Issues in Creating Digital Arden

Issues in Creating Digital Arden Brad Scott Digital Publishing Consulting School of Advanced Studies University of London 18 January 2010

www.brambletye-publishing.co.uk Brad Scott
1990-2001: Routledge: Digital publisher
2001-2008: Semantico: Account director
2008-present: Consulting

www.brambletye-publishing.co.uk Overview
Outline of the three digital versions of Arden
Challenges and issues that shaped them
Doing digital publishing today

www.brambletye-publishing.co.uk Digital Publishing
Purpose of product
Balance between teaching and research
Benefits/advantages to publisher and user
Measurable

www.brambletye-publishing.co.uk Digital Arden
First ideas about 20 years ago
Matured with the digital universe
Ambitious and innovative

Timeline 1986 1987 1988 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2005 2006 2009 Initial plans Arden Shakespeare CD-Rom Arden online Shakespeare Collection

Early plans
“ From the base of the Ardens, should we consider trying to “corner” all Renaissance drama?”
“ One approach with the Ardens would be to offer a menu of the contents: the text with options to include specific variants; the option to use different “levels” of notes; a choice of the material from the introductions and appendices; and the content of the corresponding Critical Heritage and Critical Assessment volumes.”
John von Knorring, 1992

Early plans
Multimedia “opens up enormous opportunities, particularly in the performing arts. Arden texts linked to historic filmed and TV performance”
“ Most important, from our point of view, is Internet.... Internet links together some 1 million computers in the U.S. alone... Internet is not currently available for commercial, money-generating products.”
John von Knorring, 1992

www.brambletye-publishing.co.uk Arden CD-ROM
Texts and Sources for Shakespeare Studies
Arden 2
Images of First Folio and Quartos
Onions
Partridge
Bullough
Bevington bibliography

Arden CD-ROM

SGML
DynaText browser
Sophisticated synchonised frames
Many aspects of user experience emulated by other versions

Arden CD-ROM

Arden CD-ROM Direct Costs

Costs limited scope: bible; F/Q transcripts
Generated considerable debate
“ This is not the future of 21 st century Shakespeare”

Timeline: Ownership 1987 1988 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2005 2006 2009 Initial plans Arden Shakespeare CD-Rom Arden online Shakespeare Collection Methuen Routledge Thomas Nelson Thomson Learning Cengage Bloomsbury

Arden Online

www.brambletye-publishing.co.uk Arden Online
Arden 2/3
Online-only content
Illustrations of the plays in performance
Arden.net
Utilised source data from CD-ROM
High film rights

Timeline: Technology 1986 1987 1988 1991 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2005 2006 2009 Initial plans Arden Shakespeare CD-Rom Arden online Shakespeare Collection SGML Beginnings of HTML Mosaic HTML2 CSS1 HTML3.2 HTML4 XML Google HTML4.01 XSLT1 IE5 dotcom crash

Mosaic: 1993

Timeline: Technology 1986 1987 1988 1991 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2005 2006 2009 Initial plans Arden Shakespeare CD-Rom Arden online Shakespeare Collection SGML Beginnings of HTML Mosaic HTML2 CSS1 HTML3.2 HTML4 XML Google HTML4.01 XSLT1 IE5 dotcom crash

Google: 1998

Timeline: Technology 1986 1987 1988 1991 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2005 2006 2009 Initial plans Arden Shakespeare CD-Rom Arden online Shakespeare Collection SGML Beginnings of HTML Mosaic HTML2 CSS1 HTML3.2 HTML4 XML Google HTML4.01 XSLT1 WAI IE5 dotcom crash

Dot com bubble NASDAQ Composite Index

Timeline: Market 1988 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2005 2006 Initial plans Arden Shakespeare CD-Rom Arden online Shakespeare Collection Voyager Macbeth Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare Literature Online OED Grove Art

www.brambletye-publishing.co.uk Arden Online
Immature online market
Heavily biased to library consortia
Individuals and small institutions hard to reach
Inadequate bandwidth for many users
Rapidly evolving web technologies

The Shakespeare Collection
Gale's Shakespearean Criticism
First Folio, Quartos
Prompt books
Dictionary of Literary Biography: Documentary Series: William Shakespeare (Gale)
Twayne's English Authors: William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence
Encyclopedia of the Renaissance
Other reference content

Most successful digital incarnation of Arden
Mature technologies
Established sales models and channels to market

Main challenges so far
Conceptualising the purpose
Rights
Archiving
Technologies
Corporate environment
Digital publishing process

Thank you [email_address]

Issues in Creating Digital Arden

by Brad Scott on Jan 19, 2010

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