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