Glossary (A - Z)

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  

A

ActiveX

Microsoft’s technology for enhancing active control primarily in Web Browsers. With an ActiveX-enabled browser (i.e. Internet Explorer only) ActiveX controls can be downloaded as part of a Web document to add functionality to the browser (similar to Java applets). .

ADSL

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. Typical low cost broadband connection to the Internet.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange: The universal standard for representing standard text letters, numerals and punctuation marks.

Audience

These are the viewers of an ad or content running on a screen. This is sometimes used loosely with the word “target” to suggest possible catchments of prospective customers.

Avi

Audio Video Interleave. This is a common format for audio/video files seen in Microsoft Windows.

B

Bandwidth

Commonly used to describe the speed of a connection to the Internet in bits transmitted per second.

Bitmap

A type of font or graphic stored as a pattern of bits each of which specifies the colour of a pixel of the stored image. Bitmap formats include bmp, pcx, Tiff, Gif etc.

BMP

A proprietary Microsoft Windows image format. Not used on Web pages.

Brand

A simple, cohesive identity or consumer impression of a product, service or organization usually symbolized by a logo. Branding has been proven to increase shareholder equity, support and substantiate premium pricing where this is backed up by superiority in a certain area, enabling higher gross margins and allowing for easier line extensions. Brands enjoy statistically higher Return on Investment (ROI).

Branding

These are specific identity actions that contribute to gaining a favored view, by consumers or customers, toward a product, service, organization or experience. These actions include advertising, merchandising, demonstration, education (consumers, sales staff, etc.), PR activities, events, etc. The measures of branding success include revenues, customer base, share of category revenues, category growth, awareness and perception of brand.

Business Model

The costs of Digital Signage network are met in different ways. An “Ad Model” creates profit through ad display and sponsorship revenues, coupon redemption commissions and marketing intelligence sales. The costs in a “Venue Model” are considered by the display location provider (typically) as a cost of business or investment toward patron marketing, up-selling, or improving a wait, service or shopping experience. It is common to blend the two business models allowing the benefits of a Venue model with investment offset through sponsorship or advertising. Live private program display and distance learning provide benefit in the both the Ad and Venue Models. (See Resources section of www.btvplus.com)

C

CAT5

The standard data cable typically used for High speed Ethernet networks.

Category

A product group that enables a point of reference or comparison with products or services that other similar value or experience of use.

Channel

A separate and distinct content that can run simultaneously from one player (running on an XP PC). A single channel (as viewed as a single content on a screen) can be made up of any number of separate inputs (flash, video, html, RSS feeds) and this will still remain one channel for our system.

Codec

Coder-Decoder normally a software program (but can also be hardware or a mixture of both), used for compressing and/or decompressing data often of a particular media format e.g. MPEG, AVI etc

CRT

Cathode Ray Tube the technology used in most televisions and Computer Display Screens. Cheaper than flat panel displays.

D

Demand

A desire or need for a product or service. A buying decision is based on brand identity and messaging and the impresison based on previous purchases and experience of use.

Dial-up

Access to the Internet that involves the computer using a modem to dial a number belonging to an ISP (Internet Service Provider)

Digital Display

Display technologies e.g. LCD and Plasma screens.

Digital Signage

A network of digital displays that are centrally managed and addressable for targeted information, entertainment, merchandising and advertising. Also referred to as (synonyms): Dynamic Signage, Digital Signs, Electronic Signage, Digital Media Advertising, Digital Signage Network, In-store TV Network, Captive Audience Network, Narrowcasting Network, Out-of-home Media Network, Digital Media Network, Advertising Network.

DirectShow

Microsoft software component for handling and displaying digital video, including AVI, MPEG, and QuickTime. Formally called ActiveMovie

DirectX

Microsoft Windows API was designed to provide software developers with direct access to low-level functions on PC peripherals. Some software will depend on DirectX for handling certain graphic playbacks.

E

Effective

Greater output from the same or less input.

Emotional Identity

The way a consumer interprets the identity of a brand, based on the different ways that they have interfaced with it in the past (advertising, usage, etc.).

F

Firewall

A hardware or software device that is used to protect a network from unauthorised access.

FLA

An Adobe Flash source document. Can be used with any machine that has the commercial Adobe Flash editor.

Flight

The display of an ad or other content message on the display.

Footfall

Store traffic in a specific area of a store.

Frames per second

The speed which an animation, film or video is displayed. Typical frames per second for good quality video should be 25-30.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol: A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. FTP was invented and in wide use long before the advent of the World Wide.

H

HTML

HyperText Markup Language, the code used to create documents normally used in the World Wide Web. For example text can be marked with tags that indicate how it should appear (e.g. bold or italics). HTML also supports a wide range of other features seen in a normal web page e.g. links

I

Interlace

The process used to refresh video displays, alternately scanning every other horizontal line in the display.

IP

Internet Protocol: a method of addressing different machines across a network like the Internet.

IP Multicast

Internet Protocol Multicast. A network transmission protocol that allows multiple computers to simultaneously receive the same transmission.

ISP

Internet Service Provider: Provides access to the Internet, plus Email, Hosting etc.

