The "Dictionnaire Universel Francophone en Ligne" (Universal French- Language Online Dictionary) was the web version of the "Dictionnaire Universel Francophone", published by Hachette, a major French publisher, and the AUPELF-UREF (which later became the AUF: Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie - University Agency of Francophony). The dictionary included not only standard French but also the French- language words and expressions used worldwide. French is an official language in 50 countries, for 500 million people worldwide. The AUF is a branch of the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie -- International Organization of French-speaking Countries), founded in 1970 as an instrument of multilateral cooperation at the international level. As a side remark, English and French are the only official and/or cultural languages that are widely spread on five continents. 1996 > Digitalization "Digitalization has made it possible to create, record, manipulate, combine, store, retrieve and transmit information and information-based products in ways which magnetic tape, celluloid and paper did not permit. Digitalization thus allows music, cinema and the written word to be recorded and transformed through similar processes and without distinct material supports. Previously dissimilar industries, such as publishing and sound recording, now both produce CD-ROM rather than simply books and records" (excerpt from the Proceedings of the Symposium on Multimedia Convergence, International Labor Organization, 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. In mainstream media, 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 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) as early as 1997. The first ILO Symposium on Multimedia Convergence was held in January 1997 at the 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. 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.