Public Art History Between Broadcast and Digital Media: Comparing Civilisations and Smarthistory

Abstract

As a bridge connecting academic research and public understanding, the dissemination of knowledge in public art history is heavily constrained by media forms. However, existing research often focuses on the internal characteristics of a single medium, and rarely compares broadcast television and digital teaching platforms as two mutually referenced knowledge practices. This study selects the BBC Civilization documentary series and the Smarthistory digital art history platform as typical cases, and conducts parallel comparative analysis of the two media forms from three dimensions: knowledge authority allocation, audience participation methods, and interpretive openness. Research has found that Civilization relies on the audiovisual production advantages of television media, authoritative host narratives, and linear temporal and spatial arrangements to successfully present art history as a cultural narrative with a sense of urgency and emotional impact, and has an irreplaceable advantage in the breadth of mass communication; But its inherent preference for visual spectacle and smooth editing in media logic leads to structural sacrifices in knowledge depth, and the audience is quickly taken away from the detailed examination of historical conditions, institutional contexts, and academic controversies. In contrast, Smarthistory abandons one-way linear narrative and adopts non-linear navigation, multi-author collaboration, and instructional-oriented interpretive strategies, setting users as active participants to make knowledge more accessible, modifiable, and questionable, thus better aligning with contemporary art history's pursuit of diversity, decentralization, and reflective methodology. This study reveals the theoretical significance of media forms as knowledge construction variables and provides practical references for media strategy selection in public art history projects. In the future, with the intervention of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, public art history will face a more complex media ecology.