses have already started developing educational portals to accomplish these goals. The University of Washington has developed MyUW ( http://myuw.washington.edu ). This portal site uses information in innovative ways that enhance the educational mission, personalizing student data (student debit-card totals, student course information) and providing faculty with ideas and resources for new uses of technology for teaching.  The UW portal seems to have the mission of creating an online community encompassing a diverse and complex on-and off-campus environment. And the MyUCLA site ( http://www.my.ucla.edu  ), one of the oldest in higher education, provides a classic directory-style portal, ranging from new modes of accessing campus administrative data to relevant feeds from the UCLA Daily Bruin. 

My main objection to a portal is that is requires user log-in.  This makes it difficult to locate documents within using search engines like Google.  I might never have been "discovered" if my Web site was instead a portal requiring a log-in at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ 

"Why Are Portalized University Home Pages Rare? by Joe St Sauver, Syllabus, March 2004, pp. 21-24 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id =9022 

What's a Portal Anyway?

A good defining answer to "What's a portal?" has always been elusive, but operationally it is a Web site that:

• Requires users to log in.  A login allows users to customize the portal to best reflect their interests ---  interests that could then be recalled during subsequent logins.
• Is inclusive enough to act as the user's default Web start page, providing access to all the major tools the user wants or needs to work online.
• Is tightly integrated with existing administrative systems such as Banner, and existing teaching and learning systems such as Blackboard or WebCT.

Straight forwward, secure Web sites that many have deployed --- sites that allow users to perform administrative tasks online such as registering for classes or looking up grades --- are generally not considered to be portals, because users will not routinely log in to sites of that sort unless they have a specific administrative task to accomplish, and it is extremely unlikely that anyone would make one of these secure administrative Web sites their default home page.

"Facing the Portal:  A conversation with Annie Stunden (University of Winconsin-Madison's CIO)," Syllabus, March 2004, pp. 8-14 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id =9021 

Syllabus: What would you say are the most important lessons learned from your experience with your portal?

Annie Studnen: We learned that on a campus as big as ours, fostering the collaboration of the campus community is one of the most important things, and one of the hardest. We're a very distributed environment so people can sort of do what they want to do. There's very little top-down direction that dictates what you have to do. Our chancellor was certainly interested in having a portal, or at least something that looked like a portal, on campus. But we needed to champion this actively, to get people willing to put the information that they felt ultimately responsible for into the portal. That was the hardest part. We know how to do the technology. The people work is harder. Folks on campus felt that if they put the information that they were responsible for-think about student records information, for example-in the portal, that they were, in some way, losing control.

An issue still floats out there about how the portal is governed. Student Affairs manages the student information system, Finance manages the financial system, and the Graduate School manages the grants management system. But who manages the portal? Is it that awful technology organization you never trust? -Read: "Why should they be calling the shots on this?"

Well, if the central technology organization is not calling the shots, in concert with some kind of campuswide advisory or governance body, where else can you put the responsibility so that the portal does not become one-department centric? And the whole point is to keep the portal a campus portal, not a teaching and learning portal, not a student information system portal, not a payroll portal, but a campus portal. This remains a challenge, because distributed governance is hard. Regardless, our campus portal is becoming more and more accepted-we're getting something like 70,000 hits a day.

The best and most imaginative campus portal did not survive.  I contend that the Fathom knowledge portal at Columbia University extended well beyond the objectives and strategies of other campus portals do date.  The Fathom portal was leading partners such as the Smithsonian and the New York Public Library for heavy input of knowledge into the portal.  It was called Fathom --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book00q3.htm#Fathom 

An Internet/Web portal with 14 channels on marketing and e-Commerce --- http://www.internet.com/home-d.html 

• Internet Technology
• Ecommerce/Marketing
• Web Developer
• Windows Internet Tech.
• Linux/Open Source
• Internet Resources
• ISP Resources
• Internet Lists
• Download
• International
• International News
• International Investing
• ASP Resources
• Wireless

Other examples of portals and vortals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/portals.htm 

POTS = This is an acronym for Plain Old Telephone Service.

