ABOUT Worldview: a main entry point of information covering a range of topics about the oceans - from history, biology, maps and statistics to research, climatology and ecology

Chief Editor: the highest level content administrator for the Atlas Community Directory.

Discussion: Atlas Members may add details of an existing electronic discussion list or create a discussion within the Atlas.

Editor's Choice: an editor may mark any knowledge object within his/her topic as "Editor’s Choice" if he/she thinks that it is of a particular high quality or of special topical importance. Related knowledge objects so marked will be displayed with an "Editor’s Choice" indicator.

Event: a type of headline object submitted to a topic by a registered member or added and/or uploaded by the topic editor or chief editor. An event may be a conference, meeting, seminar, exhibition or other type of gathering relevant to the subject coverage of the Atlas.

Featured Topic: a sub-topic may be featured under it's parent topic in a worldview topic screen, providing a direct link to that subtopic. Sub-topics featured in this way appear in smaller font under their parent topic. The facility to feature sub-topics in this way is only available to the chief editor.

GEOGRAPHY Worldview: a main entry point of information which displays knowledge categorized by geographic area. Top-level topics in the GEOGRAPHY worldview have primarily been adopted from the AGROVOC Agricultural Thesaurus, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Headline Objects: include news items, events and polls on current issues, depending on the topic selected. Headline objects may be submitted or suggested by registered members or added by the topic editor or chief editor.

Inbox: a screen, part of your Explorer page, it comprises a list of items awaiting action and a summary of recent updates to topics that can be edited or subscribed.

ISSUES Worldview: a main entry point of information covering a range of topics on ocean issues - from food security and climate change to governance and human health.

Knowledge object: any data in any format that can be uploaded to the Atlas Community Directory Server (CDS); entered into the Atlas CDS via fill-in forms, e.g. documents, maps, contacts; or linked to the Atlas CDS, e.g. websites. Related knowledge objects can only be submitted by registered members. Synonymous with "Related Knowledge".

Linked Topic: appears in the list of sub-topics, with an "@" after the title to distinguish it from actual sub-topics. A linked topic is in fact a sub-topic elsewhere in the system, while is extremely relevant to the current topic.

Member: users may use the system anonymously or they can register and gain an Atlas member password. A registered member can participate in polls and discussions, and submit items to be added.

Member Group: a group of Atlas members, any permissions assigned to a member group apply to all members of that group. This is used to restrict or control access to certain topics.

News: a type of headline object submitted to a topic by a registered member or added and uploaded by the topic editor or chief editor.

Parent Topic: the connected topic one level up in the hierarchy from the current topic. Also, the initial topic to which you added your sub-topic. A topic may only have one parent topic.

Permission: a permission dictates the action that may be executed on a topic. Examples of Permissions include: read only; submit knowledge; edit; and delete.

Polls: a topical issue that registered members are invited to vote on.

Related Knowledge: synonymous with the term "Knowledge Object" (KO); please refer to "KO" definition.

Related Topic: it appears below the list of sub-topics in the drop-down list of related topics. Also, it appears in a drop-down list below the topic description. Related topics are moderately relevant to the current topic.

Sub-topic: equivalent to a sub-category and comprises a connected topic one level down from the current topic.

Topic: equivalent to a subject category and comprises a grouping of knowledge within a specific subject area. A topic may have many sub-topics.

Topic Directory: displays all topics within each worldview.

Topic Editor: a registered member of the Atlas who has volunteered to act as a content administrator for a particular topic and/or topic tree.

Topic Tree: it represents the hierarchy of topics (a topic, and its sub-topics and their sub-topics, etc.).

USES Worldview: a main entry point of information covering a range of topics on the use of oceans - from fishing, shipping and mining to tourism, dumping and marine biotechnology.

Worldview: A top level topic that provides an entry point to the information in the Atlas. Worldviews include: ABOUT; GEOGRAPHY; ISSUES; and USES.