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The terms on-line and off-line have specific meanings with respect to computer technology and telecommunication. The concepts have however been extended from their computing and telecommunication meanings into the area of human interaction and conversation.

Standard definitions

In computer technology and telecommunication, on-line and off-line are defined by Federal Standard 1037C. They are states or conditions of a "device or equipment" or of "a functional unit". To be considered on-line, a device must be at least one of:
  • "Under the direct control of another device"
  • "Under the direct control of the system with which it is associated"
  • "Available for immediate use on demand by the system without human intervention"
  • "Connected to a system, and is in operation"
  • "Functional and ready for service"
while a device that is off-line is not (e.g. it has "its main power source disconnected or turned off", and is "off-power").

One 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 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), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any 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 cable modem or an ADSL connection, but may 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 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 trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.[1]

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 clock 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 "off-line" uses no 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 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 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 common use 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 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 local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when 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 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 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 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 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 individual "Favourite" entry. Offline browsing known as "Offline favourites" was removed as a feature in the most recent version of Internet Explorer 7, which only now supports single web page saving, but not browsing or storing an entire site offline.

[3][4][5][6]

Similarly, off-line storage is computer storage that is not "available for immediate use on demand by the system without human intervention", i.e it is storage that is off-line.

Generalisations

The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing 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 of study in the 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), respectively. "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 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. 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 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 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 (pointing out that contractual 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 had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years.[7]

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 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 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!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!".[8]

References

This article contains material from the Federal Standard 1037C (in support of MIL-STD-188), which, as a work of the United States Government, is in the public domain.
1. ^ Bill Mann (2003). How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. McGraw-Hill Professional, 76–77. ISBN 0072230703. 
2. ^ Bill Gibson (1998). Audiopro Home Recording Course: A Comprehensive Multimedia Audio Recording Text. Hal Leonard, 155. ISBN 0872887154. 
3. ^ Arabella Dymoke (2004). "an a to z of internet terms", Good Web Guide. The Good Web Guide Ltd, 17. ISBN 1903282462. 
4. ^ Paul Heltzel (2002). "Wireless Road Tricks", The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wireless Computing and Networking. Alpha Books, 205. ISBN 0028642872. 
5. ^ Glen Waller and Vanessa Waller (2000). The Internet Companion: The Easy Australian Guide. UNSW Press, 110–112. ISBN 0868404993. 
6. ^ Brian Barber (2001). "Configuring Internet Technologies", Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows XP Professional. Syngress Publishing, 285–389. ISBN 1928994806. 
7. ^ Don Slater (2002). "Social Relationships and Identity On-line and Off-line", in Leah, Sonia, Lievrouw, and Livingstone: Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Consequences of ICTs. Sage Publications Inc, 533–543. ISBN 0761965106. 
8. ^ Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2001). "Introduction", Evolve: Succeeding in the digital culture of tomorrow. Harvard Business School. ISBN 1578514398. 

See also

External links

Released August 2007
Format CD single
Recorded 2007
Genre country music
Length 4:56 (album version)
Label Arista Nashville
Writer(s) Chris DuBois, Kelley Lovelace, Brad Paisley
Producer(s) Frank Rogers
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Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. In modern times, this process typically involves the sending of electromagnetic waves by electronic transmitters, but in earlier times telecommunication may have involved the use of
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Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. In modern times, this process typically involves the sending of electromagnetic waves by electronic transmitters, but in earlier times telecommunication may have involved the use of
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Federal Standard 1037C, entitled Telecommunications: Glossary of Telecommunication Terms is a United States Federal Standard, issued by the General Services Administration pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended.
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In computer engineering, an execution unit is a part of a CPU that performs the operations and calculations called for by the program. It may have its own internal control sequence unit (not to be confused with the CPUs main control unit), some registers, and other internal units
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System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek σύστημα systēma) is a set of entities, real or abstract, where each entity interacts with, or is related to, at least one other
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In physics, power (symbol: P) is the rate at which work is performed or energy is transmitted, or the amount of energy required or expended for a given unit of time.
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An e-mail client is a frontend computer program used to manage e-mail. Large all-in-one e-mail clients such as the open source Mozilla Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook today combine the operations of an MSA, MDA, MRA and MUA in one application.
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Microsoft Outlook or Outlook (full name Microsoft Office Outlook since Outlook 2003) is a personal information manager from Microsoft, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite.
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Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government
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cable modem is a type of modem that provides access to a data signal sent over the cable television infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access, taking advantage of unused bandwidth on a cable television network.
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Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a form of DSL, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.
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hot Dial-up access is a form of Internet access via telephone line. The client uses a modem connected to a computer and a telephone line to dial into an Internet service provider's (ISP) node to establish a modem-to-modem link, which is then routed to the Internet.
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tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sound using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage.
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MIDI time code (MTC) embeds the same timing information as standard SMPTE time code as a series of small 'quarter-frame' MIDI messages. There is no provision for the user bits in the standard MIDI time code messages, and SysEx messages are used to carry this information instead.
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<noinclude></noinclude>Word sync is a technique for synchronizing digital audio signals between high-end professional devices such as CD players, audio I/O cards etc.
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A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network.
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cache (IPA:/kæʃ/, like "catch" [1]) is a collection of data duplicating original values stored elsewhere or computed earlier, where the original data is expensive to fetch (due to longer access time) or to
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Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer abbreviated MSIE), commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of proprietary graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems
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Computer data storage, computer memory, and often casually storage or memory refer to computer components, devices and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time.
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Sociology (from Latin: socitus, "companion"; and the suffix -ology, "the study of", from Greek λόγος, lógos, "knowledge") is the systematic and scientific study of society and societal behavior.
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Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) can be defined broadly as any form of data exchange across two or more networked computers. More frequently, the term is narrowed to include only those communications that occur via computer-mediated formats (i.e.
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The face-to-face relation refers to a concept in the French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas' thought on human sociality.

Lévinas' phenomenological account of the "face-to-face" encounter serves as the basis for his ethics and the rest of his philosophy.
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Face time is interaction or contact between two or more people at the same time and physical location. Face time therefore occurs in "real life" or "meatspace" and contrasts primarily with interaction or contact which occurs over distance (eg.
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For other uses, see Real life (disambiguation).


Real life is a term with multiple meanings. It is most often used to mean life or consensus reality outside of an environment that is generally seen as fiction or fantasy, such as something on the
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Meatspace is a dysphemism for real life or the physical world, and conceived as the opposite of cyberspace or virtual reality.[1] The term originated in science fiction literature, specifically the cyberpunk genre, but it has become increasingly common in general usage,
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Pen pals (or penpals or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail.

Purposes

A penpal relationship is often used to practice writing and reading in a foreign language, improving literacy, to learn more about other
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The telephone is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly speech). Most telephones operate through transmission of electric signals over a complex telephone network which allows almost any phone user to communicate with almost anyone.
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Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are handheld computers, but have become much more versatile over the years. PDAs are also known as pocket computers or palmtop computers.
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