Harcourt College Publishers to Expand Education Technology with Interactive Textbooks
Agreement Provides for Web-Enhanced Textbooks Across the College Curriculum for Fall 2001

Fort Worth, TX, April 30, 2001- In an age when college students open their Internet browser before opening a textbook, Harcourt College Publishers is offering new textbooks that will seamlessly link the Internet with the printed page. Harcourt is creating a stronger bridge between technology and education by publishing more than 45 Internet-enhanced higher education textbooks that use :CRQ ("See Our Cue") technology, the award-winning print-to-Web technology from Dallas-based Digital:Convergence Corporation. Harcourt's new, Internet-enhanced college textbooks will be available to students for fall 2001.

"The :CRQ technology from Digital:Convergence allows us to offer students and college faculty a unique and compelling marriage between the content in our printed products and related material anywhere on the World Wide Web," said Ted Buchholz, president of Harcourt College Publishers. "College students benefit from strong, structured learning tools, and conventional textbooks have filled this need for many years. Our new, Web-enhanced textbooks will offer students another tool to improve their learning experiences."

Digital:Convergence's patented, print-to-Web technology will help college instructors and students stay current with developments and Web resources in a wide variety of subject areas. Harcourt textbooks employing this technology will cover more than 20 core undergraduate fields, including accounting, anthropology, art appreciation, art history, biology, chemistry, criminal justice, economics, English composition, finance, French, marketing, math, physics, psychology, sociology, and Spanish.

The educational component of :CRQ technology takes students and teachers directly to key resources often buried deep within the Internet, without requiring them to click and search their way through multiple Web pages or key in long URLs. Via embedded "cues," the technology empowers textbook publishers to help educators and students quickly access relevant Web-based content. Print cues, which look like product codes, can be inserted into most print material and are read through the :CRQ software with a :CueCatTM reader. The hand-held :CueCat device reads the cues, instantly linking a user's browser to a related Web page, eliminating the need to type lengthy URLs and time-intensive Web navigation.

As an extension of published textbooks, :CRQ technology merges well with students' current study habits. According to national studies among students, the number one reason why students use the Internet is for course-related research and activities. Traditional textbooks provide the core resources, while the :CRQ technology provides students direct access to supplemental information and other relevant resources available on the Internet.

"Educational publishers have done a terrific job of providing quality textbooks and Web sites, but the only connection between these two I could offer my students was typing in a long and lengthy URL," said Charlie Grisham, professor at the University of Virginia. "With cue-enhanced textbooks, Harcourt has linked two key media together in a simple and easy-to-use way. This interactive element greatly enhances my students' learning experience and expands the kinds of Web resources I use in my courses. This technology will significantly increase the quality of my teaching."

Students and teachers can pick up a :CueCat device for free at any of more than 7,000 RadioShack stores nationwide. :CueCat readers are also available free via the Internet at www.crq.com with payment of $9.95 in shipping costs.

About Harcourt College Publishers
Harcourt College Publishers, is a unit of the Higher Education division of Harcourt, Inc., a broadband lifelong learning company that is a subsidiary of Harcourt General, Inc. Harcourt General, with headquarters in Chestnut Hill, Mass., is a major participant in the growing global markets for education, assessment, training and professional information. Harcourt College is one of the world's leading publishers of textbooks and technology-based instructional materials for post-secondary markets.

About Digital:Convergence Corporation
Digital:Convergence Corporation, the leader and pioneer in precision Internet navigation services, is headquartered in Dallas with offices in New York and London. Together with its industry-leading partners, NBC, Belo, Young & Rubicam Inc., Scripps Howard, and RadioShack Corporation, the company provides the only Web navigation solution linking any media or product instantly and precisely to specific, relevant Internet content. Its patented, award-winning :CRQ software safeguards user privacy and is free to consumers. The company's management team includes a roster of industry veterans from Time Warner, AT&T, GE, ING Barings, ABC and Disney.

Press Contacts:	Peter Eschbach Digital:Convergence 214-292-6200 Contact	Rosemarie McElwee Console Harcourt College Publishers 817-334-7885 Contact