Dr. Kathryn Holland is working with scholarly teams from Canada, the United States and England to explore and re-imagine the histories of women writers. As co-director of the Orlando Project she collaborates with researchers, students and tech experts on a massive online textbase that chronicles literature and history through a feminist lens.

In a recent episode of the Office of Research Services’ Research Recast(ed) podcast, the assistant professor in the Department of English explained to host Kelsie Johnston that the project isn’t so much about digitizing writers’ work as it is about developing new research and scholarship about them that builds an intricate history of authors and their creations. Frequently, the stories of different writers intersect and overlap, helping to shape a complex, wide picture of relationships and inspirations across periods. And that textbase has been published by Cambridge University Press for global, public access since 2006.

“There’s a very heavy research component to it, both in terms of developing that literary scholarship and making it live through digital technology,” says Dr. Holland.

She initially joined the project as a grad student, working as a research assistant. At the time, she was interested in modernist women’s writing, and found a fascinating parallel between innovations in content and form, and the way she was able to transform and reorganize historical information with current technology. Now, she’s also training and mentoring incoming research assistants and helping them to find their own strengths in the project.

“One of the most inspiring aspects of my work is bringing students on board who are passionate about the study of literature, and also curious about the meaning and purpose of digital tools and methods,” she says.

Her work is also informing her teaching here at MacEwan. Last term, she developed a 300-level English course called Digital Literary History, which involves case studies like the Orlando Project. Students used those digital humanities initiatives to understand that art and technology can intersect – and how their own skillsets could be used in ways they might not have previously considered.

Projects like this also allow research to be continuous, as digital databases and archives can be updated with information as it becomes available.

“The technical or the digital publication can be finished, but never done. It's always open to more,” says Dr. Holland. “My peers absolutely set the foundation for my understanding of what knowledge creation and mobilization can be.”

Watch the full episode: