Flowers in Your Hair: The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco

City by the Bay, Land of Hippies, the place where they riot when their baseball team wins ... San Francisco is known for all those things (and more!) today.  But for those of use who have never lived there, the city's past is probably murky.  So if you've ever wanted to know what events led to the San Francisco that we know today, the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco wants to enlighten you.

The Museum is laid out in 68 exhibitions that cover every subject you can possibly think of and go back as far as the 18th century.  Within each exhibition are a number of articles, some accompanied by a few images, that cover different aspects of San Francisco's history.  These articles are written by scholars or knowledgeable hobbyists or are sources from the past, transcribed online so we can get a first-hand account from the people who lived through each era.

All of this information creates a vast, well-documented history of the city of San Francisco, and I'm guessing that there's not one question you might have that can't be answered by this museum.  I'm especially impressed that historical documents are woven in with the scholarly articles to give a multi-faceted perspective of the city's history.

But this is a format better suited to a book, not a museum.  After all, a museum isn't a lecture, it's an experience.  There is way too much text and not enough images (or other supporting items) to be of interest to the average visitor.  I wish this wasn't the case, because there is so much to be learned here, but the fact is that only the most curious would be able to stay on the museum's website for long.


The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
Mission:  To bring the fabled history of San Francisco into the light of historical accuracy.
Website:  www.sfmuseum.org

Up in the Air: The National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I only have a vague, fuzzy notion of what national security looks like on a personal level.  I can't name all the branches of the armed forces, and I don't know anything about non-militarized protective groups.  But after I stumbled upon the National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol, I'm a little more informed about at least one volunteer defense organization in the United States.

Created by the CAP Historical Foundation, the National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol consists of seven exhibits that detail the history of this organization, from its founding in the years before World War II to its present-day activities.  There is plenty of information available, but not too much text - I think these exhibits really hit the sweet spot of educating without overwhelming.  There are also plenty of photographs to accompany each exhibit, and they're all available enlarged in a separate photo gallery.

The only thing I'm not so crazy about is that the museum comes off as a little static.  It doesn't seem like there are any plans to add new exhibits or even update the existing ones.  There's also no links to outside content or any kind of supplemental materials for students or for those looking to further engage with this subject.  These would all be helpful additions, because if a museum wants repeat visitors who become loyal followers, it needs change every so often and do different things.

All in all, though, I believe this museum has done the best job I've seen in recreating the physical museum experience online.  It's not boring or too didactic, and it doesn't look like the work of hobbyist with some time on their hands.  It's professional, well-documented, interesting and informative.  It could stand to shake things up every once in a while, and perhaps speak to more and diverse audiences, but these are small critiques for a museum that really helps the uninitiated learn about what our fellow civilians are doing to help our country.


The National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol
Mission:  "To preserve the history and promote the proud heritage of the Civil Air Patrol and the WWII CAP Coastal Patrol."
Website:  www.caphistory.org/museum_lobby.html

I Spy: The CIA Museum Tour

What comes to mind when you think of the CIA?  If you're like me, you might think of all the questionable meddling in international politics this agency did in the 70s and 80s.  If you have a better view of this federal entity, perhaps spies and intrigue come to mind.  But apparently the CIA is more than that - they have a museum of declassified artifacts set up within their compound in Washington DC, and they've helpfully made some of those artifacts available for online viewing.

The museum tour is nicely set up:  the opening screen brings you to a virtual room filled with virtual cabinets, each of which contains a few artifacts that are organized by theme.  You can click on each artifact to get several different views, plus its dimensions and a brief history of how it was used.  I'm impressed by the brevity shown here - the object descriptions are informative but never overwhelming with facts.  There are many museums, both physical and virtual, that could stand to learn about label writing from the CIA.

The diversity of artifacts is interesting, too.  These objects span all of Cold War history and also delve into some of our more recent conflicts.  There are insignia from the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, and some mementos from the CIA's founding.  There's flight gear and several examples of CIA technology that made its way into civilian fields.  There's all manner of spy equipment, from compacts that reveal codes to cameras for pigeons to devices shaped like flies and fish.  There's even the Enigma Machine, which was used by the Nazis to create codes during WWII.  You can definitely learn a lot about the history of American spying from these artifacts.

