Reference: Internet-Terminology

The following Terms and Phrases should be considered as having the associated meanings when used in the context of this site. Note that you can retrieve any of these definitions anywhere on the site where you see a small gray question mark next to the Term by clicking on it.

RidgeStar

The pseudonym used for the company responsible for designing, implementing, and providing professional operations support for an Interactive Operations Site utilizing the Internet's Web services.

RidgeStar is an operational Division of North Ridge Software, Inc., a privately held Washington State corporation (serving it's customers since 1982).

www.RidgeStar.com

A reference to the collection of graphics, pages, and functions that are operational on the World Wide Web as the RidgeStar's Site.

Administrator

A User charged with the overall responsibility for the general operation of the RidgeStar site and management of Site usage.

Adjudication

The procedures and hearings associated with a Committee reviewing a Misconduct Report to determine if the Card will be upheld or not. Adjudication also includes the determination of any penalties, suspensions, etc.

Album

A repository for photos and other graphical images that are associated with an event or activity involving Chapter personnel

Area

One or more Locations containing Fields that are geographically linked in some way

Assessor

A User that has been formally licensed or otherwise approved by the Board to perform Referee Assessments.

Assignment

As a noun, it identifies the relationship between a specific Match Position and a Referee. As a verb, it refers to the steps and actions necessary to create the relationship between a specific Match Position and a Referee.

Assignor

A User that has the responsibility to coordinate and facilitate the assignment of Referees to Matches

AssignCrew

An action performed by an Assignor to assign a complete Referee Crew to a Match

Audit

A database table containing a single entry for each significant action that takes place on the site. Also used as a verb to indicate that a particular action will be recorded for future review and diagnosis

Authority

Identifies the Organization that sanctions a particular Match to be held. This might be a State Association, a local League, etc., but is ultimately the administrative body that organizes and tracks the competitions between the teams under it's guidance.

Browser

A program operating in a Visitor's system somewhere on the Internet that has asked for a Page from a Server.

Chapter

Describes a collection of Referees that work as a group to provide coverage to Matches in a specific geographic area. A single Chapter commonly provides Referees to Matches sanctioned by one or more Authorities. RidgeStar is a Chapter.

Client

An organization, individual, or other business that contracts with RidgeStar for Internet Services

Clinic

An organized activity intended to provide information to Attendees about a specific Topic or related set of Topics

Coach

An individual that participates in a Match in a non-Player capacity that is responsible for the Team's tactical operation during the Match

Crew

One or more Referees assigned to officiate a scheduled Match

Criteria

A specific combination of values associated with data elements that permits you to select a subset of entries that meet your needs.

Directory

An online, searchable list of the Site Users or participants that make up the RidgeStar constituents

Documentation

The set of pages, discussions, and information that describes the elements that make up an Interactive Site and it's operations

Division

A specific group of teams within a League and Level that has a specific playing schedule during a specific period of time (e.g. season or tournament). A Division is typically based on a Team's competitive skill level (as in Division 1, 2, 3, etc.)

Evaluation

Feedback to a Referee from an observer of an Assignment

Feedback

Feedback to a Referee from a qualified Mentor about an Assignment

Field

A physical area at a Location where a scheduled Match will occur between two Teams.

Forum

A general discussion area for a free exchange of ideas, thoughts, and comments.

Gender

A reference to the sex of the participants in a Match (e.g. Male, M, Female, F, Coed, B, Boys, G, Girls, etc.). The Gender is for a Match is set according to the charter for the Organization scheduling the Match.

This can also be a reference to the Gender of a single User (when used in the context of the User's Profile)

Interactive Site

Is a phrase used to describe the combination of concepts, functions, and pages that are collected together and placed on an Internet Web Server with the specific intention of meeting a single RidgeStar Client's requirements for administering their operations in real-time.

Internet

The combination of machines, wires, and protocols cooperatively combined and servicing standardized protocols to share information and facilities among multiple systems and people

Issue

A generalized mechanism to facilitate service requests from a SiteManager to RidgeStar

League

A collection of Matches between Teams assigned to particular competitive Levels, Divisions, and rules by a single Organization.

Level

An administrative-based grouping of Teams within a League. The grouping could be age (for youth as in U15, U16), competitive level (as in Open, Over30), etc.

Locale

The geographic location of an IP Address based upon GeoLite data available from MaxMind

Location

A geographic place with a street address that contains one or more Fields, meeting or conference Rooms, or another geographic area of interest.

Match

A scheduled competition between two Teams authorized by an Organization and officiated by a Referee

Mail

a Site based mechanism designed to permit information requests to travel back and forth between Users of RidgeStar It is NOT intended to be a replacement for the traditional Internet Email protocol or mechanism. It is a supplemental site function intended to serve the Users of www.RidgeStar.com and facilitate improved communications.

Manager

An individual that participates in a Match in a non-Player capacity that is responsible for the Team's Administrative operation (normally related to off field activities)

Match Report

The act of reporting completion of an Assignment by a Referee. The Match Report is the basis for collecting the results of a Match and is the basis for payment processing.

Member

Every individual that participates within the RidgeStar in any capacity is identified as a Member. ALL Members are expected to be aware of and comply with applicable RidgeStar Policies and Procedures

Method

Identifies the Assignment process that will be used for a specific Position on a specific Match. The Method value can be:

None

The position will NOT be filled

Manual

The Position is not eligible for SelfAssign and will be manually filled by an Assignor

SelfAssign

The Position is available via the SelfAssign process to any Referee that passes the SelfAssign Rules

Misconduct

An action, during a match, for which a Referee has shown a yellow or red card. Also applies if a coach has been formally warned or dismissed

Misconduct Project

Identifies the overall concepts, operational Site, related pages and functions, and supporting efforts associated with http://www.RidgeStar.com/misconduct/ and operated by RidgeStar as a service to it's clients and the general soccer community at large.

Misconduct Report

The information provided by a Referee that describes Misconduct behavior that occurred during a Match that the Referee was officiating. This includes Cautions (Yellow Card) and/or SendOffs (Red Card).

Notice

A short informational type message to a User about an activity that has occurred on the Site

Notify

A Feature or function that delivers Messages to the Web Browser via Browser Notification

Officer

A User that has been selected to serve on the RidgeStar Board of Directors and represent the Chapter membership.

Option

An operational setting, value, or indication about how the RidgeStar Site should operate. Normally, an Option is defined via the Options table in the database and can contain one or more settings related to:

Criteria

The saved search argument values for an individual User

Fees

The compensation associated with completing an Assignment

Methods

The default settings for AssignmentMethod for new Matches

Ranks

The default value for Match Rank for new Matches

Rules

Operational settings for the SelfAssign rules

Settings

Site wide variable values that can be modified by the Administrator

SiteName

The unique combination of personal data elements that uniquely identifies a single User to the Site. This might be a automatically generated value, a user selected value, or simply a combination of the User's First, Middle, and Last names

Organization

A group that is responsible for organizing Teams into Leagues and/or Divisions and scheduling Matches between them. Some Chapters identify an Organization as a Client, depending upon their business model.

Page

Represents the resulting HTML from a PHP Script's execution AND all the accompanying elements (.GIF, .JPG, .CSS, etc. files). Each Page from a RidgeStar Site has a URL, a Name, and it's use recorded in the RidgeStar Activity database

Parent

The individual of legal age that is responsible for representing the interests of a minor participant in the RidgeStar Programs. Usually, this is the Father or Mother of the underage User, but may be any other legally appointed guardian associated with the underage Member.

Pattern

A named Value associated with a series of Match related conditions (creates a correspondence between a data value with a grouping of Matches based upon key characteristics, like League, Level, Division, etc.). Used in SelfAssign and Turnback Rule processing and anywhere else requiring grouping on Match related characteristics.

Period

Used to describe a grouping of Matches and/or Accounting entries into a logical set of elements that constitutes a billing/payment date range for Organizations/Referees

Player

An individual that participates with a Team as an active participant in a sanctioned Match

Poll

A series of questions about a specific subject that a Visitor can respond to in order to provide feedback or comments on the subject

Position

A reference to the general responsibilities a Referee accepts when receiving an Assignment. Typically, a Match might require some or all of the Positions (), which are completely dependent upon what the Organization has requested.

Positions

Establishes a Role relationship between a User and a maskable set of characteristics (as a User to an Organization, etc.)

Profile

A reference to the set of data elements and information associated with a single User of the RidgeStar Site. This is where each User stores individualized information and indicates his/her preference for information publication in the Directory.

Ranking

A numeric value that establishes the expected complexity and/or difficulty level of a specific Match or a numeric value establishing the difficulty level a specific Referee has mastered.

Referee

Describes a User of the RidgeStar Site that is licensed to officiate at a sanctioned Match. USSF, NISOA, NFHS, etc. are organizations that license Referees

Referees.biz

The RidgeStar active demonstration site of an Interactive Site specifically designed to meet the requirements of a Referee Chapter involved with assigning Licensed Referees to available Match Assignments. It operates on the web at http://www.referees.biz

Referee Management Site

Is a phrase used to describe the combination of concepts, functions, and pages that are collected together and placed on an Internet Web Server with the specific intention of meeting a single Chapter's requirements for administering Chapter operations.

Responsive

A design approach to permit a website to "respond to" or resize itself depending on the Visitor's screen size and orientation.

RFN

RidgeStar Facility Number, is the distinct numeric value that identifies a specific Facility at a specific Location across all RidgeStar client Sites. The RFN is unique, is never changed, and can be stored in a Client site to associate a Client Field or Room with a centerally defined RidgeStar Facility. See http://www.ridgestar.com/locations for more information.