J

JPEG

Joint Photographic Expert Group, a Lossy graphics format, bitmap used extensively on the Internet for images.

L

LAN

Local Area Network A network of computers generally confined to a single building or sharing the same servers and resources.

LCD

Liquid Crystal Display. A type of screen where liquid crystals align themselves based on electrical current.

LED

Light Emitting Diode, a technology used in screens where semiconductor diodes convert electrical energy into visible electromagnetic radiation

M

Media

Any content that is used to make up a Spot for example a JPEG image or Video file.

MPEG (1/2/3/4)

Moving Picture Experts Group A compression standard for video files. The different numbers stand for different types of MPEG compression

Mpg

Movie Gallery post. A file extension for MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) files. This is a method used for compressing video files.

Multicast

Transmitting the same content (stream) simultaneously to multiple recipients.

Multichannel player

Outputs multiple streams of unique content to multiple display devices.

N

Narrowcast

The sending of content (stream) to a narrow/defined group of recipients. It is also used to generally describe digital signage (narrowcasting).

Network

In a technical sense it typically refers to a collection of interconnected computers, printers etc. e.g. LAN, IEE802. Also used to refer to the collection of screens, players and sights that make up a digital signage “network”

Network domain

A group of computers and devices on a network that are administered as a unit with common rules and procedures and share a common name.

O

Organisational Alignment

Consistency of message content and tone across each of the various mechanisms including executive and staff, ads, packaging, public and media relations, etc – a form of integrated communications. Each communication is either brand-building or “de-branding”. The passion and vision of the CEO can be lost without communications to “the front lines” of customer service

P

PCI

(Peripheral Component Interface) Is a high-speed connection for devices including SCSI cards, video cards, sound cards, modems, video capture cards, etc. This is the primary way of adding devices to a computer.

Pixel

Picture Element: the smallest element in a computer graphics e.g. a dot is an image made up of pixels.

Plasma Screen

Gas Plasma flat panel display where light is created by phosphors excited by a plasma discharge between two flat panels of glass. Often used in larger screens.

Player

Presents content to the display device for presentation.

Playlist

A schedule defining the order and duration of content to be displayed.

Playlog

Record of information created from the digital signage system reflecting the content played, the system performance and other data.

POP3

Post Office Protocol: An application-layer Internet standard protocol to retrieve email from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection.

Port

A port is a special number present in the header of a data packet. Ports are typically used to map data to a particular process running on a computer. As an example, a server used for sending and receiving email may provide both an SMTP (25) and a POP3 service (110); these will be handled by different server processes, and the port number will be used to determine which data is associated with which process.

Programme Revenues

When digital signage display and connectivity infrastructure is used to deliver live programming such as new product messages, training, sponsored events, etc., non-ad revenues are generated for the signage network owner.

R

Recency

Timely, Relevant impressions.

Re-evaluation

New perspectives and information can inspire consumers to change their perceptions. To cause re-evaluation is to seek change or reinforcement of previous perceptions.

Resolution (pixel)

A measurement of the number of visible pixels.

S

Sales Lift

Revenue increase normally associated or linked to some content displayed at a specific point in time. Usually expressed as a % increase over normal sales levels.

Salience

Core relevant information. In addition to its relevance as a quality of content for selling or branding, salience can be a determinant and predictor of immediate trial and revenue growth.

SMTP

The standard for email transmission across the Internet.

SWF

(Pronounced “swiff” by some, stands for Shockwave Flash) it is the file format used by Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) to describe movies built of mainly two elements: vector based objects and images. The newest versions also allow audio, video and many different possible forms of interaction with the end user.

T

TCO

Total Cost of Ownership. A frequently used measurement to assess the total cost of maintaining (or investing in a new) IT system, including hardware, software, installation and maintenance services, and the associated cost of the business process(es) that the IT system supports.

TCP

Transmission control protocol. TCP is one of the main protocols in TCP/IP networks. TCP enables two computers to establish a connection and exchange streams of data. TCP guarantees delivery of data.

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format

Trial

First purchase and use of a new product by a consumer. An essential step on the road to recurring revenues: without trial there is no usage. A general rule of thumb is that a prospect will need to hear about a product 7 times before they trial, or receive a certain number of messages about it.

Triggered Content

Media that can over-ride planned content when certain pre-determined conditions are realised such as the proximity of a shopper, removal of an item from display for examination, or the reading of various inputs such as bar code scanning, loyalty card swipe, biometrics, etc.

Trust

An element of the relationship between brands and consumers. Trust must be obtained if consumer trial and loyalty are to be achieved.

TWAIN

A standard software driver whereby imaging devices such as scanners and cameras communicate with a PC.

U

URL

Uniform Resource Locator: Used to identify the address/location of an object (e.g. web page www.< URL here>)

W

WAN

Wide Area network: A network of computers that typically encompasses more than one location. E.g. different offices of the same company.

X

XML

Extensible Markup Language - A data file format that can be read in by a Flash file (.swf) which then styles the data for display on screen. Most commonly used for template based messaging, news, weather, tickers etc.