An interdisciplinary challenge exists in the museum experience that privileges those who are sighted in a culturally specific way.

Those who are sighted have the privilege of visiting museums, looking at the two and three-dimensional artwork on its walls and in its spaces, and reading contextual information about the artwork through concisely written placards positioned next to or near it. Our society assumes that it is acceptable to make sight compulsory to access visually presented information and that sight alone is sufficient.

However, the blind and partially blind are marginalized from museum experiences, although they have a legal right to access them.

It is time to redesign the cultural experience of engaging with artwork in museums to be more inclusive of blind and partially blind people and others and develop a co-creation model that museums, cultural heritage organizations, and science centers can adopt to broaden participation.

To that end, my question is: How might interactive aesthetics broaden museum participation through the inclusive co-creation of audio descriptions?

Introducing:

W-iCAD

Workshop on the Inclusive Co-Creation of Audio Description

Read White Paper
Read Journal Article

W-iCAD @

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

The first W-iCAD session occurred at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in 2022. In collaboration with researchers in the United Kingdom and the Smithsonian Institution, my US-based research team held a W-iCAD workshop to co-create an audio description of select artworks on exhibition. Below are a set of multimodal audio descriptions of the NPG’s George Washington Carver portrait by artist Betsy Graves.

George Washington Carver, Betsy Graves Reyneau, Oil on canvas, 1942

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; gift of the George Washington Carver Memorial Committee to the Smithsonian Institution, 1944. © Peter Edward Fayard

You may choose an audio description below or listen to all perspectives.

AD co-written with a partially blind visitor of color who identifies as female (Duration: 3:21)
University of Michigan
AD co-written with a sighted white person who identifies as female. (Duration: 1:51)
University of Michigan
AD co-written with a blind person of color who identifies as male. (Duration: 2:14)
University of Michigan
AD written by a white female museum professional with input from all 3 visitors (Duration: 4:05)
University of Michigan

W-iCAD @

University of Michigan Museum of Art

Subsequently, in 2023, a W-iCAD session occurred at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. The US-based research team held a symposium introducing W-iCAD to an interdisciplinary expert panel and the U-M community, followed by a W-iCAD session to co-create an audio description of Titus Kaphar’s Flay (James Madison). Below are the multimodal AD outcomes.

Flay (James Madison), 2019, artist Titus Kaphar. Photo courtesy Audrey G. Bennett

You may choose an audio description below or listen to all perspectives.

AD co-written with a White partially blind person who identifies as female (Duration: 2:43)
University of Michigan
AD co-written with a sighted person of color who identifies as female. (Duration: 3:22)
University of Michigan
AD co-written with a blind person of color who identifies as female. (Duration: 4:13)
University of Michigan
AD written by a White male museum professional (Duration: 3:53)
University of Michigan

Acknowledgements

This research project stems from a cross-Atlantic research inquiry titled “I don’t see what you mean: Broadening participation through co-created inclusive digital museum audio,” funded jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities in the United States and the Arts and Humanities Research Council in Britain through their New Directions for Digital Scholarship in Cultural Institutions program. Professor Audrey G. Bennett was the P.I. on the N.E.H. project, and U.K. psychologist Dr. Alison Eardley was the P.I. on the AHRC-funded part of the project.

Many thanks to the Smithsonian Institution for providing access to their collection, participating in the W-iCAD session, and assisting with the recruitment of participants.

Many thanks also to the University of Michigan Museum of Art for providing access to its collection and participating in the W-iCAD session and symposium.

Many thanks to Coforma for providing funding to support the recruitment of blind participants in the second phase of testing the NPG’s audio descriptions. This funding also partially supported the expert panel that provided indispensable feedback on W-iCAD.