RidgeStar Referees

The pseudonym we use on the www.RidgeStar.com site to represent a Referee Chapter.

Roster

A list of Players that are assigned to participate with a specific Team.

Rule

A specific condition associated with SelfAssign, Turnback, etc. that must be true in order for the action requested to continue.

E.G. The [b]Available Rule verifies that the Position being requested is not already assigned to another Referee.

Scheduler

A site User charged with the responsibilities of managing Fields, locations and their assignment to host Matches for a portion of RidgeStar

Season

A specific period during a playing year that divides a specific combination of League, Level, and Division into a smaller grouping. Examples of Seasons are Playoffs, Tournament, LPTs, Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall, etc.

Segment

A portion of the Site containing pages and functions related to each other in some manner.

SelfAssign

The actions a Referee takes to get the Site to determine if s/he is eligibled for a specific Assignment. If eligible, the Referee can cause the Site to complete the Assignment (essentially, permitting the Referee to assign himself/herself the Assignment).

Server

Identifies a physical RidgeStar system operating a copy of the Apache HTTP Daemon that responds to Internet based requests for service.

Session

Defined by PHP. Essentially, uniquely identifies a single Browser's interaction with a single PHP based Site.

Setting

An operational value that controls one or more aspects of the Site's operation. Stored in the Options table, Settings are normally managed by the Administrator

Site

The specific combination of files containing script (PHP) and graphics (PNG, JPG, GIF) available through the HTTP protocol that are combined to meet RidgeStar's requirements

SiteManager

The identified User that acts as the Webmaster for and as the primary Point of Contact with RidgeStar with respect to operations.

Surface

Is a term used to describe the type of covering that is on the Field. Grass, Dirt and Sand should be obvious. Turf represents a smooth artificial surface, whereas RealTurf represents the artificial material that simulates grass (incuding the blades of grass) that has become more popular recently.

System

Used to describe the basic operating system environment of a Visitor, Browser, or Server.

Team

A collection of Players that compete together in a League against other Teams

Term

A word or series of words that represents a specific element, activity, role, action, etc. when used in the context of an Interactive Operations Site.

Text Format

You can control how the information you enter is displayed by using one or more of the following elements surrounded by brackets [ or ] within the text string you enter:See Reference: Tools-Text Format for more information.

Ticket

A suggestion, question, or problem report associated with a RidgeStar supported Client Site

Time

Typically used to indicate a specific Time of Day (local time zone). When used in a Criteria box, [b]Morning means between midnight and 11:59am, [b]Midday means 10:00am to 4:00pm, [b]Afternoon means 12:00pm to 5:29pm, [b]Evening is between 5:30pm to 11:59pm, [b]EarlyEvening is between 5:30pm to 7:30pm, [b]LateEvening means 7:30pm to 10:00pm

TimeSlot

A specific period of Time on a specific Date at a specific Field (usable for a Practice, Match, etc.)

Topic

A stored description or explanation concerning a single subject of interest to Visitors of the RidgeStar Site

Turnback

The act of returning a current Referee Assignment to the pool of available Positions for other Referees to assign themselves to.

UID

The acronym for Univeral IDentifier is a reference to a unique value that is associated with a single individual usable Cross Site to distinctly identify the individual. E.G. Used to coordinate the identification of individual Referees when processing the optional Site Inquiry function.

User

A term used to describe an individual person that is authorized to logon to RidgeStar and interact with the system in one or more roles (as a Referee, Chapter Officer, Committee member, Authority representative, etc.).

Visitor

A general term used to describe a single Internet user somewhere using a program (usually a Browser) to access a Site page on a RidgeStar server.

Volunteer

An individual that is willing to contribute time and energy to furthering the goals of RidgeStar

Webmaster

The identified User that acts as the Webmaster for and as the primary Point of Contact with RidgeStar with respect to operations. Sometimes referenced as the SiteManager.

XRef

An abbreviation for Cross Reference, which is usually used to store a relationship between a User and other elements of the system

Daemon

An operational program or software product that operates as an independent task in the operating system. Apache, Bind, and MySQL are examples of Daemons.

Facility

A physical space at a Location where a scheduled activity can occur. Often referenced as a playing Field, a Facility can also be a meeting or conference Room or another geographical area of interest.

Resource

A measurable Internet or system element that represents a service to a Client to meet the Client's requirements (as contracted for with RidgeStar)

RSU

A RidgeStar Service Unit is a numerical value representing the relative cost for providing a particular Resource to a Client

Service

An identifiable element that represents effort or a Resource provided by RidgeStar to a Client in support of the Client Site's requirements

Standard

A defined field Name and one or more Values associated with it that is accepted for common use across RidgeStar client sites