The National Institute of Standards and Technology invites reporters to cover the emerging electronic book industry’s second conference. Electronic books are integrated products that combine features found in books and computers. For example, touch screen technology allows a reader to touch an unfamiliar word to get an immediate dictionary definition. Touching the screen elsewhere can make the print larger or smaller.

Deputy Secretary of Commerce Robert Mallett will address the conference at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 21. A number of organizations and people with an interest in the nascent e-book industry will make presentations, including the Association of American Publishers and Harlan Ellison, the Hugo and Nebula award winning author. Additionally, a number of companies will make presentations, including International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. This conference is co-sponsored by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).

NIST will unveil a prototype Braille reader that can translate the text of electronic books into Braille. Additionally, NIST will host tours of its Information Technology Laboratory, where the NIST electronic book and Braille reader were developed and where critical research into interoperability, accessibility and other standards issues are researched.

NIST is an agency of the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration.

Some of the world’s first electronic books will be on display at the nearby Gaithersburg Holiday Inn on Tuesday evening.

DATES: Sept. 21-22, 1999

Media check-in begins at 7:30 a.m. Reporters who plan to cover the conference are asked to notify NIST by sending an e-mail to bulman@nist.gov or calling (301) 975-5661.

Press conference at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time in Lecture Room A on Sept. 21. Reporters who want to participate in the press conference via telephone may call (888) 422-7109, and then use access code 251660.

PLACE: NIST
Administration Building
I-270 at Route 117 West (Clopper Road)
Gaithersburg, Maryland

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