George's Articles
sp34k l33t? (translated to English, this reads “speak leet?”);
l33t, (pronounced leet), (short for elite); is shorthand for the Internet.
“elite” is gamer slang for the best of the best. The new cool.
This new generation of Internet user have taken bits of names and pieces of
concepts, and created new slang and jargon to describe them. One of the
interesting things is that most are self-taught. How can we teach what hasn’t
been invented yet. They are literally inventing new logic for getting places and
finding things on the net, modifying programs to suit their needs, and changing
the rules without ever bothering to read them. This new generation is evolving
before our eyes and it looks like the generation gap is widening.
This new generation is using their brains in entirely new ways. RPG’s, (role
playing), online gaming and chatting with hundreds of others at a time require
different skill sets to keep up. Whereas we would use phrases from our
experiences outside the net to refer to happenings inside the net, new users are
growing up inside the net and inventing new languages, phrases and terms as well
as using technology in entirely new ways.
One of the new ways is language. A leftover from the hacker culture is
"l33t5p33k" known as hakspek, leetspeak or l337. Leetspeak is an alphabet that
replaces letters with numbers and characters. On par with pig Latin, l337 can be
‘hardcore or light’ depending on who you are in communication with. L33t is a
typed language. I.e. "d00d" for "dude", "kewl" for "cool". It goes much deeper
however, as there are complete alphabets of online languages including many that
are spoken when not online.
Our youth are discovering and creating a new uncharted and uncontroled world
online. Do you know how to check up on them? Do you know how to find out where
they are visiting and what they are talking about? You can “view” tenporary
internet files under “internet options”. You may have to allow “view hidden
files and folders” under “folder options”.
You may want to know what your child is doing and seeing online. Depending on
the child, you may want to put some parental controls on your computer. By all
means ask them what they are up to. There are some things childern, (and some
adults), should not be exposed to. Weather you like or dislike computers, if you
have one in your home, you should learn enough to know what is being stored on
it.
Some common computer terms;
An “add-in” is a program that attaches itself to another program as an addition.
Most add-ins are “Plug and Play”, meaning that they are detectable by the
computer.
A “hack” is also known as a trick or add-on for adding more power to a program
or operating system
A ‘blog” is a journal of your everyday life that you can share with the rest of
the world on the Internet. People who write blogs are called "bloggers."
A “Boolean” search is when you use “and / or” to seek out content on a search
engine.
“Drivers”, help control a specific device as it interacts with the operating
system. You'll have one for your printer, your CD burner, your audio card, for
example. You can see your drivers by right clicking on the “my computer” icon –
left clicking on “properties”. You will find them under hardware.
Using an “FTP client”, you can access countless FTP sites, many of which allow
public access by simply typing in "anonymous" (without quotes) as your username
and password.
A “killer app" is a label given to a really great application or program. Email
is considered to be “the killer app”.
“Spyware” is a program that gathers personal information from your computer
without you knowing about it. Usually it arrives in “adware”. (Programs with
advertising).
The section at the bottom right hand corner of your screen is known as the
system tray (or "systray"). This tray is just a small part of "Taskbar" (the bar
at the bottom of your screen). When you want to get rid of a systray icon, you
should be able to right-click on it and select a "Close" or "Exit" option.
A “webring” is a bunch of websites that have something in common and are all
connected through a series of links.
Whyz tip; To be more specific when using a search engine, include “quotation
marks” around your search word or phrase.
Surf safe out there.
George Horton
Webmaster
www.kcnb.ca
www.newbrunswickwebdesign.com
george@kcnb.ca