The Shakespeare 400 Digital Archive was created by the University of Ottawa in 2016 as part of celebrations for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The archive features seven interactive exhibits that analyze Shakespeare's influence on Canadian culture, society, politics, and more using maps, text, illustrations and videos. It was intended to showcase how Shakespeare and his works have shaped and continue to shape Canadian culture. The archive received funding from various sponsors and collaborators and features a simple, straightforward interface to make its analysis of Shakespeare's lasting impact on Canada accessible to various audiences.

1. SHAKESPEARE 400
DIGITAL ARCHIVE FOR
SHAKESPEARE 400
PROJECT
HTTP://216.48.92.16/OMEKA1/SHAKESPEARE40
0/
MADISON SHOCKLEY
ENGLISH 584 DIGITAL HUMANITIES
OCTOBER 10 2019
MIDTERM PROJECT

2. OVERVIEW OF SHAKESPEARE 400
 The University of Ottawa created the archive in 2016 as a part of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death
 They had a University-wide celebration called “Shakespeare 400” which the digital archive was a part of
 Intended audience:
 Highschool/College students
 Shakespeare/British Literature scholars
 Professors
 Digital archivists and historians
 The public
 Canadians
 Fans of Shakespeare
 Purpose: to showcase the ways in which Shakespeare and his works have—and continue to—shape Canadian culture by
creating interactive exhibits that analyze this relationship in different disciplines

3. WHAT IS SHAKESPEARE 400? HOW DOES IT WORK?
 Funding: 8 outside sponsors who funded the “Shakespeare 400” project and University of Ottawa
 These collaborators and sponsors are: the Stratford Festival, PAL Ottawa, the Shakespeare Bulletin, Bytowne Cinema,
British Council, The Royal Commonwealth Society, GALE Cengage Learning, the University of Ottawa, and the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Shakespeare 400).
 Interface:
 Has 7 exhibits that are a mixture of interactive maps and categorized portions of text/illustrations/videos
 Very simple, straightforward, user-friendly interface
 Significance:
 Analyzes Shakespeare’s “afterlife” influence in Canadian culture, society, politics, and more
 Showcases the importance of Shakespeare that has been--and continues to be--present in Canadian history
 Perpetuates a unique discourse of Shakespeare in a well-informed, compelling, and personal way that can encourage
future DH projects.

4. CONNECTIONS TO ENGLISH 584
 Kirschenbaum - Shakespeare in the Digital Humanities opens up discussion to broader disciplines
 Drucker - Temporality, playing with time in terms of emphasizing Shakespeare’s multiplicity and multiple
influences in relation to time (past, present, future)
 Kenderdine- past and present connection, cultural body/embodiment
 Terras/Warwick - making digitized works more than “mere playthings,” digitizing these various modes of
Canadian culture influenced by Shakespeare makes them universally available and accessible (positive
form of digitization)