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.