Shakespeare's World

Shakespeare's World is a crowdsourced project for transcribing early modern manuscripts at the Folger. It is a collaboration between the Folger Shakespeare Library, Zooniverse and the Oxford English Dictionary.

Transcribers from anywhere in the world can log on to the site, view a manuscript, and start transcribing. The site includes a tutorial, helpful tips and an english secretary hand alphabet. There is also a lively 'Talk' section where transcribers, researchers and moderators communicate about interesting finds, offer support or guidance, and tag manuscripts as they pertain to different topics. Talk has contributed to numerous updates to the Folger's catalog records and the OED.

New word and variant candidates are detected during transcription. The list of possible candidates are assessed by the OED team to update the dictionary.

Once the manuscript images are fully transcribed and vetted, they will be entered into the Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO) database.

The twitter account of Shakespeare's World is @ShaxWorld.

Heather Wolfe is Co-Investigator for Shakespeare's World, Principal Investigator for Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO) and Curator of Manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Victoria Van Hyning is the Co-Investigator for Shakespeare's World. Sarah Powell is the Paleographer for Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO). All three can be contacted on the Shakespeare's World "Talk" forum.

Further Readings

The Guardian: Where there's a quill

The New Yorker: Crowdsourcing for Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s World and updating the OED: a splendid antedating of “white lie”

A huge find for the OED – a startling antedating for partner meaning ‘spouse’

OED release notes White lie and introducing Shakespeare's World

Welcome to Shakespeare's World

The New Yorker: Hope Against Hope by David Remnick