One example of a common Best Diving In Mexico use of these concepts is a Mail User Best Diving In Mexico Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or Best Diving In Mexico "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), Best Diving In Mexico and when it is "off-line" it will Best Diving In Mexico not attempt to make any Best Diving In Mexico such connections. The "on-line" Best Diving In Mexico or "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect the connection status Best Diving In Mexico between Best Diving In Mexico the computer on which it is running and Internet. The user Best Diving In Mexico may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet Best Diving In Mexico via a cable modem or an ADSL Best Diving In Mexico connection, but may Best Diving In Mexico wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no Best Diving In Mexico attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may Best Diving In Mexico be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts Best Diving In Mexico to make connection to a server), but Best Diving In Mexico the connection may be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a Best Diving In Mexico hotel room) and the Best Diving In Mexico user may Best Diving In Mexico not wish Outlook Best Diving In Mexico to trigger making that call every 5 or Best Diving In Mexico 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world Best Diving In Mexico of digital audio technology. Best Diving In Mexico A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of Best Diving In Mexico 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. Best Diving In Mexico Whereas Best Diving In Mexico a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies Best Diving In Mexico upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one Best Hiking Gps Unit 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 have Best Diving In Mexico to locate Best Diving In Mexico the playback point and wait for each other to be Best Diving In Mexico in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word Best Diving In Mexico sync, and recording system synchronization.)
|
A third example of a common use of these concepts is Best Diving In Mexico a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. Best Diving In Mexico The browser only attempts to fetch pages from Best Hunting Lodge In Scotland servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In Best Diving In Mexico the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where Best Diving In Mexico pages can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded Best Diving In Mexico whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when Best Diving In Mexico the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by Best Diving In Mexico the browser being 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 Best Diving In Mexico checking that the local copies Best Diving In Mexico are up-to-date Best Diving In Mexico whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser Best Diving In Mexico capable of being explicitly configured to download Best Diving In Mexico pages for offline browsing is Internet Best Diving In Mexico Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages Best Diving In Mexico that it links Best Diving In Mexico 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 ideas of Best Diving In Mexico "on-line" and "off-line" have been Best Diving In Mexico generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what Best Diving In Mexico is considered "on-line" and what is considered Best Diving In Mexico "off-line" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" Best Diving In Mexico 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 reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction Best Diving In Mexico is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the 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 Best Diving In Mexico in cybersex, Best Diving In Mexico and an "off-line" relationship, such as Best Diving In Mexico being pen-pals. Best Diving In Mexico He Best Diving In Mexico also argues that even Best Diving In Mexico the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some Best Diving In Mexico circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various Best Diving In Mexico technologies (such as Best Diving In Mexico PDA and Best Diving In Mexico mobile telephone, television Best Diving In Mexico and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the Best Diving In Mexico sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
|
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce Best Diving In Mexico the distinction between "on-line" Best Diving In Mexico and "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 Best Diving In Mexico 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, such Best Diving In Mexico as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he Best Diving In Mexico states Best Diving In Mexico it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely Best Diving In Mexico on-line sexual Best Diving In Mexico relationship. He also conjectures Best Diving In Mexico that Best Diving In Mexico an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" Best Diving In Mexico 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 Best Diving In Mexico to Best Diving In Mexico explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, Best Diving In Mexico and Best Diving In Mexico so forth) the other way around. Best Diving In Mexico Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized Best Diving In Mexico this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password Best Practices For Writing Instruction before admitting a man into Heaven. Best Diving In Mexico Another illustrates "the off-line Best Diving In Mexico store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to Best Diving In Mexico purchase!". |
