Towards a Definition of Digital Narratives in Art Museums
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Hidalgo Urbaneja, María Isabel (2020) Towards a definition of digital narratives in art museums. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/78980/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Towards a Definition of Digital Narratives in Art Museums María Isabel Hidalgo Urbaneja BA in Fine Arts MA in Publishing, Journalism, and Cultural Management Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Studies School of Humanities College of Arts University of Glasgow January 2020 © María Isabel Hidalgo Urbaneja 2020 Abstract This thesis defines art museums’ online resources as narratives in response to the following question: How can online resources, such as online exhibitions, online publications, and similar resources, be accurately and systematically defined? The aim of this definition is to provide a detailed, clear, and critical understanding of certain types of online resources, namely online exhibitions and online publications, that share attributes and functions. The two types of online resources contain and display exhibitions and artworks information, use similar interfaces and media, can serve similar audiences, and narrate the stories of the artworks. Based on the narrative character of both types, the definition comprehensively examines the spectrum of attributes online resources have and the implications of such attributes. Thus, the definition not only indicates what are online resources and their characteristics but also explains why online resources are the way they are and have certain characteristics, and how they function as narratives. These attributes are authorship, readership, temporality, spatiality, and mediality. In order to construct the definition, a systematic review of narratology and museum studies literature on narratives was pursued. The review of the literature was key to develop a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon. Moreover, the methodology used in this thesis revised the traditional usage of narratology in museum studies research integrating empirical evidence. In this way, the narratological analysis moves away from the narrative text itself and also considers the production and consumption mechanisms of the narrative. The thesis employs six art museums’ online resources from Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom as sources for the research. Data from seven museum professionals involved in the creation of those resources was collected with interviews. In the case of the scholarly audience, twenty scholars performed think-aloud protocol sessions while visiting the online resources. i Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Review of the Literature 6 2.1 Introduction . .6 2.2 Beyond terminology. Similarities and differences between online exhibitions and online publications . .7 2.3 Museums as narratives . 14 2.3.1 Text, Intertextuality, Paratext . 15 2.3.2 Narrative Structure . 17 2.3.3 Historiography and narratives . 19 2.3.4 Authorship . 20 2.3.5 Narrative mediality . 27 2.3.6 Spatiality and temporality . 30 2.3.7 Readership . 38 2.4 Conclusion . 48 3 Research design and methods 50 3.1 Introduction . 50 3.2 Choice of methods . 51 ii iii 3.2.1 Narratology and empirical research . 51 3.2.2 Reflective practice . 52 3.3 Surveying and selecting online resources for in-depth-study . 54 3.4 Recruiting, interviewing, and collecting data from museums professionals . 57 3.5 Using think-aloud protocol to research meaning-making and reading strategies . 59 3.6 Transcribing recorded data . 66 3.7 Analysing data: The coding process . 66 4 A selection of online resources 70 4.1 Introduction . 70 4.2 82nd & Fifth. The Metropolitan Museum of Art . 71 4.3 Online editions. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 74 4.4 Scrollytelling. Museo del Prado . 76 4.5 Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting. The National Gallery, London . 78 4.6 Object:Photo. Museum of Modern Art, MoMA . 80 4.7 Featured Artwork. Museo Nacional Centro del Arte Reina Sofía . 82 5 Research results: defining art museums’ online resources as narratives 84 5.1 Introduction . 84 5.2 Authorship . 85 5.2.1 Authorship in online resources. Collaboration and contextual factors . 85 5.2.2 Authorship perceived . 97 5.3 Mediality, temporality, and spatiality . 104 5.3.1 Representations of history . 104 iv 5.3.2 Temporality . 106 5.3.3 Online resources as spatial types . 113 5.3.4 The boundaries of the text. Embedded and non-embedded resources . 