[Nhcoll-l] Visitor Attention as a Design Constraint in Digital Collections

[Callomon,Paul]

I recommend reading "The Shallows: How the Internet is changing the way we read, think and remember" by Nicholas Carr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows_(book)

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170
President of the American Malacological Society for 2027
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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Thor Martin Jensen
Sent: Thursday, November 6, 2025 8:36 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Visitor Attention as a Design Constraint in Digital Collections


External.

Dear colleagues,

There's a viral photo of visitors on their phones in the Louvre's Grande Galerie that's sparked the usual "phones are ruining museums" discourse. But I think it actually illustrates a fundamental design problem in how we've approached digital interpretation.

After two decades building digital technology products, I've come to believe we miscalculated the core problem. It was never about access to information - it was about attention as a finite resource.

I've written about this tension and what it means for how we think about visitor technology: https://thormartinbaerug.com/2025/11/05/how-were-building-museum-technology-that-gets-out-of-the-way/

The argument centers on why audio-first approaches preserve visual attention in ways that screen-based interpretation cannot, and why the "technology that disappears" principle matters more than feature richness.

Would be interested in perspectives from colleagues working in collections with diverse audiences and interpretation needs.

Sincerely / Med Venlig Hilsen



Thor Martin Baerug

https://walkietalk.ie/


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