N-O

Nearline

Storage and retrieval system where assets are stored offline, such as on removable disks (hard drives, CD- or DVD-ROMs), but are available in a relatively short time frame if requested for online use or use over a network.[Getty]

Net art

A synonym for Internet art. [Variable Media]

net.art

A synonym for Internet art, sometimes used in a more specific sense to refer to artworks from the mid-1990s that took the network protocols as the subject of their investigation. [Variable Media]

Netcasts

Broadcasts that take place over the Internet, typically in streaming audio or video. [Variable Media]

Network

An arrangement of devices such as servers, computers, and printers joined by transmission paths by which programs make requests of one another. Local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN), wide area networks (WAN), and the Internet are all examples of networks. [Getty]

Networked

A networked artwork is designed to be viewed on an electronic communication system, whether a Local Area Network (LAN) or the Internet. Networked media include Web sites, e-mail, and streaming audio and video.[Variable Media]

New media

New media are the means by which art, science, politics, economics, and other forms of culture are reinvented and manipulated as information. In contrast to broadcast media, new media such as the Web, e-mail, text messaging, and peer-to-peer networks encourage many-to-many communication and a "do it yourself" approach to innovation. [Variable Media]

New media art

New media art is art related to, or created with, a technology invented or made widely available since the mid-20th century. The term differentiates itself by its resulting cultural objects, which all employ some newer technology that often requires electrical power. New media art often concerns telecommunications, mass media and digital modes of delivery, with practices ranging from conceptual to virtual art, performance to installation. [EAI]

NISO (National Information Standards Organization)

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO), a United States nonprofit standards organization that develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards related to bibliographic and library applications, founded in 1939. NISO incorporated as a not-for-profit education association in 1983, and assumed its current name the next year. [EAI]

Noise

Any unwanted signal present in the total signal. [BAVC]

Nondrop Frame Time Code (NTSC)

SMPTE time code format that continiously counts a full 30 frames per second. Because NTSC video does not operate at exactly 30 frames per second, nondrop frame time code will count 108 more frames in one hour than actually occur in the NTSC video in one hour. The result is incorrect synchronization of time code with clock time. Drop frame time code solves this problem by skipping or dropping 2 frame numbers per minute, except at the tens of the minute count [BAVC]

Noninterlaced

The process of scanning whereby every line in the picture is scanned during the vertical sweep. [BAVC]

Nonlinear editing

Digital editing style stores images on a hard drive rather than tape. Allows random access to images and 'cut and paste' style arrangement of footage. Allows individual edits to be changed without necessitating the alteration of following edits. In contrast to analog or linear editing. [BAVC]

NTSC (National Television Systems Committee)

The US standard for color television transmission, calling for 525 lines of information, scanned at a rate of 30 frames per second. NTSC standard is used mainly in North America, Japan, and part of South America. One of three international standards, including PAL and SECAM. [BAVC]

NTSC Color bars

A pattern generated by the NTSC Generator, consisting of eight equal width color bars. Colors are white (75%), black (7.5% setup level), 75% saturated pure colors red, green, and blue, and 75% saturated hues of yellow, cyan, and magenta (mixtures of two colors in 1:1 ratio without third color). [BAVC]

Object code

Source code that has been compiled. A program called an assembler must still translate this intermediate code into machine code before a computer can execute it. [Variable Media]

Object-oriented

A style of computer programming that emphasizes writing chunks of code in a generic and encapsulated way in order to reuse these code "objects" for future projects. [Variable Media]

Oe (Oersted)

The unit of magnetic field strength. Abbreviated as Oe. [AMIA]

Offline

Storage and retrieval system where assets are not immediately available for use, or not accessible through a network or computer, but stored on some independent media, such as a CD-ROM. [Getty]

Offline Editing

Preliminary editing done on relatively low-cost editing systems, usually to provide an EDL (edit decision list) for final on-line editing and assembly of the finished show. [ScreenSound Australia]

Off-site storage

Facilities located at a distance from the organization's primary location that are used for storing collection materials. These may be materials that require special handling such as cold storage, which the organization is unable to provide at its primary facility. Other materials stored off-site may pose a danger to others, such as nitrate films. The distributed storage of copies of collection materials across several locations also protects against collection lost in the event of a disaster. [MIC]

Online

Storage and retrieval system where assets are immediately available for use or directly connected to a network or computer through fixed disk storage.[Getty]

Online art

A synonym for Internet art. [Variable Media]

Online editing

Final editing session in which the finished program master is assembled from the original production material. [BAVC]

Open source

A technique for writing software in which original authors make source code freely available for modification and improvement by any programmer who wishes to collaborate on the project. The most well-known example of open source software is the Linux operating system. [Variable Media]

Operating system

The base-level software on which applications like word processors or Internet browsers run. Also known as software "platform." Prominent operating systems include Linux, UNIX, Macintosh, and Windows platforms. [Variable Media]

Original

The earliest generation in the archive. The source recording or final edited master. [AMIA]

Output

Material that a computer generates from its memory for display on a monitor or for transfer to other media, such as paper or magnetic storage such as zip or floppy disks or a CD-ROM. [Projector People]

Overlay

The capability to superimpose computer-generated graphics and/or text on motion or still video. [Projector People]