[mjburgess]

I had intended the term 'dial' to indicate that it is set by the practitioner. 'Data' is not.

Yes, both data and hyper-parameters are inputs to the algorithm.

I wasn't trying to offer anything more than a sketch of the terms for someone already semi-informed.

To "define" terms in a way that a person without any experience of the area could understand would require quite a long article.

My goal wasn't to answer you specifically but to take your observation as establishing a plausible interest in others for something like my comment.