Novice museum visitors often lack the skills for interpreting and engaging with works of arts on display. We have observed visitors at the Davis Museum glossing through exhibits, lacking the capacity to make meaning from art viewing. From interviews with novice viewers, we found that such visitors are often not comfortable discussing works of art and seek opportunities to learn new ways for looking at works of art. Supporting novice museum visitors in building art-viewing capacity is essential for making a lasting impact on visitors and encouraging life-long learning in the arts.

We developed, in collaboration with the Wellesley College Davis Museum, a social-mobile application that helps novice viewers to build art-viewing capacity, engage with works of art, and become active participants in the museum-goers community.