California Dreamin': The Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum

California may be the biggest state in the U.S., but there are still 274 million Americans who live in some other state or territory.  For many people who grew up elsewhere (including myself), California can seem like a distant, glamorous paradise filled with beautiful people and all kinds of different landscapes.  Other places on the internet can help you find the Golden State's crop of celebrities, but if you're instead interested in the scenery, I can recommend the Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum for browsing and learning.

The sheer amount of information located in this museum is astounding.  You can learn about the art, literature, history, geology, ecology and topography of the area surrounding this mountain range, and also delve into the life stories of notable residents.  Almost every section has accompanying text, and those that don't have are interpreted by videos that combine images and audio clips (either from experts or from the time period being described).  You can also view art, nature photographs (I really liked seeing local petroglyphs), excepts from writings, and interactive maps.

What I especially enjoyed was the Virtual Field Trips, which use narrated video to explore well-known points of interest in the Sierra Nevada (like Yosemite Park and the Pacific Crest Trail).  I like that the museum really tries to bring nature to visitors, and that this section is presented as a series of field trips.  This really helps in bringing the museum's mission to the visitor and replicating a physical museum experience in an appropriate virtual format.

The one thing I didn't like about this museum is their over-reliance on film and animation.  It's great to include some video in the exhibits to keep visitors' attention, but it becomes a little overwhelming when nearly everything moves and plays music.  A few too many sections of the museum have both video and text, which becomes a little too much to take in after a while.  You should know that if you're using a raccoon with an annoying voice to introduce videos, you've gone overboard.

But aside from this one flaw, the museum is a pretty good example of what can be accomplished through a virtual museum.  You might never think of talking about and displaying nature on a computer screen, and yet this museum does it well.  By using a multimedia approach, and covering lots of ground in a mostly engaging manner, the Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum really does bring California into your home.  It's the next best thing to being there.


Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum
Mission:  Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum is a multimedia, interactive online museum the rich history, culture, and natural history of the Sierra Nevada.
Website:  www.sierranevadavirtualmuseum.com