17 of the Digital Society glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
AI designed and trained for a specific task or domain, such as recognising faces or recommending videos, which cannot transfer its ability to unrelated tasks. It is also called weak AI or domain-specific AI.
The protection of a state, its population, institutions and critical infrastructure from threats such as military attack, terrorism, espionage and cyberattacks.
Ordinary human language, such as English or Spanish, used to describe an algorithm in a form anyone can read but which can be ambiguous.
A field of AI that enables computers to analyse, understand and generate human language, as in translation, chatbots and sentiment analysis.
Any material or energy source that comes from the natural world and that people use, such as minerals, water, land, forests and fossil fuels.
Feedback that counteracts a change and pushes a system back towards a target or balance, as a thermostat or surge pricing does.
The principle that internet service providers must treat all internet traffic equally, without blocking, slowing or charging differently for particular content, applications or websites.
Two or more computers or other devices connected by a transmission medium so that they can share data, resources and services.
The increase in value of a product or service to each user as more people use it, which tends to make the largest platform in a market grow larger still.
The hardware component, now usually built into a device, that connects it to a network through a cable or by radio, and that has a unique hardware (MAC) address.
A society whose main social, economic and political structures are organised through digital information and communication networks, a term associated with Jan van Dijk and Manuel Castells.
A single processing unit in a neural network that adds up the weighted signals it receives, applies a simple function to them and passes the result on to the next layer.
Organised, intentional learning outside the formal school and university system, such as workplace training, community courses, coding bootcamps and online courses that do not lead to a full formal qualification.
A unique record on a blockchain that represents ownership of a specific item, often a digital image, video or in-game object, and cannot be swapped for another token as if they were the same.
A non-profit organisation that is independent of government and works for a social, political, humanitarian or environmental cause, for example by campaigning, providing services or monitoring governments and companies.
Content that users can access in an order or at a time of their own choosing, or whose path they shape through their choices, such as websites, games and on-demand services.
An individual or organisation that has political influence but is not part of a government, such as a multinational company, an armed group, a hacker collective, a religious organisation or a wealthy individual.