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