Museum of the Moving Image Adds Ad-Making Experience To Online Archive

Museum of the Moving Image today announced that beginning on August 24, visitors to its acclaimed website The Living Room Candidate (http://livingroomcandidate.org) will be able to use AdMaker, an interactive editing tool that allows teachers, students, and the public at large to change historic Presidential campaign ads or create new ones at will.

Providing direct, hands-on experience of the methods of persuasion used in political commercials, AdMaker is the latest educational resource on an "addictive" website (The New York Times) with a searchable archive of more than 500 ads from every Presidential campaign from 1952 through 2008.

This new educational component of The Living Room Candidate is made possible by funding from the Verizon Foundation, which provided a $435,000 grant for the 2008 edition of the site. Resources from The Living Room Candidate are also highlighted on Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org), a comprehensive website that provides thousands of free educational resources for use in and out of the classroom by teachers, parents, students, and afterschool programs.

"Thousands of teachers around the world use The Living Room Candidate in their classrooms," said Rochelle Slovin, Director of Museum of the Moving Image, the only U.S. museum dedicated to the art and industry of screen culture. "With the addition of AdMaker, teachers and students alike can participate in the creative process of making a campaign ad. We are very grateful for the generous gift from the Verizon Foundation for making this possible."

"The Living Room Candidate's AdMaker resource is a tremendous addition to Verizon Thinkfinity and a great example of how technology can stretch learning opportunities from a museum in New York City to across the country to any classroom or student in reach of the Internet," said Verizon Foundation President Patrick Gaston. "Verizon is proud to partner with Museum of the Moving Image on this valuable and creative project."

AdMaker allows users to mix and re-edit different video and audio clips to create custom-made ads. It features five activities that invite different levels of involvement. Two of them center on commercials from the 1968 Nixon vs. Humphrey election, and two on commercials from the 2008 Obama vs. McCain election. The final activity is open-ended, allowing users to select footage from a variety of campaign ads as well as other historic content. AdMaker also allows users to upload their own video, images, and audio to use in their projects. Completed ads can be saved by registered users on their "My LRC" page, or downloaded and shared outside the site.

"AdMaker leverages young people's interest in media remixes and mash-ups-an interest many of them already pursue on their own outside the classroom-and puts it in the service of learning about history and civics," said Christopher Wisniewski, the Museum's Deputy Director for Education. "As they learn how to create an effective campaign ad, they are also building fluency with digital tools and their uses."

Under the leadership of Carl Goodman, the Museum's Senior Deputy Director, AdMaker was developed with open source software called Movie Masher. Using Amazon cloud computing technology, AdMaker allows users to edit and manipulate video within an everyday web browser (e.g., Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome). The online storage and delivery of the completed ads is made possible by Limelight Networks, which also provides exclusive video hosting and delivery for The Living Room Candidate.

To help make AdMaker more effective for classroom use, a series of lesson plans has been developed for this feature and may be accessed for free on The Living Room Candidate.

The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2008 (http://livingroomcandidate.org) is a curated archive and interactive database containing more than 500 commercials from every presidential election since Dwight Eisenhower opposed Adlai Stevenson. The website encourages teachers and students to find their own paths through the collection of ads, which can be explored by specific issues and types. Users can compare and contrast ads within specific elections or across years, and now also remix historic ads using the AdMaker. Since the most recent edition of the site was launched in September 2008, it has logged more than a million visitors and more than 3,000 teachers have registered with the site and made use of its free, downloadable lesson plans. The Living Room Candidate is included on the National Endowment for the Humanities' EDSITEment website and Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org) as a recommended resource for teachers.

About Museum of the Moving Image
Founded in 1981, Museum of the Moving Image is the only institution in the United States that deals comprehensively with the art, technology, and social impact of film, television, and digital media. It houses the nation's largest collection of moving image artifacts, screens hundreds of films annually, and offers education programs to thousands of New York City students and teachers. Its exhibitions-including the core exhibition, Behind the Screen-are noted for their integration of material objects, computer-based interactive experiences, and audiovisual presentations. A major expansion and renovation of the Museum's facility is currently underway, with major funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Economic Development Corporation, New York City Council, the Office of the Queens Borough President, and other public agencies. Designed by architect Thomas Leeser, the project will double the size of the Museum and includes a new 264-seat theater, new galleries for changing exhibitions, and a multi-classroom education center. The expanded Museum will open to the public on January 15, 2011. The Museum is housed in a building owned by the City of New York. For more information, visit movingimage.us.

About the Verizon Foundation
The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, supports the advancement of literacy and K-12 education through its free educational website, Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org), and fosters awareness and prevention of domestic violence. In 2009, the Verizon Foundation awarded $67.9 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. It also matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in an additional $26.1 million in combined contributions to nonprofits. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation's largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 5 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.