The world is constantly changing and growing, most often seen through advances in technology. When it comes to the world of music, the same can be said, and digitization of musical material is moving at a faster rate than ever before. With the influence that music has on society and considering new ways of making music more accessible to the general public through the public-facing museum format, I wanted to examine how digital music museum exhibits and experiences can be made accessible and if it is possible to fully represent what an in-person exhibit can offer. In 2010, Smithsonian created a comprehensive document on accessible museum exhibition design, created to cover every aspect of any given exhibit. Through this document, there became a standardized level of accessibility for museum exhibits to meet, and I applied this document to find out if digital music exhibits currently available online meet these standards.
For purposes of simplicity, three museum institutions and their coordinating music-related online exhibits were examined under the lens of the Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design: The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Tennessee State Museum, and The Smithsonian Institution. Through analysis of their webpages, examples of both accessible and inaccessible design came clearly through comparison against the Smithsonian accessibility document. Analysis of each institution consisted of visual, auditory, and texture and interactive analysis through design choices such as photos, videos, fonts, colors, and interactive elements.
","abstract_html":"<p>The world is constantly changing and growing, most often seen through advances in technology. When it comes to the world of music, the same can be said, and digitization of musical material is moving at a faster rate than ever before. With the influence that music has on society and considering new ways of making music more accessible to the general public through the public-facing museum format, I wanted to examine how digital music museum exhibits and experiences can be made accessible and if it is possible to fully represent what an in-person exhibit can offer. In 2010, Smithsonian created a comprehensive document on accessible museum exhibition design, created to cover every aspect of any given exhibit. Through this document, there became a standardized level of accessibility for museum exhibits to meet, and I applied this document to find out if digital music exhibits currently available online meet these standards.</p> <p>For purposes of simplicity, three museum institutions and their coordinating music-related online exhibits were examined under the lens of the Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design: The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Tennessee State Museum, and The Smithsonian Institution. Through analysis of their webpages, examples of both accessible and inaccessible design came clearly through comparison against the Smithsonian accessibility document. Analysis of each institution consisted of visual, auditory, and texture and interactive analysis through design choices such as photos, videos, fonts, colors, and interactive elements.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Fowler, Erin L."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Music","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Schwob School of Music","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Reba Wissner","Dr. Sue Tomkiewicz","Dr. Cindy S. Ticknor"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2026-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:45:25Z","subjects":["Digital Music Museum","Technology","Music","Digitizing","Arts and Humanities","Other Music"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/770","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Reba Wissner","Dr. Sue Tomkiewicz","Dr. Cindy S. Ticknor"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Fowler, Erin L."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Schwob School of Music"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Music"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Digital Music Museum","Technology","Music","Digitizing","Arts and Humanities","Other Music"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/770"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The world is constantly changing and growing, most often seen through advances in technology. When it comes to the world of music, the same can be said, and digitization of musical material is moving at a faster rate than ever before. With the influence that music has on society and considering new ways of making music more accessible to the general public through the public-facing museum format, I wanted to examine how digital music museum exhibits and experiences can be made accessible and if it is possible to fully represent what an in-person exhibit can offer. In 2010, Smithsonian created a comprehensive document on accessible museum exhibition design, created to cover every aspect of any given exhibit. Through this document, there became a standardized level of accessibility for museum exhibits to meet, and I applied this document to find out if digital music exhibits currently available online meet these standards.
For purposes of simplicity, three museum institutions and their coordinating music-related online exhibits were examined under the lens of the Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design: The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Tennessee State Museum, and The Smithsonian Institution. Through analysis of their webpages, examples of both accessible and inaccessible design came clearly through comparison against the Smithsonian accessibility document. Analysis of each institution consisted of visual, auditory, and texture and interactive analysis through design choices such as photos, videos, fonts, colors, and interactive elements.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Digital Docent: An Analysis of Accessibility in the Digital Music Space"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Reba Wissner","Dr. Sue Tomkiewicz","Dr. Cindy S. Ticknor"],"dc:creator":["Fowler, Erin L."],"dc:description.abstract":["The world is constantly changing and growing, most often seen through advances in technology. When it comes to the world of music, the same can be said, and digitization of musical material is moving at a faster rate than ever before. With the influence that music has on society and considering new ways of making music more accessible to the general public through the public-facing museum format, I wanted to examine how digital music museum exhibits and experiences can be made accessible and if it is possible to fully represent what an in-person exhibit can offer. In 2010, Smithsonian created a comprehensive document on accessible museum exhibition design, created to cover every aspect of any given exhibit. Through this document, there became a standardized level of accessibility for museum exhibits to meet, and I applied this document to find out if digital music exhibits currently available online meet these standards.
For purposes of simplicity, three museum institutions and their coordinating music-related online exhibits were examined under the lens of the Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design: The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Tennessee State Museum, and The Smithsonian Institution. Through analysis of their webpages, examples of both accessible and inaccessible design came clearly through comparison against the Smithsonian accessibility document. Analysis of each institution consisted of visual, auditory, and texture and interactive analysis through design choices such as photos, videos, fonts, colors, and interactive elements.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/770"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["Digital Music Museum","Technology","Music","Digitizing","Arts and Humanities","Other Music"],"dc:title":["Digital Docent: An Analysis of Accessibility in the Digital Music Space"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Schwob School of Music"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Music"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:45:25Z"}