116 5.3.5 Typologies and mediality. Online exhibitions and online publications . 118 5.3.6 The visual and the verbal in online resources . 121 5.3.7 The focus of spatial attention. Images and the interface . 123 5.3.8 Linearity and nonlinearity . 131 5.4 Readership . 139 5.4.1 Readership and interactivity . 139 5.4.2 Implied and real readerships. Art museums’ online resources audience . 141 5.4.3 The scholarly interpretive community. Identity, meaning-making, and reading strategies . 148 5.5 Conclusion. A definition and its implications . 156 6 Conclusion 161 6.1 Findings and contribution . 161 6.2 Limitations and further research . 167 6.3 What is next for online resources? . 169 Appendix A Survey of art museums’ online resources 170 Bibliography 176 List of Figures 3.1 Schema of the codes used to analyse the research data. Figure by the thesis author. ...... 69 4.1 Detail of the home page. 82nd and Fifth. 2013. https://82nd- and- fifth.metmuseum.org/ ... 72 4.2 Screen capture of the Online Editions home page. Online Editions. 2014. National Gallery of Art. https://www.nga.gov/research/online-editions.html .................. 75 4.3 Screen capture of the Scrollytelling launching feature integrated in the Bosch. The 5th Cente- nary Exhibition page. Scrollytelling. 2016. Museo Nacional del Prado. Visted on 10/10/2017. https://www.museodelprado.es/en/whats-on/exhibition/bosch-the-5th-centenary-exhibition/f049c260- 888a-4ff1-8911-b320f587324a ............................. 77 4.4 Screen capture of the online exhibition catalogue opening page as it appears in the National Gallery website. Building the Picture. Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting. 2014. Na- tional Gallery. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/exhibition-catalogues/building- the-picture ...................................... 79 4.5 Screen capture of the photographs gallery at Object: Photo. Object: Photo. 2014. Museum of Modern Art. https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/ ............... 81 4.6 Page displaying Featured Artwork resources on the museum website. Featured Artworks. 2016. Museo Nacional Centro del Arte Reina Sofía. http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/featured-artworks 83 5.1 Screen capture of an object page Object: Photo. Object: Photo. 2014. Museum of Modern Art. https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/ ..................... 127 5.2 Detail of interactive captions. 82nd & Fifth. 2013. Visited on 10/13/2017. https://82nd-and- fifth.metmuseum.org/ ................................. 128 v vi 5.3 Detail of interactive captions. Scrollytelling. 2016. Museo Nacional del Prado. https://www.museodelprado.es/en/whats- on/exhibition/bosch-the-5th-centenary-exhibition/f049c260-888a-4ff1-8911-b320f587324a .. 129 5.4 Screen capture of Scrollytelling. 2016. Museo Nacional del Prado. https://www.museodelprado.es/en/whats- on/exhibition/bosch-the-5th-centenary-exhibition/f049c260-888a-4ff1-8911-b320f587324a .. 132 5.5 Home page screen capture. 82nd and Fifth. 2013. https://82nd-and-fifth.metmuseum.org/ ... 152 5.6 Screen capture of Interactive network graph. Object: Photo. Object: Photo. 2014. Museum of Modern Art. https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto ............... 154 5.7 Definition schema. Figure by the thesis author. ...................... 157 5.8 Comparing typologies schema. Figure by the thesis author. ................ 159 Acknowledgements I dedicate this thesis to my mother who passed away due to cancer while I was completing the corrections. She is a model of determination and courage. This thesis could not have been written without the support of her and my father. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors, Ian Anderson, Maria Economou, and Nuria Rodríguez Ortega for the continuous support of my Ph.D. study and related research. Their insights and guidance were essential to the development of this investigation. I would like to thank Elizabeth McLean, my internship supervisor at The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, for allowing me to test my data collection methodology during the internship, and the staff at the Columbia University Media Center for Art History, the director Stefaan Van Liefferinge, Gabriel Rodriguez, digital curator, and Tim Trombley, Educational Technologist, for hosting me and advise my research in New York City. I would also like to thank the University of Glasgow Information Studies department for their continuous support during the course of my studies. I extremely appreciate the time and interest of all