One example Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word of a Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word common use of these concepts is a Mail Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word intervals, for example), and when Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word "on-line" or "off-line" state Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word of the MUA does not necessarily reflect the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word ADSL connection, but may Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word wish for Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word Outlook Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word to be off-line, so Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word that it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word but the connection may be an expensive telephone call from Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word a hotel room) and the user may not Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word wish Outlook to trigger Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word making that call every 5 or Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word 10 minutes to check Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word for Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word have to locate the playback point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages can be Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word browsed Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word "on-line" state. This can Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word with connection to Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word Internet expensive or impossible. Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word a result of prior on-line browsing by Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word that the local copies Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking Search Obama Quotes that Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word the local copies are up-to-date Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word links to. In Internet Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word Explorer version 6, the Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He Search Relations Word Show Wordnet also argues that even the telephone can be regarded Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word television Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word the sense that was employed by Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word does not mean that on-line relationships Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word are Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word out that contractual Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word seen as Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word just as Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word a Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word concepts being used to define and Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word other way around. Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word Several cartoons by Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word The New Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word may be handled prior to purchase!". |
