For my exhibit.so project, I selected two pieces from the Harvard Art Museums collections: Persephone Captured by Hades and The Abduction of Persephone. I presented them using the Scroll template and used the zoom tool to compare and contrast different aspects of the prints. You can visit my exhibit here.
An Accessible Exhibit Platform
Overall, I honestly found the exhibit.so system to be quite intuitive. There was a small learning curve with figuring out how to toggle between the two pieces I wanted to use, but once I did, I had no real issues with putting together this exhibit. I will say that I wish I was able to zoom in more on certain aspects, but I believe that’s just a limitation of the resolution for the particular pieces I chose.
Widespread adoption of exhibit.so can make the creation of digital exhibits more accessible, both inside and outside of museums. While some might see this tool as pretty basic, I found it to be an advantage rather than a disadvantage. This simplicity means that adopting the system shouldn’t involve intensive training; as long as the user can navigate the exhibit.so user manual and/or knows where to find IIIF manifests, getting set up doesn’t take long at all.
White and Jackson touch on this in their article “A Service-Orientation and Open-Source Approach to Developing Virtual Museums,” pointing out that use of open-source technology can allow and even encourage third parties to create virtual exhibits for museums. Of course, they were speaking about 3D models and mobile apps.
Feliciati expands this past LAM professionals and other tech-savvy groups in “Planning with the Public: How to Co-Develop Digital Public History Projects?” by discussing the idea of digital public histories. He points out that a more coordinated effort is required to facilitate such public involvement, but this seems to concern more the substance of the exhibits than the technology used to support it. In general, this sort of democratization of the museum exhibit can lead to unique and interesting exhibits from a wide range of voices and perspectives you might not otherwise hear.
I could also easily see this tool being used in the classroom; for example, teachers could use it to create or enhance lessons for their students prior to or in lieu of visiting a museum. Similarly, students could use it to create presentations using museum artifacts.
Elevating Digital Exhibits Through Storytelling
Another benefit of adopting exhibit.so is its enhancement of the digital museum experience.
For example, the ability to “guide” the audience’s eyes from detail to detail/object to object smoothly and effortlessly makes exhibit.so a great storytelling tool; whether you use the Kiosk, Slides, or Scroll (my personal favorite) template, you to simulate the in-person museum experience of the guided tour, providing historical and anecdotal background as the audience views the objects.
At the same time, you also elevate this experience by highlighting particular textures and other details that might go unnoticed without the ability to Zoom in on them. Moreover, you can provide additional context that you might not otherwise get when looking at a digital/digitized object.
For instance, in my experience of picking out pieces to create this mini digital exhibit, I found searching through the Harvard Art Museums catalog a bit underwhelming. Even after I found some prints I was interested in using, I found myself wishing there was more information than was offered on their individual pages (here and here). In order to add more contextual information to my exhibit, I ended up using some external sources that introduced the subjects of these pieces.
By focusing on the storytelling flow the same way you would in a guided museum tour, you can give the audience a reason to care about the digital objects, increasing their engagement. The simulated guided tour also benefits audience members who, for various reasons, may never get to attend the museum in-person; they can get as close to that experience as possible.
Digital Exhibits Require Different User Considerations
In order to really take advantage of the tool and engage the audience, exhibit creators will need to consider user experience and accessibility within the digital space. As Goldman and Schaller point out in “Exploring Motivational Factors and Visitor Satisfaction in On-Line Museum Visits,” different psychological factors and contexts are at play when comparing audiences in physical and virtual museum spaces.
While exhibit.so as a technology is pretty straightforward to use in building a basic exhibit, taking these other factors into consideration is what will separate good digital exhibits from the best ones. This might involve designing a survey and providing it at the end of the exhibit to collect feedback from audience members, which will require additional time and effort.
Exhibit.so also didn’t appear to have any audio components, so it would be important to ensure that the exhibit is still accessible for audience members using screen readers and similar assistive technology.
Other challenges to consider:
Exhibit.so is a great external tool, but I don’t see it adding much value within the physical museum space. In other words, simulating the in-person tour won’t necessarily bring people into the museum, which will likely draw criticism for those focused on monetary goals.
That being said, some funding will still be necessary to advertise that these digital exhibits are available.
References
Feliciati, P. (2022). Planning with the Public: How to Co-Develop Digital Public History Projects?. In S. Noiret, M. Tebeau, and G. Zaagsma (Eds.), Handbook of Digital Public History (pp. 385-393)
Haley Goldman, K., and Schaller, D. (2004). Exploring Motivational Factors and Visitor Satisfaction in On-line Museum Visits. In Bearman, D. & Trant, J. (Eds.), Museums and the Web 2004. Toronto, CA: Archives and Museum Informatics. http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/haleyGoldman/haleyGoldman.html
White, M. Jackson, B. (2020). A Service-Orientation and Open-Source Approach to Developing Virtual Museums. In K. Brown (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Digital Humanities and Art History. (pp. 215-237). https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429505188-20/service-orientation-open-source-approach-developing-virtual-museums-martin-white-ben-jackson?context=ubx&refId=95f38f80-a463-4beb-84a4-974d44d44ff9
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