Directed by Audrey G. Bennett

  • BAO is a game played in Africa. Here it is used metaphorically to describe collaborative designing remotely. While other researchers have used the virtual design studio concept to represent computer-supported, cooperative work, these human-computer interactions are typically for professional projects (e.g., architects talking to architects). With Baohouse (pronounced Bauhaus), I aim to engage lay communities locally and remotely. It is an immaterial and motile space where I conduct theoretical and applied investigations on how “interactive aesthetics” can engage lay people with socially and environmentally transformative images that can yield cognitive and behavioral changes toward attaining equity and justice.

  • Marguerite Botha, University of Pretoria, South Africa (Children’s Health in SA)

    Fatima Cassim, University of Pretoria, South Africa (Children’s Health in SA)

    Chris Corneal (I Profess)

    Mukkai Krishnamoorthy Department of Computer Science, Rensselaer (Diversifying STEM)

    Alison Eardley, University of Westminster (W-iCAD)

    Ron Eglash, School of Information + Stamps, University of Michigan (Diversifying STEM; Artisanal Robots; HIV/AIDS Awareness and Prevention; Humanoid Robots; and Life)

    Michael Lachney, Michigan State University (Diversifying STEM)

    Lionel Roberts, School of Information, University of Michigan (Artisanal Robots)

    Jennifer A. Vokoun, Walsh University (Food Security)

  • William Babbitt, Research Associate, Rensselaer (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

  • Adream Blair (GLIDE’10-’12)
    Gloria Gomez (GLIDE’10-’12)
    Muthoni Kimani (GLIDE’12)
    Michele Washington (GLIDE’08-’12)

  • University of Michigan Doctoral Students:

    Kwame Robinson, SI (Artisanal Robots)

    Caitlin Dyche, C&M, LSA (The Just Museum Experience)

    University of Michigan Masters Students:

    Megan Freund, Stamps (Diversifying STEM)

    Kayla Guillory, Stamps (WSDOM)

    Shelbi Lisecki, Stamps (Interactive Aesthetics)

    Stephanie Szemetylo, Stamps (WSDOM)

    Nicholas Lamarca, Stamps (The Just Museum Experience)

    Rensselaer Doctoral Students:

    David Banks (Red Card)

    Brian Callahan (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

    Michael Lachney (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

    John Licato (Red Card)

    Ray Lutzky (Diversifying STEM, DYF)

    Marie Rarieya (Act Now)

    Dylan Rees (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

    Rensselaer Masters Students:

    Sarah Diodato (Act Now)

    Angelo Gaetano (Act Now)

    Mark Oppenneer (GLIDE)

  • University of Michigan

    Rohan Agrawal (WSDOM)

    Katie Bailey (WSDOM)

    Tawsif Habib (WSDOM)

    Chloe Hooker (Diversifying STEM)

    Gautham Jayaraj (WSDOM)

    Zahra Makim (WSDOM)

    Michael McCallig(WSDOM)

    Amirul Miah (Diversifying STEM)

    Lara Niemchick (Heritage Algorithms)

    Angela Ponce Solano (WSDOM)

    Aaron VonBargen (WSDOM)

    Daniel Williams (DESIS Lab)

    Rensselaer Laura Antoniello (Social Media Marketing)

    Zac Autio (Diversifying STEM, DYF)

    Melissa Batalin (GLIDE)Joe Brust (Act Now)

    Jesse Cline (Diversifying STEM, DYF)

    Mackenzie Clippard (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

    Joyce Edwards (Act Now)

    Kim Gomboz (GLIDE)

    Andy Lao (Social Media Marketing)

    Ashlee Lindo (GLIDE)

    Rajas Nagpurkar (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

    Natalie Semczuk (Diversifying STEM, DYF)

    Laura Sherman (Act Now)

    Kelly Singco (GLIDE)

    Donna Tytko (Act Now)

    Carla Voorhees (Act Now)

  • Marcel Bennett (Diversifying STEM, DYF)

    Moriah Harling (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

    Jamie Park (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

    Jonathan Ward (Diversifying STEM, DYF)

    Kimi Wenzel (Diversifying STEM, CS4HS)

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