Microsoft launched 'Encarta' on CD-ROM in Redmond, Washington, United States, revolutionizing the reference market by incorporating audio clips, interactive maps, video animations, and hyperlinks alongside text articles. Encarta brought multi-sensory digital reference material directly into millions of home computers running Windows, permanently altering how students experienced research and dealing a massive economic blow to traditional print-encyclopedia door-to-door sales business models.

Encarta's integration of sound, video, and text directly inspired early electronic literature and multimedia poetry. Poets began experimenting with hyperlinked text structures and digital audio environments, breaking free from the static constraints of the printed poetry page.