How to Learn About Art in a Museum Setting Using Multitouch Technology: Providing Affordances for Collaboration and Comparison

Abstract

In the present study we investigated the process of collaborative meaning making of art using multitouch technologies. Dyads of students first visited an art exhibit, where they were instructed to pick their most favorite artworks from the exhibit by marking them in an iPod App. Subsequently, they explored their collection of favorites, which were displayed as high- resolution images on a large multitouch table and which could be moved and resized on the display using multitouch gestures. In a control condition, no instructions were given on how to explore the artworks, whereas in the experimental condition students were instructed to compare artworks to gain a deeper understanding of them. Moreover, automatic suggestions for comparing artworks between students’ selections were presented. The goal of the instruction was to help students identify commonalities and differences among the artworks along four art- relevant dimensions: epoch, symbolism, method of production, and genre. After the exploration students filled in various posttests that assessed their understanding of art. Data collection has just been finished and results from the interaction data (audio and video recordings) and performance data will be reported at the conference.