11. IT and e-commerce CHECK YOUR ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION

CHECK YOUR ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION

11. IT and e-commerce

Exercise 1: Read this (not very technical) description and replace the underlined expressions with a more appropriate word or expression from the box. This is my new 1. computer that sits on top of a table or desk (I've also got a 2. small computer which can be carried and held on your knees.) As you can see, there are six main 3. parts to it. The first is the 4. part of the computer that runs it and controls what it does, and this is the most important bit. It carries the 5. part that stores and controls the flow of information, including the 6. round thing that is used for storing information. Mine has a particularly high 7. capacity for storing information, which means that it's much faster than most. It came with its own 8. computer programs package (including one for 9. writing, checking and changing texts, one for 10. calculating in columns of figures, and one for 11. producing texts and pictures for magazines). You can also 12. put in other programs using the 13. sliding tray for carrying round, plastic, information-holding things, or the 14. hole for connecting computer parts to one another (into which you can put a 15. small plastic and metal object which can hold a lot of information). The other five parts of the computer are the 16. screen that lets you see what your computer is doing, the 17. flat thing with the letters and numbers on it that let you control the computer, the 18. machine that lets you make copies of the documents that you create on your computer, the 19. device for making colour copies of photographs and other documents which you can put onto your computer and last but not least, the 20. device that you hold in your hand and move across your desk to control the cursor. In my opinion, the best thing about modern information technology is the 21. network that links millions of computers from around the world. Once you've got yourself a 22. company that allows you access and a 23. program that finds information you can start using this. It's especially useful if you want to get information about something, go shopping or 24. transfer information, games, music, etc, onto your own computer. You can even 'talk' to other computer users in 25. special places where you can leave messages and get instant replies. If you have a particular interest in something, you can also visit 26. places on the computer where you can 'talk' to other people with the same interest. Most companies have their own 27. special computer pages which you can look at. Let me 28. turn the computer on, enter my code and access the computer system, and I'll show you ours. OK, here we go. Oh no, another 29. advertisement that suddenly appears on the computer screen. How annoying. Let me just remove it. That's better. Now, I can never remember the exact address of our company, so first of all I'll type it into the 30. Program that helps you find the information you want. OK, A and C Black Publishing'. The computer identifies the 31. most important or main words and then gives me 32. connections to a list of possible sites. This one looks right: 'www.acblack.com'. That's the company's 33. officially registered website address. I'll click on that. Bingo! Here's our 34. front page. You can use this to find the different books that we publish, and if you want you can even buy them 35. through the computer. Hmm, this book looks good: 'Check your English Vocabulary for Business and Administration'. Now, before I 36. exit this site, I'll just 37. add it to my list of favourites so that I can find it more quickly next time. Perhaps the most important thing, however, is 38. a special electronic letter-sending facility, which allows you to communicate with people around the world in an instant. Let me quickly check mine. First of all, I need to enter my 39. special word that allows me to enter the system. That's it. Oh dear, nothing very interesting. Mainly a load of 40. unwanted advertising. I'll just 41. remove it: I don't particularly want to have a new home extension, pass my bank details to a "solicitor" in Nigeria or buy a pill that's guaranteed to improve my love life. There's something here from one of our suppliers with a / an 42. document or file that has been sent with it. You have to be careful with these: sometimes they contain a 43. hidden routine placed in the program that destroys or corrupts files. If you open it, it can do all sorts of horrible things to your computer. We had one last week that kept 44. shutting down our system. We do have 45. something on our computer that protects against this sort of thing, but it's a bit out of date: we really ought to 46. bring it up to date. Exercise 2: Test your knowledge with this quiz. 1 What is a JPEG and what would you use it for? 2 In computer terms, what is the difference between a file and a folder? 3 What is the difference between freeware and shareware? 4 You suspect that spyware is being used on your computer each time you use the Internet. What does this do? 5 What is the difference between the Internet, an intranet and an extranet? 6 A customer using your website to buy something has just checked her shopping basket and is now proceeding to checkout. What is she about to do? 7 What is a click-wrap agreement? Is it: (a) a contract presented entirely over the Internet (b) an agreement between two or more companies to share a single website (c) an agreement between two or more companies to pass customer information to each other (d) a contract that is sent over the Internet and then returned in the normal post (e) an agreement by a company not to send unsolicited advertising to customers. 8 What do the letters ISP stand for? 9 What do we call information that a website leaves in your computer so that the website recognises you when you visit it again? Is it: (a) a biscuit (b) a cookie (c) a cracker (d) a scone (e) a crumpet 10 The company you work for sells its products on the Internet, and also in its own shops around the country. What is the name we give to this kind of operation? Is it: (a) a mouse and house business (b) a tap and trot business (c) a clicks and mortar business (d) a hit and run business (e) a surf and turf business 11 Many company websites have a section or page labelled FAQ. What do these letters stand for? 12 An on-line shop has a small padlock symbol (🔒) displayed at the bottom of the computer screen. What does this mean?: (a) The website or webpage has a secure server. (b) The website will not allow the user to proceed any further. (c) The Internet connection has been broken. (d) There is, or may be, a virus on the site. (e) The user needs to enter a password to continue. 13 Your company does a lot of B2B advertising on the Internet. What does this mean? 14 You send an email, and then almost immediately receive a message saying that the person you are trying to contact is on holiday. What do we call this sort of message? 15 UCE is the official term for: (a) an on-line shop that only sells on the Internet (b) spam (c) a username or password (d) a dotcom enterprise (e) a domain name 16 What is broadband? Is this the same as an ISDN line? 17 You are uploading information on your computer. Are you: (a) transferring information from the Internet or another application to your computer? (b) transferring information from your computer to a website? 18 Some websites (especially those belonging to on-line banks) ask their customers for a PIN before they can enter the site. What do these letters stand for? 19 In an IT context, what are banners, buttons and pop-ups? 20 You discover that there is an anti-site on the Internet dedicated to your company. Would you be happy about this? 21 What does a computer hacker do? 22 In an IT context, what does a firewall do? 23 Your company has just been Amazoned. What has happened to it? 24 Someone tells you that your company has a sticky site. What do they mean? (a) Your company website is very slow. (b) The information on your company website is out of date. (c) Your company website is very boring. (d) Your company website is very difficult to use. (e) Your company website is very interesting. 25 Someone accuses your company of phishing. What do they think you have done? 26 A customer says you have a cobweb site that looks like an angry fruit salad. How would you feel about this? 27 Your company website has a lot of spider food. From a business point of view, why might this be an advantage to you? 28 Are you buzzword compliant?

