Glossary

The alphabetical list below contains some explanations of commonly used words in this Unit.

More information can also be found at the following locations:

• IST Glossary
• CORDIS Glossary
• European Commission ABC

Acquisition

The input of data into a computer system through direct data entry, acquisition from a medical device or other means.

Administration(s)

Management of a business, institution, etc; the management of public affairs; government

Algorithm

A well-defined procedure or sequence of steps for solving a problem

ALT

Automatic Language Translation

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode

Authentication

A process for positive and unique identification of users, implemented to control system access

Authorisation

A process for controlling user activities within a system to only actions defined as appropriate based on the user's role.

Browser

A user interface to World Wide Web that allows users to search for and display more information resources in a suitable format.

Business process

An activity or set of activities that are part of a service either to a citizen or to another organisational unit within or outside the particular Public Administration.

CAP

CITATION Access Point

CAT scan

Computer Aided Tomography Scan

Certificate

Coded authorisation information that can be verified by a certification authority to grant system access

CHAP

Challenge Handshake Authentication Protoco

Client Server

Information processing interaction that distributes application processing between a local computer (the client) and a remote computer resource (the server).

Cluster

A close group of typically similar things, often surrounding something as a central figure; project clusters are a defined group of RTD projects benefiting from synergies - to maximise added value within a given field and establish a critical mass of resources at the European level.

(the) Community / European Community

Applied specifically to mean the 15 European nations or Member States in the European Union (EU) - all words take capitals

Confidentiality

The ability of data owners and data stewards to control access to or release of private information.

Content

In information retrieval, media developed to communicate information or knowledge.

Continuity of Care

The co-ordination of care received by a patient over time and across multiple health-care providers.

CORBA

Common Object Request Broker Architecture: Middleware software that resides between and translates information between two or more types of software.

Cross-Programme

Applies to research activities and projects affecting more than one action line or programme within the European Commission

CSCW

Computer Supported Collaborative Work

Database Mediator

A software component of a knowledge-based system that is used to isolate problem solvers from the logistical issues associated with accessing the database.

DBMS

Database Management System: An integrated set of programs that manages access to databases

DES

Data Encryption Standard

DG

Directorate-General of the European Commission - capitalise

Digital Signature

A means of authenticating the identity of the sender of a digital message and proving the integrity of the message by means of the data appended to that message

Distributed Computer System

A collection of independent computers that share data, programs, and other resources.

Domain Specific Information Model

A model which describes a set of elements to which a variable or function is limited.

DOOMl

Distributed Component Object Mode

DTD

Document Type Description

eEurope Initiative

An EU initiative for the development of Information Society pilots in Europe.

Electronic Health Record

A repository of electronically maintained information about an individual's lifetime health status and health care, stored such that it can serve the multiple legitimate users of the record.

Enterprise Architecture

The model of organisation and operation for a Public Administration, as described in a set of interrelated views. It consists of the generic model and its various instances that may vary e.g. amongst the particular Public Administrations in which the Enterprise Architecture is employed.

Enterprise Architecture Framework

The operational guidelines and rules to follow for employing the Enterprise Architecture in a real world environment by Public Administrations. It consists of two subsets: those that are considered as basic (compulsory) and those which are optional and may add value or efficiency in the employment of the Enterprise Architecture in a given application (domain), but which for certain reasons need not to be incorporated in the first category.

ETSI

European Telecommunication Standardisation Institute

Firewall

A security system intended to protect an organisation's network against external threats by preventing computers in the organisation's network from communicating directly with computers external to the network and vice-versa.

GML

Government Markup Language

GPRS

General Packet Radio Service

GSM

Global System for Mobile communications (European standard)

GUI

Graphical User Interface

HCI

Human Computer Interaction

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol: The client-server protocol used to access information on the WWW.

ICT

Information and Communication Technology

IMAP4

Internet Message Access Protocol version 4

IN

Intelligent Networks

Indexing

In information retrieval, the assignment to each document of specific terms that indicate the subject matter of the document and that are used in searching.

Information Retrieval

The science and practice of identification and efficient use of recorded data.

Integrity Control

Consistency control to safeguard correctness of data.

Interoperability

The ability to approach data and functions from another platform.

Interoperability Platform

A means of achieving platform independent functionality and operation between different application sites in Public Administrations. An interoperable platform, in the context of the project, may concern: the business process layers in various Public Administrations that have to work together - e.g. jointly providing services to the citizens; or the technology layers in various Public Administrations that have to 'interoperate' to support complicated operations such as filtered retrieval of data, cascaded push of information records for citizens, etc., or both of the above.

Interoperability Platform Software

The necessary software modules to address interoperability problems in the aforementioned three categories.

