About the Internet Shakespeare Editions

Our mission is to inspire a love of Shakespeare's works in a world-wide audience. We accomplish this with the highest standards of scholarship, design, and usability.

Please visit the latest issue of our newsletter, The Shakespeare Herald, for the most recent news about updates on the site.

The ISE version 0.9: the beginning

The Internet Shakespeare Editions project began in 1991 when Dr. Michael Best, a Renaissance scholar at British Columbia's University of Victoria (UVic), developed a HyperCard multimedia resource, Shakespeare's Life and Times, with design by graphic design specialist Roberta Livingstone. The work was published by Intellimation Inc. (Santa Barbara, California) on eight floppy disks. Within three years, a revolution took place in new media, and after further development, Shakespeare's Life and Times was published by the same company on CD ROM.

In 1996, Best and Livingstone created the first version of the website, Internet Shakespeare Editions. Over the next few years the Life and Times section was rewritten for the web, with funding from Athabasca University, and all Shakespeare plays were published in old spelling editions.

Version 1.0: evolution

In 1999, the ISE became a non-profit corporation. With the assistance of Dr. Tim Walzak, a technology transfer specialist and other staff at the Innovation and Development Corporation (based at UVic) we developed our mission, determined our goals for the future, and established ourselves as a legal entity. The first Board of Directors consisted of three officers:

Michael Best, President and Coordinating Editor
Roberta Livingstone, Vice President and Communications Director
Tim Walzak, Secretary

Best took mandatory retirement from UVic in 2004, but continued revising and updating the ISE website: a new version was launched in 2005 using database structures and XML, as well as an entirely new interface and design under the leadership of Livingstone. The board of directors was expanded at the same time; as of this date it consists of fourteen members representing a wide range of interests from the academic to business and the arts.

Version 2.0: A paradigm shift

These were significant years in the ISE's development; indeed, for many publishers involved in the new media, a paradigm shift was taking place. There was excitement, discussion, consultation and research: out of this dynamic period came our vision of the forces that would drive the evolution of academic resources in thenew digital world. It was an opportunity to use our deep understanding of scolarly and pedagogical needs to build a new model for online publication.

"Our editors have selected your site as one of the best on the Internet when reviewed for quality, accuracy of content, presentation and usability." Britannica.com

By 2004, the ISE had achieved many of the early goals of the organization, had been reviewed by major institutions and was now considered among the best and most trusted Shakespeare-related resources in the world: our online visitors numbered in the millions annually. In this second, more mature phase, the ISE's theory that student research was shifting predominantly to the web was vindicated, and our first complete plays and poems appeared under the editorship of senior Shakespeare scholars.

Editorial and professional guidance

We make a commitment to uphold standards you can trust -- whether you are a student, teacher, or scholar. The ISE website's development has been guided by academic and professional advisory boards in the areas of editorial policy, Shakespeare in performance, and technical standards of programming. At present some sixty people of international stature participate as volunteers in providing resources, editing, and other professional services. From the earliest days, the ISE has hired student computer programmers and Humanities research assistants at UVic to work on the website. These students have brought innovation and a spirit of interdisciplinarity to the enterprise. We have also received outstanding support from the University Libraries at the University of Victoria, the Humanities Computing and Media Centre, and University Systems. Over the years 2000 to 2010, the ISE received funding through three grants to the Coordinating Editor from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

We have been fortunate in having the assistance of outstanding graphic designers: Chris Chong, and most recently John Valade. Our programmer, Maxwell Terpstra, has set a high standard in developing the open source code that runs the site.

New appointment in 2012

After a long search, the ISE has been fortunate to be able to appoint Dr. Janelle Jenstad as Assistant Coordinating Editor; she will be in an ideal position to grow into a leadership role over the next few years, and will provide a necessary continuity as the site continues to grow. Dr. Jenstad brings high academic qualifications in Shakespeare and Early Modern drama, as well as outstanding Digital Humanities skills evidenced in her highly successful Map of Early Modern London, also hosted at UVic.

Version 3.0 and beyond.

Success brings its own pressures, both in terms of current research and development, and planning for the future. In order to continue development and maintain the resources that thousands of people count on around the world, the ISE organization needed a secure, university-based home. Towards this end, in 2009, the ISE signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Victoria. This agreement provides the organization with a stable home and essential infrastructure support: servers, technical support, and workstations for research assistants. In 2012, we established a partnership with the University of Victoria Libraries; the Libraries provide an office, and extensive support for our fundraising campaign.

The campaign is a response to the ongoing organizational needs that our organization must meet day to day:

student programmers,
student assistants to maintain the site
- links,
- correspondence,
- updating the database of Shakespeare in performance.

This is where your support becomes crucial.

Are you a fan of Shakespeare's plays and poems? Do you care -- as we do -- about the future of good quality online resources such as the Internet Shakespeare Editions? Help us make a difference. The aim of our fundraising drive is to establish an endowment of 1.5 million dollars to enable the ISE to continue to be a leader in quality websites, and in our goal of making Shakespeare accessible to all: your donation -- no matter how small -- will help ensure a successful future for the ISE. Please visit our donation page for more information.

We have also created a new fundraising campaign directed towards libraries: "Making Waves." Please visit the pages on this campaign to learn more.

Incubation of other projects, and international partnerships

We have undertaken to "incubate" two scholarly projects that are publishing Early Modern drama using our software and servers: the Queen's Men Editions (McMaster and Toronto universities) and Digital Renaissance Editions (University of Western Australia). Together with Broadview Press, we have developed a new model for learning, the "integrated text," bringing the best of both the print and web worlds together in joint editions.

A snapshot of our resources

A snapshot of the current resources now available on the ISE and its sibling sites includes the following:

Internet Shakespeare Editions

All plays and poems, both in quarto and folio form, are published in accurate, deeply marked-up old-spelling editions.
The six plays published in the Third Folio as Shakespeare's are also published in old-spelling editions.
Twenty-two works now appear in modern spelling, representing eighteen plays (some works have multiple versions).
Five plays are complete, with several more close to completion.
The database of performance contains information about over 2,300 productions on stage and film.
Software to permit selected scholars to update the Life and Times section is being prepared; one of Dr. Jenstad's first areas of focus will be improving this section of the site.

Queen's Men Editions

Five plays are in various stages of completion, with the one finished (The Chronicle History of King Leir).
A further four plays are planned.

Digital Renaissance Editions

The website is in its early stages of being set up, with the first play ready to be published.
Proposals for six plays have been approved, and the site will also publish many lesser-known plays in a draft format, since they will provide access to works out of print.

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