Linked Early Modern Drama Online

In its development phase, LEMDO has had fabulous student team members. We'll be celebrating them over the next few weeks to let you know who they are, how they've contributed to LEMDO, and where they are now. Today is the last day of the LEMDO intense summer research season. Together, LEMDO and MoEML employed 11 students over the summer, more than usual because we were asked to make jobs for students left high and dry by the pandemic. There's no question that it was harder t...o work remotely. We missed our beloved HCMC space in the McPherson Library/Mearns Centre for Learning. Some of us were working with children nearby and missed our whiteboards and professional space; others were working alone in small apartments and longed for the companionship in a shared lab. But grace and innovation made it work most days. We pulled together as a team from our respective home desks or kitchen tables. We worked via Zoom, Skype, and collaborative editing spaces. The RAs generously downloaded software and files to their personal computers. Experienced team members trained new team members by Zoom sessions and answered questions by Skype. And now we are saying good-bye to some team members, some permanently as they move on to jobs and graduate studies elsewhere, some temporarily as they take a break to focus on the many other claims on student time. Normally, we'd be having the end-of-summer BBQ in the director's backyard about now, reviewing the challenges and triumphs of the summer, and sending off our outgoing team members in style. Removing folks from Skype groups, mailing lists, and ticketing systems is an impoverished ritual in comparison. But to all those leaving us or taking breaks, thank you! And to all those staying, thank you! You put the ODD in early modern.

Through a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, LEMDO is connecting a number of projects via linked data and shared infrastructure: Digital Renaissance Editions (DRE), Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE), Queen's Men Editions (QME), the Database of Early English Playbooks (DEEP), the Early Modern England Encyclopedia (EMEE), and the Bibliography of Editions of Early English Drama (BEEED). The LEMDO platform will also host MoMS, the MoEML anthology of Mayoral Shows, and has the capacity to host other anthology and single-edition projects. Co-applicants on the SSHRC grant are Janelle Jenstad (PI), Martin Holmes, Lisa Goddard, Sarah Neville, Brett Greatley-Hirsch, James Mardock, Peter Cockett, Helen Ostovich, Andrew Griffin, Kate McPherson, Kate Moncrief, Zack Lesser, Alan Farmer, Cliff Werier, Mark Kaethler, Diane Jakacki, and Laura Estill.

Forthcoming from the team that built the Map of Early Modern London: a new platform for editing early modern drama!