Museums in the digital age

Compare these two descriptions. The first: "A woman reclines on a sofa and a girl sits by her feet."

The second: "A languid figure sinks into a plump sofa, propped up by a wide, flat cushion. Her drooped, willowy hands and slumped posture show exhaustion. However, the woman's tidy space, fine accessories and fashionable dress match her serene expression, not a hair in her braided crown out of place. At her feet, an unkempt, high-spirited young girl with messy braids and rumpled clothes gazes in fascination."

Bella Lam, a first year doctoral student in the Department of English, wrote the second description for "Reframing, Refocusing, Reimagining Disability" a new digital exhibition at Winterthur Museum and Gardens co-curated by students in Jennifer Van Horn's seminar "Disability and American Art Histories."

Designed specifically with blind or low-vision users in mind, the exhibition, along with the new Cyber Collections Aid project, demonstrates how the University of Delaware's Department of Art History and Museum Studies and Public Engagement (MSPE) program are shaping the ways museums and cultural institutions function in an evolving digital landscape.

"This was the first museum exhibition I ever had the opportunity to be involved in curating," Lam said. "I learned a lot about the importance of centering the lives, perspectives and experiences of people who are disabled. For many, disability is not only a limitation but something one adapts to and finds joy in."