The body of knowledge to be taught in a cycle of studies covering a given subject.

The representation of space as defined by computers and virtual technologies, especially on the Internet. It is a geography of networks that is made possible by servers, websites and hypertext links. It creates a digitalized environment allowing the transit of information and data as well as the various types of communication between people and computers.

Coined from two words, cybernetics and organism. Refers to the moving frontier of human-machine relations mediated by technology. This machine anthropomorphism permits technological systems to experience mental states and, conversely, human beings to accept the idea of prostheses being inserted in their bodies. This virtual entity underlines the dependence of contemporary societies on media and new technologies, and as such is often represented in media texts, especially in science-fiction.

The group of close relatives living under the same roof. By extension, it also includes persons who share some kind of relationship (by adoption, by brotherhood, by cousinhood, by remarriage...).

The physical devices that make up computers, other data processing systems or broadcasting systems (both central units and peripherals). It allows the interface between messages stored in the software and in the virtual digital realm to have some human readable form on screen or paper that can be conveyed from a sender to a receiver.

A format for presenting computer texts which allows the user to move between one text and another through links.

The ICT-CST project provides a complete framework for ICT Competency Standards for Teachers by

• (a) addressing the underlying "Policy Framework" (document 1 of 3),
• (b) examining the components of educational reform and developing a matrix of skill sets for teachers which correspond to various policy approaches and education reform components2 (document 2 of 3), and
• (c) providing a detailed description of the specific skills to be acquired by teachers within each skill set/module (document 3 of 3).

Fact, message or opinion brought to the attention of the public by means of words, sounds and images. It can also refer to the action of forming public opinion by reporting events or to the decision-making process. In computer processing, information can be an element transmitted by a combination of digital signals, packaged as data.

In the context of commercial production, refers to the different assembly stages of a product or a media text before being massively exploited: from the experimental invention to the development of a prototype to the final distribution according to the norms and standards of the industrial sector. Often, innovation is characterized by the hybridization of genres or the formulaic spin-offs from a successful genre or text.

Inter-personal relations that use the machine to establish person-to-person communication.

Person-to-machine communication by way of the screen, giving access to the capacities of the computer system for calculations, games, connections, etc.

A network of computer networks which functions by file transfer between a variety of servers and personal computers. It uses a series of protocols for addressing and exchanging files that allows different pieces of software to receive packages of data and to communicate between them. More and more, Internet tends to be a multimedia platform that can receive all kinds of media texts.

A dynamic relation which takes place in the exchange between a transmitter of signals and a receiver of these signals, by means of technical tools and of semiotic resources (images, sound, written language). By extension, all the media techniques used to transmit a message, to inform public opinion or to maintain the reputation of a company or corporation.

Defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, they are natural and inviolable rights.

Digital technology that integrates on the same vehicle a variety of media resources, such as sound, text, still or moving images and the possibility of interactivity.

Open Educational Resources are defined as "technology-enabled, open provision of educational resources for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes". They are typically made freely available over the Web or the Internet. Their principal use is by teachers and educational institutions support course development, but they can also be used directly by students. Open Educational Resources include learning objects such as lecture material, references and readings, simulations, experiments and demonstrations, as well as syllabi, curricula and teachers' guides.

The recommended definition of Open Educational Resources is: The open provision of educational resources, enabled by information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes.

The deliberate representation of obscene material about the body in order to create sexual arousal.

Action or process which makes what is not real appear as reality.

All the procedures and the digital programs necessary to run a computer or a data processing system.

Physical or mental activity which is related to entertainment and pleasure. In the media, play can be organized as an activity with rules defining winners and losers, gain or loss.

A critical position that applies the principles of linguistics to the analysis of texts. It holds that discrete units function in relation the each other, to produce meaning. Meaning is seen as constructed on binary oppositions, like presence/absence or good/evil, and also on paradigmatic and syntagmatic combinations. In media analysis, it has been used to identify recurrent patterns and formulas in genres.

An interactive system of simulation, by means of computer generated images. It creates a time and space universe which is neither tangible nor physical and yet in which objects and persons can move as in the physical and material time and space. It is often used in video games to offer universes of coherent signs on which players can act.

Blogs: Coined from two words, web and log. Refers to on-line diaries in the public sphere, on personal, institutional or thematic sites. The meaning relates to the navigation metaphor characteristic of the Internet but also to the notion of monitoring progress so as to improve performance and storage. The rise of the blogosphere has been noticeable since September 11, 2001 and has demonstrated the interactive dynamic capacities of the digital media.