Glossary: New Media

UCE

Unsolicited Commercial Email is any mass email marketing message that arrives without the recipient’s permission. In another word, spam.

UMTS

See Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

unicast

Somewhat inefficient but predominant data transmission method on the internet: a point-to-point broadcast from web server to browser clients. If in one minute’s time twenty different users request the same video file, the web server will send out that file in its entirety twenty different times.

unique visitor

In website analytics, every individual that visits a website one or more times. By examining IP addresses to identify repeat visitors, server log analysis software can count how many actual people arrive at a site.

universal mobile telecommunications system

High speed wireless communications standard that provides voice, text, multimedia and data streaming services to mobile phones and enhanced PDAs.

up converting

The process of raising a video’s pixel count or frame rate to accommodate playback on more advanced display devices—up converting from standard to high definition, for example.

upload

To transmit data across a network that other devices will request later. Webmasters might upload audio files so users can download them to their computers or MP3 players.

URL

A Uniform Resource Locator is the unique internet address for any content on the web. URLs include file type (http://), domain name (www.hawthornedirect.com), file path (/glossary/) and file name (glossary_a.html).

usability

In marketing circles, a measurement of how easily the average consumer can complete a direct response task—navigate a website and place an order, call a toll-free number displayed on an Infomercial, activate a click-to-buy purchase from an interactive TV ad and so on.

usability testing

The formal study of actual average users who attempt to complete typical tasks on a website. Research specialists record and analyze these users’ behaviors to identify what site elements require modification.

user generated content

Audio, video and text created by ordinary people who use blogs, web forums and media-sharing portals to post original creative works and commentary. Sometimes called Consumer Generated Media.