Short for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit organisation that has assumed the responsibility for IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract. ICANN was created by the late Jon Postel in the fall of 1998 in response to a policy statement issued by the US Department of Commerce. This statement called for the formation of a private sector not-for-profit Internet stakeholder to administer policy for the Internet name and address system. Thus far ICANN has taken various measures to oversee the domain-name registration system's transition from government hands to private hands and to coordinate its decentralisation and the integration into a global community. ICANN's diverse board consists of nineteen Directors, nine At-Large Directors, who serve one-year terms and will be succeeded by At-Large Directors elected by an at-large membership organisation. None of the present interim directors may sit on the board once the permanent members are selected.

See Pre-Press Services

A single graphic image containing more than one hot spot. For example, imagine a graphic of a bowl of fruit. When you click on a banana, the system displays the number of calories in a banana and when you click on an apple, it displays the number of calories in an apple. Image maps are used extensively on the World Wide Web. Each hot spot in a Web image map takes you to a different Web page. Image map is sometimes spelled as one word: imagemap.

See Pre-Press Services

An advertisement's appearance on an accessed Web page. For example, if the page you're on shows three ads, that's three impressions. Advertisers use impressions to measure the number of views their ads receive, and publishers often sell ad space according to impressions. (It can be tough to know, though, whether an impression really means a visitor saw the ad, since they could be browsing without graphics or might not have scrolled down far enough.) Impressions are tracked in a log maintained by a site server and are often sold on a cost per thousand (CPM) basis.

Imprinted designation on mail that denotes postage payment (e.g.,permit imprint).

Superheated dots of ink are sprayed from an ink reservoir on the printhead to form full characters.

See Telemarketing Services

A volume, lower-cost First-Class Airmail service provided by the U.S. Postal Service. International Surface Airlift (ISAL)

A bulk service from the U.S. Postal Service for printed matter and small packets. Mail sent by ISAL travels from the United States to the destination country by air. It is then entered into the domestic postal stream of that country, from which it travels by surface to its final destination.

A global network connecting more than 100 countries and millions of computers.

Meaning in between, an advertisement that appears in a separate browser window while you wait for a Web page to load. Interstitials are more likely to contain large graphics, streaming presentations, and applets than conventional banner ads, and some studies have found that more users click on interstitials than on banner ads. Some users, however, have complained that interstitials slow access to destination pages.

Abbreviation for Internet Service Provider, a company that provides access to the World Wide Web.