Online versus Offline Writing

The terms “online” and “offline” are familiar.

Online means connected to another computer or network.

"Online" is doing activity connected to another computer or network, while "offline" is doing activity without an internet connection.

Online writing usually makes a much greater use of multimedia. That is, in online writing we may see more than just text, figures, and tables. We may see animations and videos too. We may also hear sounds.

In online writing, the presentation typically includes a greater use of color. The text is often not sequential. Hyperlinks allow a reader to jump around to what the reader deems as the most interesting parts of a work.

Thus, with online writing, not everything will be read; readers will bounce around via searches and navigational aids.

 In offline writing, readers typically do read continuously through a document in the order in which it is presented. Readers tend to read each word in offline writing.

With web pages, a reader may only read hyperlinks and not the intervening text. Whereas a typical reader might spend about two minutes on a given page of a book, a person on the web may only spend ten seconds on a web page. And the person online may be watching a video, listening to music, surfing other sites, and be social networking all at the same time. We present additional comments about books in the Future Trends section.

Your task now: 

Read many sources online and answer the following questions:

1. What do you know about "online" and "offline"? 
2. What do you understand about "online" writing and "offline" writing?
3. What are the similarities and differences between your own online and offline writing?
4. What do you know about homepages, website pages, blogs, social media, mailing lists, and web forums? Give your own web examples, if any.
5. What do you understand about electronic journals? Give the sample links you have accessed.

You may also write your comments to submit your answers online here. Thank you.

Reading Reference:

Greenlaw, R. (2012). Technical Writing, Presentation Skills, and Online Communication: Professional Tools and Insights. USA: IGI Global.