Research summary
Now more than ever, it is important to think about how digital tools and resources may be shaping the way we think. As a Shakespearean, book historian and digital humanist, Dr. Laura Estill, Canada Research Chair in New Media and Digital Humanities, is approaching this by exploring how texts change when they are read, performed, collected or sung in different contexts.
She and her research team are asking questions like: How are early modern English literature and drama relevant to current culture and history? How do texts make meaning, and how does their significance change for different readers or audiences? They are tracing shifts in meaning by focusing on how texts are used, such as when they are copied, memorized, adapted or digitized. Ultimately, Estill and her team are studying how we use (and learn to use) digital tools and resources to undertake humanities research.