It is often claimed that Information Visualisation (InfoVis) tools improve the
audience’s engagement with the display of cultural heritage (CH) collections, open
up CH content to new audiences and support teaching and learning through interactive experiences. But there is a lack of studies systematically evaluating these
claims, particularly from the perspective of modern educational theory. As far as
the author is aware no experimental investigation has been undertaken until now,
that attempts to measure deeper levels of user engagement and learning with InfoVis
tools. The investigation of this thesis complements InfoVis research by initiating a
human-centric approach since little previous research has attempted to incorporate
and integrate human cognition as one of the fundamental components of InfoVis.
In this thesis, using Bloom’s taxonomy of learning objectives as well as individual
learning characteristics (i.e. cognitive preferences), I have evaluated the visitor experience of an art collection both with and without InfoVis tools (between subjects
design). Results indicate that whilst InfoVis tools have some positive effect on the
lower levels of learning, they are less effective for higher levels. In addition, this
thesis shows that InfoVis tools seem to be more effective when they match specific cognitive preferences. These results have implications for both the designers of tools and for CH venues in terms of expectation of effectiveness and exhibition design; the proposed cognitive based evaluation framework and the results of this investigation could provide a valuable baseline for assessing the effectiveness of visitors’ interaction with the artifacts of online and physical exhibitions where InfoVis tools such as Timelines and Maps along with storytelling techniques are being used.