Managing Interactive Media

Managing Interactive Media

Glossary: P (57 entries found)

PAL, SECAM
The analogue colour television systems used in Europe and most of the world outside North America and Japan, with 625 lines in a frame (of which 576 are visible) and 25 frames per second. See also NTSC. SECAM encodes the colour information differently to PAL and is used mostly in France, the Middle East and eastern Europe.
palette
The colours available for use in a graphic.
pan
Moving the viewpoint of a camera from side to side by swivelling it and not actually moving the camera.
Pareto method
An analytical representation of data in graphical form; used to help identify the products that can make the best contribution to the company.
PAS78
Standards document: Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites.
patent
The right to exclusive implementation of a process as defined in the patent document.
patent agent
A lawyer who drafts letters patent.
paternity
The moral right whereby you have a right to be identified as author. Also known as attribution.
PDA
Personal Digital Assistant, very small hand-held computer also known as palm top.
peer review
Appraisal by colleagues or people performing similar jobs, where the sharing of experience and insights is used to adjust, in this case, the design and functionality of the application.
penalty clause
Clause in a contract specifying what should happen if either party defaults on the agreement.
perceptual map
Analytical representation of the results of a survey; used to understand the relative positions of two variables plotted in a matrix.
perceptual matrix
See perceptual map.
performance monitoring
A management process in which people agree criteria of acceptable achievements for a period and review performance according to the criteria at the end of the time. The performance agreement might be linked to bonus payments. Any shortfall of performance accredited to lack of skill might prompt training initiatives.
performing right
The right to perform a piece of music to an audience.
Perl
A computer language widely used on web servers to produce dynamic web pages based on data received from users. It has powerful string manipulation capabil-ities, which make it well suited to generating HTML on the fly.
personal construct
Term originating with George Kelly, a psychologist from the 1950s, who devised techniques for people to define and prioritize concepts that were important to them. A personal construct is the construction and interpretation of meaning by an individual.
PHP
A server side programming language which allows dynamic content to be inserted in web pages. Code in a web page is interpreted by the server when the page is displayed. See also ASP.
picon
An icon that shows a realistic image or picture rather than a representation or symbolic image. Few make the distinction between picon and icon, and generally icon is used to denote all selection images. See also icon and micon.
PID
Project Initiation Document, a preliminary stage from Prince2 project management methodology that outlines the information that should be collected and presented in this document.
pilot projects
Experimental projects designed as a run-up to a full-blown development.
pitch
The process of a few companies presenting their ideas to a prospective client in a competition to win a tender for a project. Can be used as a noun or verb.
pitch protection policy
A legally drafted document designed to protect the intellectual property of the developer pitching for work so that the potential client does not discuss the ideas presented with rivals. Has similarities with non-disclosure agreement.
pixels
Picture elements, the basic building blocks of a picture: sometimes used to be called pels, which was short for picture elements.
placeholders
A temporary use of images, audio and/or text that are representational of the navigational feel of the final version but not part of the real content.
platform
The combination of hardware and software on which a computer program will run. In web terms this is usually taken to mean the combination of operating system and browser.
plug-ins
Small extensions to the functionality of a piece of software such as a web browser. The use of the term plug-in refers to the ease with which they can be added, usually involving simply copying the plug-in into a particular computer directory.
PNG
Portable Network Graphics, a graphics standard devised to replace GIF but giving much higher quality and more versatility. PNG can be used as an archive format.
podcast
POD is derived either from the iPOD or from Personal On Demand and refers to downloaded audio files that are intended to be listened to using portable music players like the iPod. Strictly speaking the podcasts are accessed by subscribing to updated lists by RSS rather than a static link.
POP
Post Office Protocol, one system used to handle mail boxes for email users. An alternative is IMAP.
pop-up, pop-under
A browser window that is opened using JavaScript, when a link is clicked. Usually, but not always, used for advertising. A pop-up appears in front of the current browser window and a pop-under appears behind it.
port (number)
A software identifier saying how a computer should treat an Internet request. Web pages are usually requested from port 80.
port (to and a)
Move a computer program from one machine/platform to another.
portable document format
A standard for encoding documents in a file so that the look of the document, including its fonts and graphics, is retained no matter which computer it is shown on. Devised by Adobe.
posterization
Reduction of the smooth variation in colours in an image to a series of discrete steps. Also known as quantization and contouring. Although this effect is usually seen as an error, posterization is sometimes used for artistic effect.
POTS and PANS
Light-hearted terms used to describe changes in telecommunications. POTS are Plain Old Telephone System and PANS are Positively Amazing New Stuff (or similar).
pre-alpha
A very incomplete version of an offline program.
pricing policy
The decisions made on the price of goods based on the understanding of the market, competitorsŐ prices and what people are prepared to pay.
primary colours
The smallest set of colours which can be combined to produce virtually all other colours. For light these are red, green and blue and, when combined, they produce white. For pigments they are red, yellow and blue and, when combined, these colours produce black.
primitives
Basic building blocks of a computer system.
Prince2
An approach to project management devised by the UK government in the late 1980s now growing in use as a standard methodology for many large projects. It has several considerations if applied in interactive project management. See www.atsf.co.uk/mim for more about this approach.
prior art
In patents, a patent can be invalidated or refused if the idea has been publicized before or already existed (uses art in the same way as the term state-of-the-art).
production music
Recorded music produced especially for use in film television and other audio-visual productions. Usually available for license based on a standard rate card. Also known as library music.
programme manager
The title of a person who has responsibility over a group of projects and/or project managers.
programming language
Since computers can work only with zeros and ones it is rather difficult for mere mortals to program them. To alleviate this problem, programming languages have been developed that understand almost real English.
progressive scan
A television picture that scans each line in order, as distinct from interlaced.
project champion
A person nominated to represent the project inside an organization to protect its development and completion from undue influences, both internal and external.
project management
The specification, planning and control of time, cost, quality and resource issues to complete a project on time and within budget.
project manager
A person who carries out project management. Used here to describe the leader of an interactive media team.
proposal
The document in which the developers outline the application content, development schedule and cost for the commissioners of a project.
prototype
A limited working version of the application; used early in the project to get reaction to the general design and interface so that adjustments can be made.
proxy server
A computer that sits between a computer and the Internet and helps to handle transactions such as web page accesses. A proxy is commonly used to locally store distant web pages that are frequently called up so as to speed up the apparent web access and reduce network traffic.
psycho-acoustics
The science of hearing, taking into account the psychological aspects of the way the brain interprets sounds as well as the pure acoustics and physics.
psychometric tests
Psychological tests that use measurable factors to attribute a score for the person being tested. The tests are used in recruitment and career management decisions, particularly in large organizations.
public domain
Used to mean out of copyright and so freely available for use. This is now often used to refer to copyright material placed in the public domain by the owner with the intention of it being freely available, but while still retaining the copyright.
pushing the envelope
Trying something new, usually without sufficient experience and with an element of risk.
PVR
Personal Video Recorder, a set top box television receiver which also contains hard disc storage and can record programmes for time shifting just as a VCR does. But a PVR can do more than this; the two main features being the ability to pause live programming and for the box to learn your viewing habits and record programmes speculatively to offer you later. In the USA PVRs are referred to as DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) and there is a move to call them DTRs (Digital Television Recorders) in the UK.