Shakespeare and Digital Humanities Talk by Laura Estill, Texas A&M University
Thursday, November 14, 6:00-7:30pm, Event Space, 244 Greene Street
<p class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-align: center;” align=”center”>The Revolution Will Be Digitized:</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-align: center;” align=”center”>How Online Resources are Changing Shakespeare Studies</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”></p>
<p class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-indent: .5in;”>Every digital project is an argument: often, a site makes a case for the importance of a particular source or of a critical approach.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>I examine the arguments put forth by digital projects about early modern drama such as the Database of Early English Playbooks (DEEP), the World Shakespeare Bibliography (WSB), and Global Shakespeares, while also touching on large-scale projects such as Early English Books Online (EEBO) and British Literary Manuscripts Online (BLMO).<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>The digital tools that we use are both shaped by and continue to shape our sensibilities as literary critics.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>I suggest that conceptualizing these sites not as individual contributions but as a network reveals the need for digital projects to situate themselves in the critical field by avoiding redundancies and hyperlinking to other resources. Drawing on my experience creating DEx: A Database of Dramatic Extracts, I conclude by showing how small-scale projects undertaken by individual researchers and archivists are not only viable in the age of “Googlization,” they are imperative.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”><b style=”mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”> </b></p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bio:</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Dr. Laura Estill is the Assistant Professor of Digital Shakespeare Studies in Texas A&M University’s English Department and member of the Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media, and Culture (IDHMC).<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>Estill recently joined the World Shakespeare Bibliography Online (http://www.worldshakesbib.org) as editor and is currently working on DEx: A Database of Dramatic Extracts.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>Her work has appeared in <i style=”mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>Shakespeare</i>, <i style=”mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>Early Theatre</i>, <i style=”mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare</i>, and <i style=”mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>Studies in English Literature</i>.</p>
.