GlosarioIT: providing knowledge

With the project and especially with the computer glossary, it is about resolving the lack of knowledge of computer-related terms. From the website, users can learn new concepts, or expand their knowledge. Likewise, they can inquire in other sections and in this way learn more about a personality or a particular event of a certain date.

The solution is to provide users connecting to the www.glosarioit.com site with a large number of definitions of terms. Clear concepts and divided into categories for a better understanding.

With the theme of the pandemic that has affected the whole world, the site has had a great impact in times of confinement. Not being able to leave their homes, students found (and still do) GlosarioIT as a great online learning tool to continue in parallel with their studies.

It has been seen on several Internet sites that have used the content of the site to help students in schools and institutions, clarifying the odd definition of a term. Likewise, several concepts could be seen in several .pdf files, also taken from our Glossary. These files were student projects that they had to present at the end of the course, or in practical work given by the professor of some subject or chair of the secondary school or some university/tertiary career. In short, they used our website as a bibliography and thank God they put our source. Also, search engines have contributed to divulge the content of the web (especially Google), which for certain terms the site appears very well positioned. Without a doubt, the pandemic has contributed to the site getting many more visits. Internet has shown throughout its history that it is an immense source of unlimited information.

Analytics tools allow us to see the different users connecting to the site and the number of pages they have browsed.

The project is a website, it is www.glosarioit.com and it is a computer glossary, a non-profit project. The search and definition of a term is the main engine of the website. Although there are also other internal pages that enrich and complement the site even more, namely: curiosities, biographies of personalities, ephemeris, a list of files and acronyms, a game of questions... all always related to computing and technology. The purpose is to grant knowledge to users.
It differs from other sites in that IT terms are divided by category (Networks, IT, Database/Programming, Multimedia). This division was made, because the same term can have one meaning in the Networks category and a different one in Programming, for example. With this separation, there is no confusion and there is a clearer idea of its definition, adapting to the corresponding context and category.

The best way to see it in operation is to go to the website www.glosariot.com and search for any of the thousands of terms already loaded and which are being updated. Basically the search field allows you to do everything in a pleasant and fast way. There, as the characters are entered in the field, a list of the matches found will be displayed, leaving the user to select the term for which they want to know. Also, as an alternative, below the search field, there is a kind of button panel for the user to select the most convenient category. In this way, the search for the term will only be made in the chosen section. If none is selected, all categories will be searched, so different definitions may appear if a match is found in more than one category.

It must also be said that for those curious people who want to see all the terms that are in our database, the page List of all terms has been created, which is arranged alphabetically, with a kind of button panel that contains all the letters to simplify the search and with the option to filter by categories/sections.

With the rise of the Internet, the service of the site is done instantly and from any device, regardless of where or how it is done. What is interesting and fundamental is that the glossary is always being updated. Is that computer concepts are always in constant change.

Without a doubt, the institutions, colleges and/or universities are the ones that have benefited the most from the project. Students and teachers alike have gone through the website to look up certain definitions. Many (teachers or students) have used the website as a reference. They have taken the concept of some term or it has served as a help/complement to some work or thesis.

The benefits is that knowledge is available to anyone. Wherever there is an Internet connection, anyone, regardless of their race or age, will be able to learn a large number of new concepts, or enrich their knowledge even more. Thus older people can, in an easy way, know definitions that they did not know and in this way not be left behind. Reaching each home, in each of the different devices and being able to answer any questions or learn about a new term in particular, is the main objective and the one that is sought to be resolved.

Education and learning should be a duty for every person, including those who are illiterate. No one should be exempt or excluded from the right to train and acquire new knowledge or concepts. Access to the Internet should also be a right for any individual and anywhere in the world so that everyone can obtain the same opportunities.

There is only one person dedicated to the project. The same one that subscribes here. I have graduated as a systems analyst and from there I have acquired the necessary knowledge to undertake the project. Idea and start-up that happened while I was in the last year of my degree. In addition, I have been looking for and making tutorials online, which gave me more enrichment to what I had already learned.

I am the person who manages and maintains the website, adding, updating and modifying content. I carry out an exhaustive search for content in different paper material (notes, magazines, books...), and then go about making a survey and separation of each text found. I have everything in a word type file where I put the terms with their definitions. There I edit, add or complement the concept. Once this is finished, I start adding certain html tags to finally dump it to a database locally. Then, also locally, the definition of the concept is reviewed for the last time, now from the web page, for once verified, upload it to the server and put it online.

How did the idea of making a glossary come about?
I remember being in my last year of the Systems Analyst degree. In one of the subjects (in this case it was programming) in which I was attending, a colleague approached me to ask me the meaning of a word named by the teacher, while he was explaining something to us about the Visual Basic language and it was there that I did not know either say. I had no concept of that term, which I will never forget: ActiveX. From that moment I had the idea of doing something with those words that are so technical in computing and that deserved to be explained.
I started to dump all the content I had (from study material, magazines, books...) into a database. I was loading terms with their definitions. Everything was in a desktop application, at that time Visual Basic 6 (that was what I knew). Then, seeing the little scope of this (only the people in my circle could get rid of the doubt with some term in which they did not know its meaning). I decided to make the website, in order to reach more places. Here my motivation rose, as well as dedication.

The great desire of the project is to be committed to education, generate links with institutions, professors, teachers and therefore make good use of the culture of education and knowledge. We are open to collaborating and also being able to exchange ideas, dialogue.

