One Radio Station Search example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One Radio Station Search such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect Radio Station Search to mail servers (to check for new mail at Radio Station Search regular intervals, Radio Station Search for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of Radio Station Search the MUA does Radio Station Search not necessarily reflect the connection status between the computer on which it Radio Station 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 Radio Station Search to be off-line, so that it Radio Station Search makes no attempt to Radio Station Search send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an Radio Station Search application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the Radio Station Search connection may be an Radio Station Search expensive Radio Station Search telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be Radio Station Search (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every Radio Station Search 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 one whose Radio Station Search clock Radio Station Search 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 the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is Radio Station Search "off-line" Radio Station Search uses no external clock Radio Station Search reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of 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 off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback Radio Station Search point and wait 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 Radio Station Search common use Radio Station Search of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to Radio Station Search fetch pages from Radio Station Search servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can Radio Station Search perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when Radio Station Search 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 Radio Station Search own Radio Station Search cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being Radio Station Search 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 Radio Station Search are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to Radio Station Search download pages for offline browsing Radio Station Search is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made Radio Station Search "available for offline browsing". Internet Radio Station Search Explorer Radio Station Search will download Radio Station Search to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links Radio Station Search to. In Internet Explorer Radio Station Search version 6, the Radio Station Search level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule Radio Station Search on Radio Station Search which local copies are checked to see whether Radio Station Search they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from Radio Station Search computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and Radio Station Search 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 Radio Station Search the distinction between computer-mediated Radio Station Search communication and face-to-face Radio Station Search communication (e.g. face time), respectively. Radio Station Search "On-line" Radio Station Search is Radio Station Search virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real Radio Station Search life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction Radio Station Search is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument Radio Station Search that the distinctions in relationships Radio Station Search are Radio Station Search 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 cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. Radio Station Search 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 Radio Station Search technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Radio Station Search Internet, and telephone Radio Station Search and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully Radio Station Search in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are Radio Station Search legal and regulatory pressures to Radio Station Search reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", Radio Station Search 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 be assigned to on-line relationships Radio Station Search (pointing out that Radio Station Search contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as Radio Station Search their off-line counterparts), although he states Radio Station Search it Radio Station Search to be hard to imagine courts awarding Radio Station Search palimony Radio Station Search to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. Radio Station Search He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" Radio Station Search distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not Radio Station Search quite comprehensible" within Radio Station Search 10 years
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The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality Radio Station Search and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" Radio Station Search concepts being used 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 Radio Station Search around. Several cartoons by The Radio Station Search New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", Radio Station Search where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay Radio Station Search for it!", and Radio Station Search where Radio Station Search "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