ANSWER KEY

1. A JPEG is a method of reducing, or compressing, computer files that contain images so that they can be sent quickly by email over the Internet (it is also the name of a file that is produced by this method) 2. A file is a set of information or a document that is stored under a particular name on a computer, a folder is a group of related programs or documents stored together on a computer 3. Freeware is free software available on the Internet, shareware is similar, but users are asked to make a voluntary monetary contribution for its use, or are encouraged to buy a more advanced version 4. Spyware is computer software that secretly records the websites you visit on your computer, and this information is then used by companies who try to sell you things 5. The Internet is a computer system, or network, that allows people in different parts of the world to exchange information (using websites and sending emails, etc). An intranet is a computer network that can only be used within a company or organisation. An extranet is similar to an intranet, but also allows access by others associated with that company or organisation (for example, suppliers, buyers, etc) 6. She has finished shopping and is now going to pay 7. (a) The user 'signs' the contract by clicking on a box or boxes to show that he / she agrees with the terms and conditions 8. Internet Service Provider 9. (b) 10. (c) (A company that only does business on the Internet is called a dot.com business. A company that does not have an Internet shopping facility is known as a bricks and mortar business) 11. Frequently asked questions 12. (a) 13. Business to business 14. An auto response 15. (b) UCE = unsolicited commercial email 16. Broadband is a class of transmission system that allows large amounts of data to be transferred at high speed over the Internet; an ISDN line is a digital telephone network that supports advanced communication services and can be used for high-speed data transmission 17. (b) 18. personal identification number, a private code number that only the user knows (also required when using a credit / debit card in a cash machine or in a shop) 19. They are forms of on-screen advertising 20. No. An anti-site, also called a hate-site or gripe-site, is a website set up by an unhappy (ex-) customer so that they can publicly say bad things about your company, and encourage other people to do the same 21. A hacker is someone who uses a computer to connect to other people's computers secretly and often illegally, so that they can find or change information. The verb is to hack 22. A firewall protects your computer or network, or certain files and folders on that computer / network, from being illegally accessed by a hacker (see number 21 above) 23. If a company is Amazoned, is has lost a large share of its market to a competitor because it has failed to develop an effective business strategy (especially if it has failed to utilise IT technology). This is an informal word, named after the Internet company Amazon.com, who very quickly took a large share of the book market before expanding into other areas 24. (e) Also called a heavy site. This is an informal expression 25. Phishing (pronounced like fishing) is an informal word which refers to sending emails that are designed to trick people into giving away personal information, such as bank account details. This information is then used to steal from those people. More advanced phishers set up bogus websites that look like real websites (especially ones that look like bank websites) that try to trick the unwary or gullible 26. You would probably feel rather unhappy, especially if you were the company's website manager: a cobweb site is a website that contains a lot of out-of-date information, and if it looks like an angry fruit salad, it has an interface that is particularly unattractive to look at 27. Spider food is an informal expression that refers to words that are embedded in a web page to attract search engines. As a result, your website would receive a lot of visitors 28. You are if you were able to answer most of the questions in this exercise: someone who is buzzword compliant is familiar with the latest computer and IT terms and expressions. It is an informal expression.