But what you can't learn is any of the organization's controversies or its darker stories.  The CIA has not been just about defeating Nazis and keeping the Soviets at bay.  The organization has done terrible things in developing countries, almost always putting America's needs ahead of all others.  I'm sure the CIA would never admit to that on their website or in their museum, but burying this history under a lot of cool artifacts goes a long way towards helping us forget what was done in the name of freedom.

So while this is a very interesting and worthwhile museum to visit, it's important to keep in mind just what these objects represent.  Be awed and informed, but don't forget the severe whitewashing that's going on, and that this government-sponsored museum has an agenda to pursue.


The CIA Museum Tour
Mission:  The CIA Museum supports the Agency's operational, recruitment and training missions and helps visitors better understand CIA and the contributions it makes to national security.
Website:  https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/cia-museum/cia-museum-tour

Birthplace of a Nation: The Mount Vernon Online Museum

George Washington, as the first president of the United States, has wormed his way into many different facets of our lives.  Besides his role in the founding of our nation, we all learned the apocryphal story of the cherry tree as children.  I remember a jump rope chant and an alternate version of the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" that made use of his name, and I'm sure there are many other references to this Founding Father out there.  Now George Washington and his home have found a place on the internet, in the form of the Mount Vernon Online Museum.

Mount Vernon was the Washington family's estate in Virginia, and for over a hundred years it has operated as a historic house open for visitors.  It's pretty unusual for a historic house to have a strong online presence (mainly because these museums are often small and poorly funded), but since Mount Vernon is so well-known and heavily visited I suppose an online museum was the logical next step.  Currently there are four exhibits:  The Making of a Military Man, Setting George Washington's Table, Rereading Washington Through His Library, and a section about excavation at Mount Vernon.

Each of these exhibits is accompanied by five images of artifacts in the Mount Vernon collection, which are well-labeled and explained with just the right amount of information.  I like that the exhibits tackle somewhat unusual subjects, and not just the typical military-and-politics parts of Washington's life.  It lets us see some day-to-day aspects of this great man's life, and by showing some but not all of Mount Vernon's collection, it becomes a great selling point for the physical museum.

Beyond the images and the topics, though, I'm not terribly impressed with these exhibits.  The main content is long paragraphs set in a small text box, which you have to scroll and click through to read in their entirety.  This reminded me overly detailed Wikipedia pages and made me skim through the information instead of reading and trying to connect it with the objects.  In a physical exhibit I imagine that this text would be spread out throughout a gallery, making it more palatable, but having it all scrunched into one place online isn't really user-friendly.

Hopefully this is just the starting point for Mount Vernon.  I imagine that as their online capacity grows, they'll learn what works online and what doesn't and apply that to make their virtual content even better. I would love to see more objects and have the exhibits based around them instead of around text.  There's got to be so much contained within Mount Vernon that could be shared online, and I hope to be able to check back at a later date and see what new things the museum has for us to explore.


The Mount Vernon Online Museum
Website:  www.mountvernon.org/pre-exhibits

International Mail: The Online Museum of Persian Stamps

To be honest, I've never really understood how people get into stamp collecting.  Sure, stamps can have interesting images on them, but spending time and tens of thousands of dollars to acquire what are essentially stickers seems a little strange to me.  And now that mail volume is plummeting as people choose to do more and more over the internet, stamps seem to be less and less relevant.  But they still are fun to look at, and sometimes they can tell stories.  At least, this is what I got from the Online Museum of Persian Stamps.

A project of FarsiNet, this museum is compiled from personal collections and visitor submissions.  The stamps cover a wide time period, from 1889 to the 2003 earthquake.  Through the images on the stamps you can trace Iran's modern history: as a battle site during World War One, as a dynasty rules by the Shahs, and finally as an Islamic republic.

Most of this information, though, you'll have to glean from the stamps themselves.  The museum is frustratingly sparse on information, with text accompanying fewer than half of its image galleries.  The information that is presented is good, and there are a couple of links to outside sources, but for the most part you are left gazing at stamps without explanation.  It would really benefit the museum to have interpretation explaining just why all these stamps were considered important enough to display.

To the layperson, this is frustrating.  But I suppose that the philatelists among us, who enjoy stamps for their pure physical form, would be much more appreciative of this museum.  I really want to like the idea of a museum telling a nation's history through stamps, because it's a fascinating concept that our mail can tell our stories.  To the non-stamp collectors, I would recommend keeping this museum open in one tab while simultaneously clicking through a history of Iran on a more informative website.


