The Lexicon of New Media Terms

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Note: These entries have been loosely complied from hundreds of online and print sources. Make independent confirmation and proper citation before using any of this material for professional or academic purposes.

Terms beginning with "M"

• Mac OS: Apple Computer's Macintosh Operating System, usually noted by its version number (Mac OS8, Mac OSX, etc.)
• macro: An automated action created within an application to perform a specific set of tasks.
• Macromedia: Software company which makes programs for designing and hosting Web content such as Dreamweaver, Flash, and Shockwave products.
• MacWorld Expo: A big annual trade show for Macintosh developers, vendors and fans.
• mailserver: A server which receives, routes and sends e-mail messages and attachments to computers running client software like Eudora or Outlook.
• Media Metrix: A company which tracks and audits Web site and other media traffic; see www.mediametrix.com.
• memetics: The study of information patterns which spread through cultural transmissions; for example, beliefs, values, fashions, ideas, opinions.
• meta information: "Information about information;" in a Web document, keywords and dates used to categorize the document's content.
• method: A Javascript function assignd to an object.
• micropayments: A business model in which content providers charge small fees to access a Web site or other online source; this is often not cost-effective for the content provider.
• Microsoft: Bill Gates' little company.
• Microsoft Access: Microsoft's program for small databases.
• Microsoft FrontPage: A WYSIWYG HTML editor which works like Microsoft Word but creates Web pages instead of print documents.
• Microsoft Office: A popular suite of business applications including Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, and PowerPoint for presentations.
• Microsoft Sidewalk: Microsoft's venture in the mid-1990s to create a network of online city guides, threatening the market position of newspapers and local TV; later sold off.
• Microsoft SQL Server: Microsoft's software for big databases using a version of Structured Query Language commands.
• MIME: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extentions, a system for supporting non-text media through e-mail.
• MIT-LCS: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Computer Science, where neat gadgets get born.
• monospace font: A font in which every letter takes up the same amount of horitzonal space; for example, the courier font.
• Monster.com: An employment advertising Web site which along with Hotjobs.com heavily took sales away from newspaper classifieds.
• Mosaic: An early graphical Web brower which evolved to become Netscape Navigator.
• MP3: MPEG Audio Layer 3, an audio compression technology developed in Germany in 1991.
• MPEG: Motion Pictures Expert Group, the organization which sets standards for the MPEG/MP3 digital video format.
• MSN: Microsoft Network, a collection of Web sites run by Microsoft including CarPoint, Encarta Online, and MSNBC.
• MSNBC: A joint venture between Microsoft and NBC to share content in broadcast and online.
• multicast: Moving data from one point to specific network points or individual computers.
• multimedia: Presenting information to a user through a mix of text, images, animation, sound, video and/or interactivity.
• MX records: Files which specify a mail exchanger for a domain name, a process used to route e-mail messages.

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Note: These entries have been loosely complied from hundreds of online and print sources. Make independent confirmation and proper citation before using any of this material for professional or academic purposes.