Queensland Electoral Roles 328

Actually the term "on-line" is far older than the internet (I studied a course in "on-line systems" at university in the 1970s), and its original meaning was that you could sit down in front on a computer and look up some information on the spot (or in "real-time" as it was also known) as opposed to waiting for a "batch report" to run and print out your answer. It had nothing to do with computer networks (which were only found in research labs back then). So Ken's usage of the term was quite correct. If someone uses a CD-ROM on their computer at home to look up an index, then they are indeed doing it "on-line".

To be accessible via the Internet or via the WWW (not the same thing, but many people don't perceive a difference) is to be "on the net" or "on the web". However, the term "on-line" has been somewhat hijacked these days to mean "on the net" or "on the web", just as John is doing.

Consequently the term "on-line" is now somewhat ambiguous in its meaning, and if the distinction is important to you, it is probably better be more precise, e.g. "it is available on the computers at the AEC office" or "it is available on the WWW" than to argue about it.

Kerry