Exploring Online Art Museum Website Design Criteria from the Perspective of Special Interest Visitors

How to integrate the strengths and opportunities of digital and physical museums to enhance visitors’ experiences and encourage them to revisit the museums is a challenge. We used the websites of the National Palace Museum and the CHIMEI Museum in Taiwan as research targets to recruit thirty participants who have special interests in arts. We examined important criteria of evaluating museum websites based on the related frameworks of literature and adopted the modified Delphi method to develop the evaluation framework. We then analyzed their weight, causal relationship, and performance according to a multi-criteria decision-making approach, specifically the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory-based analytical network processing (DEMATEL-based ANP) approach. Then, we carried out qualitative interviews to gain a thorough understanding of the viewpoints of participants. The evaluation results demonstrate that the interactivity of the museum in regards to audience entertainment and engagement is the most important dimension. Furthermore, the criterion of “multimedia design” related to esthetic is a key factor to museum performance and can easily influence other criteria. Moreover, the “feedback” criteria show the importance of social media in promoting the museums and maintaining long-term relationships with visitors. This study can provide future research with a reference framework and guidance in the design of museum websites in consideration of special interest visitors needs and experiences.