Being a website that only provides knowledge, income is difficult to generate. GlosarioIT needs to be sustainable and profitable, to be known within sponsors, companies, investors and all those who want to contribute to promote and grow the project.

I am very focused on the project itself and I don't see if it has the possibility of growing and expanding even more. That is why experts in other areas are needed to help build a path that allows the growth of the website.

Likewise, certain hardware requirements, such as the donation of a notebook, would be a contribution. Also resources, such as hosting the website.

The innovation came from being just a specifically IT glossary, and which, in turn, is divided into categories (IT, Multimedia, Networks and Database/Programming). This division was made because the same term can have one meaning in the Networks category and a different one in Programming, for example. Thus, in this way, the definition can be distinguished according to the corresponding section. Making a better idea of where this term corresponds with its convenient definition.

The idea of making it dynamic and that the glossary content is always displayed on the same page was also implemented as a novelty. This way the page doesn't have to refresh all the content. In conjunction with this, a search field was created that shows the matches of the characters entered by the user. With this, the search and display of the definition of a term becomes much more practical and faster.
Likewise, a page was added where the user can see all the terms loaded in our database (there they can see how many there are, although more are always being added). They are sorted by alphabet and can be searched by categories (or list all) and by letter. The page is: List of all terms

Reaching each home, in each of the different devices and being able to answer any questions or learn about a new term in particular, is the main objective and the one that is sought to be resolved.

With the rise of the Internet and being able to reach everywhere, access to information is always available to everyone. It is on our site, for example, the possibility of providing the user with what he is looking for in a fast, simple and unrestricted way.
We want to offer an inclusive education and where each teacher can commit to sharing our content freely. Being able to use our website as a source, either for different projects, tasks or exercises that the instructor can show to each of the students. Thus, with the help of GlosarioIT, teachers can use it to defend an article or explained material, or complement it with their different works presented to students. In this way they will be able to further enrich their knowledge and why not, explore new definitions and add them to their knowledge.

A great objective is to be able to reach more places and corners of the world. The idea is to have the website in different languages and thus reach different regions. So far it is only in Spanish, which limits certain Spanish-speaking countries. Likewise, it would be very useful to be able to update the site in terms of its design and visualization, obtain associations from different groups, support so that in this way the project definitely remains as something sustainable in the future. The main objective is that everyone has the opportunity to get to know the project and gradually acquire knowledge in it.

With this pandemic, the use of the Internet was mandatory for most institutions and other users. We saw that the site has increased its visits in different countries and has been able to contribute in a timely manner to the various Internet users in the search for content in GlosarioIT.

Being a website, the way to measure it is through certain software tools. For example, the one provided by hosting with cPanel or Google Analytics.

From here you can see different reports and statistics. As stated at another point, a large increase in users could be seen in the midst of a pandemic. The majority being Spanish-speaking countries, since the site is made in Spanish.
The number of users is between 1000 and 1700 users, where the days from Monday to Friday are when more income is generated.

From the GlosarioIT project, anyone can learn or clear up any doubts with some other definition. It could be said that educators and students find the website most useful. In this way schools, institutions, universities, etc. they will be able to use (and already do) the site as a reference or to reinforce any definition or content that a teacher is teaching to a student. With the coronavirus pandemic, projects like GlosarioIT contribute to the community from home, providing knowledge in every corner of the planet where Internet access is guaranteed.

GlosarioIT is an attractive alternative for professional preparation in areas such as information technology and the Internet, which are always in constant change.

The interesting thing is that there are basic concepts like "hacer clic" to more complex ones like "cifrado simétrico". Therefore, anyone with basic knowledge can further expand their knowledge of it and investigate unknown concepts.

With the rise of the Internet, the service of the site is done instantly and from any device, regardless of where or how it is done.

As it is a project that only needs Internet access and the device used, GlosarioIT can be used in different regions and areas where the Internet is available to people and where they have a device for their connection.

The idea of making it dynamic and that the content of the glossary is always displayed on the same page was implemented in www.glosarioit.com as a novelty. This way the page doesn't have to refresh all the content. In conjunction with this, a search field was created that shows the matches of the characters entered by the user. With this, the search and display of the definition of a term becomes much more practical and faster.

There is only one person working on the project.

Without a doubt, the institutions, colleges and/or universities are the ones that have benefited the most from the project.

The beneficiaries of the website correspond to the educators and students. These are the ones that get the most out of it.

Educators use it as a reference for their topic of a particular subject or department, usually related to technology.
In the case of students, they find in GlosarioIT the understanding of certain terms that they did not know, thus adding more knowledge to their learning. They also use the website as a bibliography or source for various works proposed by the teacher.
Since there are so many technical words that are not understood, educators need GlosarioIT to clarify these concepts and in this way their students can understand when a particular topic is discussed.

Income is difficult to generate. No service is offered or sold here. Being a website that only provides knowledge, funding can come from advertising, announcements, donations, grants...

The idea would be to have long-term financial support, such as sustained grants. For that, renowned businesses/companies are needed that believe in the project and contribute in a sustainable way. Honestly, I would not know how to achieve this and I would like to receive the necessary help to achieve it, with trained people in the area and with knowledge of the facts.

The financial sustainability plan was not successful, no financial support is received.

The only income (although scarce) is from the Google AdSense program, from some affiliates that offer certain products on the pages (zero income here) and a donation page (very little). Income is low, the only one being the AdSense program, but as said, limited. This is why something fixed and sustainable is needed.