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