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

Abstract

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.