Narrative Interfaces: Temporality and spatiality in art museums’ online resources

Art museums use a variety of online resources to tell the stories of their artworks and collections. Online publications, online exhibitions, and other interactive resources have interfaces with distinctive temporal and spatial qualities that determine the way narratives are presented and users interact with them. Temporality and spatiality are related to usability of interfaces. This paper draws upon concepts from narratology and digital narratology and uses empirical data from a specialised audience of art history and visual arts scholars to discuss the significance of time and space in online resources’ interfaces. The research interrogates the effectiveness the design and function of paratexts that help users to navigate online resources. Research results invite to rethink the relation between the visual and the verbal in online resources. The spatial disposition of illustrations, understood as paratextual elements, determines the mediality of a narrative. Lastly, it will be discussed how linearity and nonlinearity influences the interactions the user has with the resources. A linear continuous vertical interface requires more time from the user to be read and therefore is better suited for close reading than information seeking.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Maribel Hidalgo Urbaneja

Conference

Publication date: July 2019

Publication date (Print): July 2019

Pages: 36-41

Affiliations

[0001]University of Glasgow

Glasgow G12 8QH, Scotland

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.5

SO-VID: e85cf060-03c3-4736-9be7-79e20fe13e76

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2019

Conference acronym: EVA 2019

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 8 - 11 July 2019

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.5

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

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Participant 2 2016 Think aloud session led by author November 17th 2016
Participant 3 2016 Think aloud session led by author October 10th 2016
Participant 7 2016 Think aloud session led by author July 16th 2016
Participant 11 2016 Think aloud session led by author July 18th 2016
Participant 12 2016 Think aloud session led by author October 28th 2016
Participant 13 Think aloud session led by author June 12th 2016
Participant 16 2016 Think aloud session led by author July 14th 2016
Participant 18 2016 Think aloud session led by author October 25th 2016
Participant 19 2017 Think aloud session led by author February 2nd 2017
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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] M. AbbaspourL. A. DaffnerM. Morris Hamburg 2014 Object:Photo. Modern Photographs: The Thomas Walther Collection 1909–1949 at The Museum of Modern Art https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/#home retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[2] J. Baetens 2003 Illustrations, images, and antiillustrations M. E. HocksM. R. Kendrick Eloquent Images: Word and Image in the Age of New Media The MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[3] D. BirchallA. Faherty 2016 Big and slow: Adventures in digital storytelling MW2016: Museums and the Web 2016 http://mw2016.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/big-and-slow-adventures-in-digital-storytelling/ retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[4] M. Bostock 2014 How To Scroll. Mike Bostock [personal site] https://bost.ocks.org/mike/scroll/ retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[5] J. Brejcha 2015 Cross-Cultural Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Design CRC Press Boca Raton, FL

[6] R. BrookeyJ. Gray 2017 Not merely para: continuing steps in paratextual research Critical Studies in Media Communication 34 5 101 110 doi:10.1080/15295036.2017.1312472

[7] S. Chatman 1978 Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film Cornell UP Ithaca

[8] B. Cronin 2014 Foreword N. DesrochersD. Apollon Examining Paratextual Theory and Its Applications in Digital Culture. IGI Global Pennsylvania

[9] J. Drucker 2014 Graphesis. Visual Forms of Knowledge Production Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA

[10] J. Drucker 2013 Performative Materiality and Theoretical Approaches to Interface Digital Humanities Quarterly 7 1 http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/7/1/000143/000143.html retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[11] M. Engberg 2014 Word-Image L. EmersonM. RyanB. J. Robertson The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore

[12] G. Genette 1972 1980 Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method Cornell UP Ithaca

[13] G. Genette 1991 Introduction to the Paratext New Literary History 22 2 261 72 doi:10.2307/469037.

[14] F. Grant 2014 Approaches to Online Storytelling. SFMOMA Blog https://www.sfmoma.org/read/approaches-online-storytelling/ retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[15] M. E. HocksM. R. Kendrick 2003 Eloquent Images: Word and Image in the Age of New Media MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[16] R. Koskimaa 2010 Approaches to Digital Literature: Temporal Dynamics and Cyborg Authors R. SimanowskiJ. SchåferP. Gendolla Reading Moving Letters: Digital Literature in Research and Teaching Transcript, Bielefeld, Germany 129 143

[17] H. Kraemer 2007 Simplicity, Slowness and Good Old Stories as Strategies and Perspectives of Design in Hypermedia and Media International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting (ICHIM07): Proceedings http://www.archimuse.com/ichim07/papers/kraemer/kraemer.html retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[18] A. Lillie 2014 Building the Picture. Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/exhibition-catalogues/building-the-picture retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[19] Metropolitan Museum of Art 2013 82nd and Fifth https://82nd-and-fifth.metmuseum.org/ retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[20] Museo Nacional del Prado 2016 Bosh. A story in pictures https://www.museodelprado.es/en/whats-on/exhibition/bosch-the-5th-centenary-exhibition/f049c260-888a-4ff1-8911-b320f587324a retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[21] Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía 2016 Featured artworks http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/featured-artworks retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[22] National Gallery of Art 2014 Online Editions https://www.nga.gov/research/online-editions.html retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[23] J. Nielsen 2000 Designing web usability: The practice of simplicity New Riders Publishing

[24] Participant 2 2016 Think aloud session led by author November 17th 2016

[25] Participant 3 2016 Think aloud session led by author October 10th 2016

[26] Participant 7 2016 Think aloud session led by author July 16th 2016

[27] Participant 11 2016 Think aloud session led by author July 18th 2016

[28] Participant 12 2016 Think aloud session led by author October 28th 2016

[29] Participant 13 Think aloud session led by author June 12th 2016

[30] Participant 16 2016 Think aloud session led by author July 14th 2016

[31] Participant 18 2016 Think aloud session led by author October 25th 2016

[32] Participant 19 2017 Think aloud session led by author February 2nd 2017

[33] Participant 20 2016 Think aloud session led by author July 12th 2016

[34] M. Ryan 2014a Space P. Hühn et al The living handbook of narratology Hamburg University Hamburg http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/article/space retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[35] M. Ryan 2014b Graph theory L. EmersonM. RyanB. J. Robertson The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore

[36] P. SamisT. Svenonius 2015 The X, Y, and Z of digital storytelling: Dramaturgy, directionality, and design MW2015: Museums and the Web 2015 http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/the-x-y-z-of-digital-storytelling-dramaturgy-directionality-and-design/ retrieved 12 March 2019 )

[37] J. Strehovec 2014 E-Literary Text and New Media Paratexts N. DesrochersD. Apollon Examining Paratextual Theory and Its Applications in Digital Culture IGI Global Pennsylvania

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