ZotWeb	article-journal
Src Url	DiBartolomeo, Clark, Davis (2015)

This article presents a novel data analytic approach to collect detailed information from visual artworks. This new method provides researchers with a framework to compare, analyze, and review in a systematic way large quantities of data from visual productions. Drawing on principles of art historical criticism, our research team devised a comprehensive coding scheme that captures both technical and content attributes. The coding scheme is configured to record specific, fundamental features for each artwork, providing an instrument for collecting data and cross-examining codes to reveal content in a unique and unbiased manner. For example, detailed data collected through individual codes can reveal clear patterns in the artistic treatment of composition and medium, providing evidence that the method could be adapted and applied for use in a variety of settings. To illustrate the method, this article presents examples from an empirical research study that was conducted at Harvard University's Project Zero. In this study, the coding scheme was applied to 414 pieces of artwork published in a teen art and literary magazine between 1990 and 2011. The coding scheme is defined and applied to 2 sample artworks, allowing readers to understand how this method can be used to record nuanced information about each work. Applying this analytic approach to visual art created in museums and informal learning settings can yield insights into artworks, their creators, and nuanced changes in creative production over time.

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A New Method for Analyzing Data From Visual Artwork

Citer: (DiBartolomeo et al., 2015)

FTag: DiBartolomeo-et-al-2015

DiBartolomeo, D. J., Clark, Z., & Davis, K. (2015). A New Method for Analyzing Data From Visual Artwork. Visitor Studies, 18 (1), 103–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/10645578.2015.1016370

ABSTRACT

a comprehensive coding schem

providing an instrument for collecting data and cross-examining codes to reveal content in a unique and unbiased manner.
MethodeAnalyse | ref2012080219

reveal clear patterns in the artistic treatment of composition and medium,
Approach | CollectingData | ref2012080219

The purpose of this article is to introduce an innovative approach designed to collect, record, and analyze data about visual artwork
ref2012080219

We developed our coding scheme after reviewing existing methods of image-based research (Prosser, 1998) and interpretive tools applied to visual works (Goodenough, 1926; Harris, 1963).

ew coding scheme is introduced that identifies, isolates, and analyzes distinct characteristics (Summers, 1982)

Characteristics such as Line and Color are coded separately;

Medium and Composition are treated as individual codes (Janson & Janson, 2001; Krages, 2005)

Perspective is coded separately from Use of Light .

The deliberate separation of individual qualities of the artwork makes it possible to recognize trends and changes over time in a quantifiable way that would not be possible if each piece were assessed in an exclusively holistic manner.
QualitativeAnalysis | ref2012080219 | VisualQualityAnalysis

Existing approaches to analyzing art, especially youth-produced artworks, have a history of being limited to interpretation with the intent to reveal the perceptions of the artists (Bowker, 2007).

content-specific patterns across works.

The Visual Art Coding Scheme (Appendix) was developed iteratively by two research assistants with substantial backgrounds in arts education, art history, and visual art-making. The language used in the coding scheme needed to describe accurately the specific, notable attributes of each image (Batey, 2012).

Table 1. Coding memo applied to Figure 2

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