Shakespeare reaches new heights online

"There's magic in the web of it."—Othello Act III, scene 1V

by Beth Haysom

Shakespeare enthusiasts have a new, powerfully enhanced version of Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE) at their fingertips—a University of Victoria-based website offering unprecedented access to the plays and a Renaissance library of the life and times of their favourite bard.

The existing ISE website—established as a non profit organization with the help of UVic's Innovation and Development Corporation and the McPherson Library—is one of the university's most popular sites. It records more than a million hits a month from browsers all over the world.

Last month, UVic English professor emeritus Michael Best and ISE creative director Roberta Livingstone launched a new, enhanced version of the site. It features a virtual "library" of Renaissance resources with improved navigation and two new research tools: a database of "Shakespeare in performance," featuring materials from theatre archives all over North America; and the "Illuminated Text," a multimedia function that allows students and scholars to research an archive and resources for each play, including the texts as they were originally published.

"This website gives people an authentic experience of the past through the Internet and is setting a new standard for website publishing," says Marnie Swanson, head of UVic libraries and a strong supporter of making academic resources available online. "Through this website, UVic is helping to educate thousands of students around the globe, most of whom have never attended a single class at this university."

The new website was unveiled at UVic's Maltwood Gallery when Glynis Leyshon, artistic director of the Vancouver Playhouse Company, pulled a virtual "curtain" to expose the new homepage. Afterwards, Best and the website team demonstrated some of the state-of-the-art features of the site, which can be found at ise.uvic.ca/index.html

The Internet Shakespeare Editions is a non-profit organization based at UVic and supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, UVic, the Innovation Development Corporation and the McPherson Library.

All the resources and tools on the Internet Shakespeare Editions website are provided free of cost. Each play is edited by a leading scholar or team of scholars from around the world.