Date of Award

2026

Type

Thesis

Major

Music

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts in Music

Department

Schwob School of Music

First Advisor

Dr. Reba Wissner

Second Advisor

Dr. Sue Tomkiewicz

Third Advisor

Dr. Cindy S. Ticknor

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.

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