IP

Internet protocol

IPSEC

IP Security

ISDN

Integrated Service Digital Network: A digital telephone service that allows high-speed network communications using conventional telephone wiring.

IT

Information Technology

Java

WWW programming language.

Knowledge

Relationships, facts, assumptions, heuristics and models derived through the formal and informal analysis or interpretation of data.

Knowledge Base

A collection of stored facts, heuristics and models that can be used for problem solving.

LDAP

Lightweight Data Access Protocol

Legacy Information Systems

An information system that remains in use after an organisation installs a new system.

Multimodal

Multiple access to data or ways of interacting with a computer.

Ontology

A description (like a formal specification of a program) of the concepts and relationships that can exist for an agent or a community of agents. In biomedicine, such ontologies typically specify the meanings and hierarchical relationships among terms and concepts in a domain.

OODBMS

Object Oriented Data Base Management System

ORACLE

An RDBMS software by ORACLE Corp.

OTP

One-Time Password

PDA

Personal Digital Assistant: A small, relatively inexpensive, handheld device with electronic schedule, contact list, handwriting recognition capabilities and other productivity tools.

Pilot Sites

The test beds in the participating User partners' countries.

PKI

Public Key Infrastructure

PMC

Project Management Committee

POPS

Post Office Protocol version 3

PPTP

Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol

Privacy

A concept that applies to people, rather to documents, in which there is a resumed right to protect that individual from unauthorised divulging of personal data of any kind.

Proposer

A person or organisation responding to a call for proposal from the Commission. The resulting noun comes from the root verb 'to propose' by submitting a proposal

Query

In a database system, a request for specific information that is stored in the computer.

Query and Retrieval

An approach to information retrieval in which the terms are selected by the user. Terms can be matched against a predetermined index or against a thesaurus that searches for synonyms, more global concepts, and more specific concepts.

RDBMS

Relational Data Base Management System

RDF

Resource Description Format

Remote Access

Access to a system or to information therein, typically through a data network.

Representation

A level of medical data encoding: the process by which as much detail as possible is coded.

Requirements Analysis

An initial analysis performed to define a problem clearly and to specify the nature of the proposed solution.

Respective Terminology

Set of frequently used standard terms for a certain application area.

RTD vs. R&D

RTD = Research and Technological Development (relates to activities outlined in the Commission's Framework Programmes) & R&D = Research & Development (generic terms)

SCE

Service Creation Environment

Security

The process of protecting information from destruction or misuse, including both physical and computer-based mechanisms.

Semantics

The meanings assigned to symbols and sets of symbols in a language.

Service Supply Components

The software modules responsible for the end user service provision, which are on top of the existing (operational) legacy systems of each particular Public Administration retrieving data from them and expected to organise interactions with other Service Supply Components.

SGML

Standard Generalised Markup Language

Showcases

The software solutions for validating operations at the participating user partners' pilot sites.

Smart card

Electronic device about the size of a credit card containing electronic memory, and/or an embedded integrated circuit (IC) or chip. Smart cards containing an IC are sometimes called Integrated Circuit Cards (ICCs) - separate words

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

Soft Test Bed Integration

Integration of the developed software modules in a sheltered (laboratory) environment.

SR

Service Repository

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer (Protocol)

Systems Aggregation

A situation in which functions from disparate and widely distributed information systems are brought together in one application.

Technical Reference Model

The particular model employed for coping with interoperability issues. It comprises a complete set of procedures to be followed for facilitating connectivity with 3rd party applications and systems from within the InfoCitizen Enterprise Architecture. In this respect, it is directly linked to the Enterprise Architecture Framework.

Telephony

The science of translating sound into electrical signals, transmitting them, and then converting them back to sound; that is, the science of telephones. The term is used frequently to refer to computer hardware and software that performs functions traditionally performed by telephone equipment.

Terminology

A set of terms representing the system of concepts of a particular subject field.

TLS

Transport Layer Security

TMN

Telecommunications Management Network

UMLS

Unified Medical Language System: contains a metathesaurus within medical concepts and a semantic network.

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System: 3rd Generation mobile telephony

User Profiling

A mechanism to assign several descriptive features to a user.

User Scenario

The usage scenario demonstrating representative patterns of use for the developed system. It includes: the interaction modes from the end user's point of view ; the connectivity aspects for linking the various front end modules with specific functionality of the system ; the results provided to the end user of the system as well as any post-usage implications e.g. related to the need for periodic updates of other parts of the system which are not transparent to the end user.

VPN

Virtual Private Network

WAILS

Wireless Transport Layer Security

WAP

Wireless Application Protocol

WML

Wireless Markup Language

WWW

world wide web

XML

Extensible Markup Language

XSL

Extensible Stylesheet Language