roduction, January 1997) In book publishing,
digitization speeded up the editorial process, which used to be
sequential, by allowing the copy editor, the image editor and the
layout staff to work at the same time on the same book. Journalists and
editors could now type in their articles online, and these articles
went directly from text to layout, without being keyed in anymore by
the production staff.

January 1997 > The multimedia convergence

More and more people were using digital technology. Previously distinct
information-based industries, such as printing, publishing, graphic
design, media, sound recording and film making, were converging into
one industry, with information as a common product. This trend was
named "multimedia convergence", with a massive loss of jobs, and a
serious enough issue to be tackled by the ILO (International Labor
Organization) by 1997. The first ILO Symposium on Multimedia
Convergence was held in January 1997 at ILO headquarters in Geneva,
Switzerland, with employers, unionists, and government representatives
from all over the world. Some participants, mostly employers,
demonstrated the information society was generating or would generate
jobs, whereas other participants, mostly unionists, demonstrated there
was a rise in unemployment worldwide, that should be addressed right
away through investment, innovation, vocational training, computer
literacy, retraining, and fair labor rights, including for teleworkers.

April 1997 > E Ink, for the development of an electronic ink

In April 1997, researchers at the MIT Media Lab (MIT: Massachusetts
Institute of Technology) created the company E Ink to develop an
electronic ink technology. Very briefly, the technology is the
following one: caught between two sheets of flexible plastic, millions
of micro-capsules, each of them containing black and white particles,
are in suspension in a clear fluid. A positive or negative electric
field indicates the desired group of particles on the surface, to view,
modify or delete data. In July 2002, E Ink showed the prototype of the
first screen using this technology. This screen was marketed in 2004.
Other screens were set up for various reading devices, followed by the
first black and white flexible displays (electronic paper).

May 1997 > Barnes & Noble launched its website

Barnes & Noble, a leading U.S. bookseller with 481 stores nationwide,
entered the world of e-commerce in 1997. Barnes & Nob