Book Description

Art museums are indispensable cultural institutions but are too often inaccessible to the broader public. The challenge to provide engaging and participatory opportunities compounded with the era of digital technology has presented new challenges for art museums. The digital age has created exciting opportunities and new modes of learning to bring participatory learning experiences. In order to remain relevant, art museums are being challenged with digital-based learning platforms for their audience. This evolution of technology is a relevant dispute facing art museums, as technology vastly transforms how traditional artworks and material objects are experienced within the museum context. Through a participatory research study with one art museum and case studies with two art museums, this research addresses the following questions: Are digital platforms necessary in an art museum? What, if any, are the digital tools museums are utilizing to create engaging audience experiences and how do they help create audience voice and authorship? What are some of the challenges museums face as they transition from analog to digital? My research was conducted at three different art museums in the Midwest. From September 8 through December 12, I worked with Museum Chicago in their education department to research strategies and tools for technology integration within educational programming. I visited Museum Ohio and Museum Wisconsin, tested their multimedia platforms, interviewed education staff, and collected data from my user experience testing. Observational data was collected using a checklist for user experience testing, relationship to art history, and the digital tools’ ability to produce authorship. I took field notes, audio recordings of interviews, videos, and photographs. Digital technology, while not a main priority, should be a thoughtfully integrated component of museum education curriculum. Research from the three art museums stressed the need to balance low tech and high tech initiatives to provide engaging, yet related, content. Digital technologies hold the power to reverse art museum authority generally associated with curatorial information, while providing content-rich experiences from the museum’s collection. While technology proves to engage audiences, art museums depend on analog solutions to create meaning-making experiences for their visitors. Digital platforms have the ability to transform the standard art museum experience through their ability to create individualized, meaningful experiences when integrated seamlessly and thoughtfully within the museum’s galleries.