Power Macintosh = (See PowerPC)

PowerOpen = (See Operating system and PowerPC)

PowerPC = A revolutionary new desktop RISC computer emerging from a joint venture between Apple Corporation, Motorola, and IBM. Rupley (1994, p. 129) writes that: "PowerPC will remake the computer industry at its foundations." What is revolutionary is the ability of the PowerPC to run under Apple, OS/2, DOS, Windows, and Unix operating systems. This is a remarkably fast and cheap CPU using RISC chip technology. IBM was the first company to introduce the PowerPC notebook computer. For a time it looked like the PowerPC would indeed capture enormous chunks of market share from Intel, but then in hurried desperation Intel introduced its 90-MHz and 100-MHz O54C CISC processors. With the new CISC Pentiums and RISC NexGen alternatives selling at a much faster clip than Mac and IBM PowerPC processors, it appears that PowerPC will have a tough time selling to users other than Mac users who want faster processors for the Apple operating systems. Later versions of Pentium processors such as the P54C overcame all doubts about Intel's ability to produce a cool running CISC processor at speeds up to 100 MHz and plans to produce even faster Pentiums. These newer versions dispel all doubts about "Intel's aim to crunch the PowerPC" according to Information Week, February 21, 1994, p. 60. The comparative advantages of the Intel processors, and they are serious short-term advantages in the market, are the abilities of Intel processors to run DOS and Windows applications in direct rather than the emulation form used in PowerPCs and Macs. The main drawback of the PowerPC is that PowerPC users can only run DOS and Windows applications in emulation form such that all speed advantages of the PowerPC are lost. For this reason, the "PC" part of the tradename "PowerPC" is somewhat misleading since most PC users run under DOS and/or Windows operating systems. Certainly users who prefer to stay in a DOS and/or Windows operating system are advised to stick with the 486, Pentium, or some other CPU alternative that does not require emulation. When applications vendors bring applications to market in PowerOpen, Pink, and planned PowerPC native software, Intel and NexGen may lose market share to PowerPC, but this probably will not happen to a major extent in this century, largely due to the fact that PowerPC requires replacement of existing computers with new PowerPC computers. Worldwide, this will not happen for years due to tight budgets in business and government. It will be years before software developers offer PowerPC native software anywhere close to the present Windows product lines. Francis (1994) reports that the main drawback that is holding down sales of Apple Corporation's Power Mac is that "no one is building mainstream (native) productivity applications for the Power Mac." IBM is also working with Apple to develop the PowerOpen operating system for the PowerPC. Taligent is developing the Pink operating system for the PowerPC. At the time of this writing the planned full line of PowerPCs is not available. It will only be a short time before portable (e.g., Tadpoles and PowerBooks) and multimedia PowerPC lines are produced, although demand for these portable versions leads to long delivery delays. Another drawback of the PowerPC is that the alliance between IBM and Apple was weakened somewhat by delays in developing a PowerPC that will switch back and forth between Mac and IBM operating systems (e.g., between Mac and OS/2 or Mac and Windows). Users still have to make that big choice between one operating system or another. Good news includes the current availability of some popular software packages designed specifically for the PowerPC such as WordPerfect native Power Macintosh. Bad news includes the decision of Lotus Corporation not to produce native PowerPC versions at the present time. Even more discouraging for PowerPC hopefuls are analyst forecasts of the pent up demand for Windows 95 and Windows 2000 that will probably lead consumers toward Intel and NexGen processors. At the moment, it's still a horse race between Intel and PowerPC with PowerPC far behind and waning hopes for a burst of speed. Francis (1994) reports that Moody's Investors Service Inc. placed Apple Corporation under review largely due to "concerns about the computer vendor's long-term operating performance and the viability of its technology strategy." A huge area of concern has been the tapering off of demand for the new Power Mac versions of the PowerPC. Apple's share of the PC market reached 14% in 1993, but has since slipped back down to less than 5%. Apple admits to losing the operating system war to Microsoft. In Information Week, November 11, 1996, p. 26 Marco Landi (Chief Operating Officer at Apple Corporatiion) is quoted as saying "We are not an OSS company. We've lost that battle." In 1997, Apple intends on moving more into the cross- platform basis for software for the Internet. (See Cross-platform. Market share determines the number of native software applications being developed for operating systems. Mac, UNIX, and other operating systems are losing the native software development war to Windows 95, 97, and Windows 2000. Windows 2000 is almost certain to become the PC operating system standard of choice until its upgrade called Windows Cairo rolls off the line and/or Windows 2000 with upgraded object-oriented programming features become the operating systems of choice among users having newer hardware speed and memory components. But for users who stand by their Power Macs, we recommend joining the Apple Multimedia Program (408-974-4897) that offers a variety of online services and other services that, in our viewpoint, are well worth the $750 price of membership. (See also Native, CPU, Pentium, CISC, RISC, Taligent, Operating system, Mozart, Copeland, Gershwin, and Mac)

PPP = Point-To-Point protocol used over serial lines that are necessary for phone line connections to computers. (See also ISP, SLIP, and Modem)

PPV = Pay-Per-View commercial selling of live-event TV such as PPV boxing events. PPV will probably become a much more lucrative business when the information highway comes to town. (See also Information highway)

Premastering/mastering software = The software layer that readies files for recording. This involves converting file structures to adhere to the ISO 9660 conventions, simulating the image on the hard disk as a CD-ROM, and sending the image to the CD-R drive. (See also CD-R)

Presentation = Presentation electronic "slide show" options such as SPC's Harvard Graphics, Gold Disk's Astound, Asymetrix's Compel, Microsoft's PowerPoint, Macromedia's Action, Micrografx's Charisma, Just-Ask-Me, On-The-Air, Lotus Corporation's Freelance, Word Perfect's Presentations, Special Delivery, Q/Media, Zuma Group's Curtain Call, and others are mentioned in Chapter 3 and listed in greater detail in Appendix 6. These, in conjunction with spreadsheet software (Lotus, Excel, Quatro Pro, etc.), are the most widely employed aids currently used by accounting professors according to survey results reported in Chapter 4. An extensive list of presentation software vendors and product attributes is provided in Appendix 6. Green and Green (1994) discuss how presentation software is becoming closer to authoring software. Jerome and Lee (1995) rate and compare presentation software alternatives with particular focus on multimedia features. Hardware options are reviewed in the NewMedia Tool Guide for 1995 ( pp. 105-112). For a review of presentation software options also see NewMedia Tool Guide for 1995 ( pp. 11-16), McCraken (1994) and Green and Green (1994). (The addresses and phone numbers of NewMedia, Multimedia World, and other periodicals are contained in Appendix 4.) The top rated options according to PC Computing, December 1994, p. 178 are PowerPoint from Microsoft Corporation (800-426-9400), Harvard Spotlight (Rank 2) from Software Publishing (800-336-8360), and Freelance Graphics (Rank 3) from Lotus Development (800-343-5414). Paintshow and photoshow options such as Micrografx PhotoMagic, MacPaint, Corel Draw, Publisher's Paintbrush, and Adobe Photoshop may be used for pictures but are cumbersome for group presentations but are often used for images imported into presentation, hypermedia, and CMS courseware. Robinson and Lee (1994) discuss the fine line between "authoring" and "presentation" software. Many presentation software vendors such as Gold Disk (Astound) are adding audio, video, and button navigation utilities. They also discuss options for crossing platforms between operating systems such as between Windows and Mac operating systems. (See also Projection and Authoring)

Print devices = Definition files for different types of printers to be used on a print server.

Print forms = Definitions of different types of paper size to be used on a print server.

Print job configurations = Complete descriptions of how a file is to be printed on the network.

Print queues = Definitions of the order in which and where a file is to be printed on the network.

Print server = A computer running a program that allows it to accept files to be printed from other workstations.

Processor = (See CPU)

Prodigy = A commercial network service that is a joint venture between Sears Roebuck and IBM. This service has improved some of its technical problems but it is also expensive according to Mossberg (1994a). NewMedia, January 1994, p. 31 has a brief summary of new features such as color-coded menus, digitized photos, Internet mail, TV listings, and travel services. (See also Networks, CompuServe, Internet, eWorld, Interchange, and America Online)

Projection = Display of computer and video images on monitors and screens. A "Multimedia Projectors Buyers' Guide" is provided in Multimedia World, June 1994, pp. 77-79. (Also see AB style switches, LCD and Three-beam-projector)

Protocol = Any formal description of message formats and the rules two computers must follow to exchange those messages. Protocols can describe low-level details of machine-to-machine interfaces (e.g., the order in which bits and bytes are sent across a wire) or high-level exchanges between allocation programs (e.g., the way in which two programs transfer a file across the Internet). Files on the Internet are transferred via what is known as FTP File Transfer Protocol. See World Wide Web for the common http protocol. See Internet Messaging for common protocols for sending messages across the Internet. (See also FTP and File transfer)

Pseudo web streaming = (See Web streaming)