One example of a common Word Search Puzzle use of these concepts is a Mail User Word Search Puzzle Agent that can be instructed to Word Search Puzzle be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA Word Search Puzzle is Microsoft Outlook. When Word Search Puzzle it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail Word Search Puzzle servers (to Word Search Puzzle check for new mail at regular intervals, for Word Search Puzzle example), and when it is "off-line" Word Search Puzzle it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect Word Search Puzzle the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Internet. The user may have Word Search Puzzle the Word Search Puzzle computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a Word Search Puzzle cable modem or an ADSL connection, but may Word Search Puzzle wish for Outlook to be 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 application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may Word Search Puzzle be an expensive telephone Word Search Puzzle call from Word Search Puzzle the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the Word Search Puzzle user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for 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 Word Search Puzzle one Word Search Puzzle whose clock is under the Word Search Puzzle control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. Word Search Puzzle When the sync Word Search Puzzle master Word Search Puzzle commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically Word Search Puzzle synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in Word Search Puzzle the recording. Whereas Word Search Puzzle a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of Word Search Puzzle 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 Word Search Puzzle off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait Word Search Puzzle for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third Word Search Puzzle example of a common Word Search Puzzle use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to Word Search Puzzle be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" Word Search Puzzle state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages Word Search Puzzle can be browsed using local copies of Word Search Puzzle those pages that have previously been downloaded Word Search Puzzle whilst in the "on-line" state. Word Search Puzzle This can Word Search Puzzle be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, Word Search Puzzle with connection to Internet expensive Word Search Puzzle or impossible. The Word Search Puzzle 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 the browser being configured to keep local Word Search Puzzle copies of certain web Word Search Puzzle pages, which it keeps updated when Word Search Puzzle the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking Word Search Puzzle that the local copies are up-to-date Word Search Puzzle 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 Word Search Puzzle such web browser Word Search Puzzle capable of being explicitly configured to download Word Search Puzzle pages for Word Search Puzzle 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 will download to Word Search Puzzle local copies both the marked page and, Word Search Puzzle optionally, all of the pages Word Search Puzzle that Word Search Puzzle it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct Word Search Puzzle and indirect links, Word Search Puzzle the maximum amount Word Search Puzzle of local disc Word Search Puzzle 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 "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized Word Search Puzzle from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what Word Search Puzzle 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" Word Search Puzzle and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the Word Search Puzzle distinction between computer-mediated communication Word Search Puzzle and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. Word Search Puzzle "On-line" 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 that the distinctions in relationships are more complex Word Search Puzzle than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw Word Search Puzzle no distinction between an Word Search Puzzle "on-line" relationship, such as indulging Word Search Puzzle in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also Word Search Puzzle argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of Word Search Puzzle the distinctions between the uses Word Search Puzzle of various technologies (such 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 of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online Word Search Puzzle to offline and erase the Word Search Puzzle 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 Word Search Puzzle relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have Word Search Puzzle had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an Word Search Puzzle "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather 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 Word Search Puzzle and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than Word Search Puzzle (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor Word Search Puzzle with its desktops, Word Search Puzzle trash Word Search Puzzle cans, Word Search Puzzle folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a Word Search Puzzle 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 "Take it Word Search Puzzle home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
