Rhizomatic Art Stories mw2011

Our paper describes the development process where we were trying to balance between listiening to users and sticking with our vision. This presentation shows highlights of the site and takes you through the most important learnings from post-launch user tests

We launched in January 2011 and got a lot of press coverage which immediately showed in the statistics Post-launch we’ve tested the site using the think-aloud protocol on 6 users. Here’s what we found out about how we managed to balance between innovation and usability

Vision To offer users a reliable resource of art historical content based on research by art historians and conservators Reality Users are pleased to be guided by experts – they open up new layers of knowledge. Users expect the National Gallery of Denmark to offer this kind of online content. As Kristen Purcell pointed out in her opening plenary, users still need trusted experts to guide them through/filter content, but also good story tellers!

Vision A web of related content about art history, where the users will get lost in a positive way Reality Users are impressed - and a little dismayed - by the chaotic network of related material

Vision Lots of different interaction possibilities and functionalities to draw users in and compel them to explore the content Reality Users feel like clicking on everything, and are motivated by the interactivity of the site. Most popular features are Hotspots, Zoom and X-rays Users are especially motivated by: Interactive functionalities Mouseover Catching headlines Being guided to more content

Vision Images work as primary entrances to ever deeper layers of information. Users should always be able to have a rewarding experience just from browsing images Reality Users navigate via images and have rewarding experiences just from browsing images. They rarely navigate via text How do we persuade users to read text? How can we test this? We hope that by persuading users to explore the content, and giving them an intuitive sense that it’s reliable, they will use the content in depth when they need to

Vision Users create their own ‘trails’ through the art historical content by engaging with it. They should be able to interact with and share the content Reality Users are excited about forming their own trails through the content. But they’re not very interested in contributing their own content. This finding is quite politically incorrect. It’s important for SMK to find new ways to make users feel welcome in interacting with the institution without annoying the many users who aren’t interested in user-generated content

Vision Art Stories is a web resource about art history that connects SMK artworks with related material all over the Web. It’s a destination in itself Reality Users don’t see Art Stories as an independent online resource, but expect it to reflect activities going on at the physical museum Users think that all content is related to SMK activities such as special exhibitions. They expect Art Stories to mirror what is physically on display in the museum.

Vision Art Stories cultivates a multivocal approach and stress how scholars have different opinions about the same artists and interpret the same artworks differently Reality Users don’t notice that senders are named. It doesn’t seem to interest them particularly. They respect the museum as an authority Important for SMK to challenge the notion of ‘the authoritative museum’ that users have come to expect – at the same time this is what they like, this is what make us stand out! How far should we go in trying to challenge users in this issue? How far will they follow us into the idea of New Art History/the rhizomatic and multivocal principle of writing/understanding history?

How do we get loyal users? Statistics show that user engagement rise when something special happens This Month’s Art Story goes out on social media and culture sites User-contributed content or not? Users aren’t very interested – apart from teachers who see great potentials in editing and sharing trails with their classes. How do we cater for them without annoying other users? The never ending Art Stories? It’s a huge task we’ve begun – an online art history potentially about everything! How do we get researchers and conservators to prioritize publishing their research on this platform?

View the intro video if you want more info about how to navigate the site http://www.smk.dk/en/explore-the-art/art-stories/#en/explore-the-art/art-stories/intro/