The Online Museum of Persian Stamps
Website:  www.farsinet.com/tambr

Children's Play: The Helen Keller Kids Museum

This is the first time I've come across a virtual children's museum, and I've got to say I'm not sure how I feel about the whole concept.  I work at a children's museum with a physical space, and everyday I encounter kids running through out exhibits, exploring, touching everything and learning by doing.  The idea of a children's museum where the only tactile thing visitors do is click from one page to the next seems like the exact opposite of my expectations.

The Helen Keller Kids Museum, no matter what its form, would never really lend itself to interactive exhibits.  The subject here is a historical figure who is mainly known through her life story and her writings.  Perhaps, then, the internet is the best place to display a museum devoted to this fascinating subject.  And since so many children learn about Helen Keller during their elementary school days, it is nice to have a lot of information on her life gathered in one kid-friendly place.

A project of the American Foundation for the Blind, the Helen Keller Kids Museum delivers the story of Helen Keller's life in segments that focus on the different stages of her development (her childhood, for example, or her activism work).  Each of these sections are broken down further into small chunks of text accompanied by photographs.  The writing is pretty well suited for children, and the photographs are never paired with too much text.  I like how the information is conveyed, in a way that's easy for children to understand.

This is what the Helen Keller Kids Museum does well - but that's about all they do.  There is a section where Helen Keller's great-grandniece answers questions that people send in, but there are no other parts to this museum.  A few games or other interactives would be nice - perhaps something that conveys just what living in a dark, noiseless world would be like.  And what about deaf, blind children who are living today?  What are their stories?  There is a lot of potential to make these disabilities relevant to today's children, but the museum doesn't follow those paths.

The Helen Keller Kids Museum is very informative in a child-centered way, and I can see it being a great resource for the countless children who are tasked each year with writing Helen Keller biographies.  I'm also grateful to the museum for making me aware of the possibilities of bringing children's museums online and breaking down barriers to learning.  The model that the Helen Keller Kids Museum presents, though, is not really analogous to physical children's museums.  Kids need to be able to explore and play alongside gaining knowledge, and I don't see that happening with this museum.  With just a few changes and additions, though, this museum could lead the way in virtual children's museums.


Helen Keller Kids Museum
Mission:  The American Foundation for the Blind designed the museum to teach kids about Helen Keller's remarkable life.
Website:  www.braillebug.org/hkmuseum.asp

King Me: The Online Museum of Checkers History

I'll admit I don't know much about checkers, aside from what colors are represented on the board.  That's probably because I don't really have the patience to play slow games - heck, I don't even like puzzles because they take too long.  So it would be nice to have a museum at my fingertips that could explain the game and its history in a format that would allow me to choose how much I want to learn.  So I'm sorry to report that although it tries very hard to be helpful, the Online Museum of Checkers History doesn't even come close to fulfilling that desire.

The online museum started as a way to save the contents of the International Checker Hall of Fame, which burned to the ground five years ago.  It seems that this site is the work of a few dedicated fans, with contributions from several players.  It's a noble effort, but the execution of the online museum leaves a lot to be desired.  Many pages are way too long and contain mountains of text in various sizes, colors, and fonts.  There's an abundance of all-caps typing and ellipses, which makes you very unwilling to read more than a few words.  Combined with scrolling text and some very weird graphics, the online museum resembles one of those long-lost Geosites personal webpages.

Some of the galleries on the museum are informative, like the images of old game boards and rosters of players from tournaments past.  I also find it interesting that the museum's administrators are trying to crowdsource its content by asking visitors to submit images and artifacts.  But the information is hard to glean from the terrible formatting, and in some cases I'm not even sure it's reliable.  In the Timeline section, for example, there are plenty of events whose date is listed only as "???" - which is not just unhelpful but also unprofessional.

I admire the creators of the Online Museum of Checkers History for their dedication to rebuilding a physical museum into a new format, and for soliciting the expertise of their fellow players in creating content.  Their effort, though, has produced a mish-mash of words, text, and dubious information.  I can imagine that a checkers enthusiast would enjoy this museum, but not many others could say the same.  So until this site makes some serious changes, I would recommend finding your checkers information somewhere else.


Online Musuem of Checkers History
Website:  www.online-museum-of-checkers-history.com