18 of the Digital Society glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
The maximum rate at which data can be transferred over a network connection, measured in bits per second (for example, megabits per second).
A one-sided tendency in a source or a person that favours some views, groups or outcomes over others, often because of who made the source and why.
Datasets so large, varied and fast-changing that they cannot be stored, processed or analysed with traditional tools, and need specialised systems to extract useful information.
The small group of very large technology companies, usually Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, that dominate many digital markets and hold great economic and political influence.
A number system that uses only the digits 0 and 1, used by digital systems to represent all data and instructions.
A searching algorithm for sorted lists that checks the middle item and discards the half that cannot contain the target, repeating until the item is found; each step halves the search.
The variety of living things in a place or on Earth as a whole, including the diversity of species, the genetic diversity within species and the diversity of ecosystems.
Attempts by individuals, often outside medical institutions, to change or enhance their own bodies or biology, for example by implanting devices, self-tracking intensively, taking supplements or experimenting with genetic techniques.
The measurement of unique physical or behavioural characteristics, such as fingerprints, iris patterns, facial features or voice, to identify or verify a person automatically.
A form of 3D printing that builds living tissue layer by layer from a bioink containing living cells, with the long-term aim of producing tissues and organs for repair, research and transplantation.
A binary digit, the smallest unit of digital data, with a value of either 0 or 1.
An algorithm whose inner workings cannot be seen or understood by the people affected by it, either because it is kept secret or because, like a large neural network, it is too complex to explain.
A mode of education that combines face-to-face teaching with online learning, with some control for the learner over the time, place or pace of the online part.
A digital record of transactions stored as a chain of linked blocks and copied across many computers, in which each block contains the hash of the previous one so that past entries cannot be changed without detection.
A website of regularly updated written entries, called posts, usually shown with the newest first and often written by one person or a small group.
A network of computers or other connected devices infected with malware and controlled remotely by an attacker, often used for denial-of-service attacks or spam.
A system that records signals from the brain and translates them into commands for an external device, such as a computer cursor, a robotic arm or a speech synthesiser.
A group of eight bits, which can represent 256 different values and is the basic unit for measuring digital storage.