While we've talked about analyzing advertisements in this course, for this assignment, students will analyze the role that websites play in advertising political candidates. I'm a big fan of the website The Living Room Candidate which archives television advertisements for presidential candidates going back to 1952. One could develop tons of lessons using the materials available at this fantastic site.
One interesting part of the site contains links to a partial archive of websites of past presidential candidates, which of course, only goes back to 1996. As you can imagine, Bill Clinton's 1996 website looks A LOT different from Barack Obama's website (which is not "locked in" to its 2008 campaign look, but is constantly updated). Further resources on past presidential websites can be found at http://www.4president.org/ (including still images of Obama's website in 2008, as well as other candidates' websites).
For this assignment, I would have students explore either Clinton or Dole's 1996 website (not all links on the pages are active, but many of them are), and analyze it for the following things:
1. the layout. how are things laid out on the page?
2. how are text and images used? What about color? Font? Amount of text and images? Videos?
3. how are links incorporated?
4. in what ways is it "interactive"
5. in what ways do the candidates try to explain their positions on issues?
6. how do the candidates attempt to "connect" with voters?
7. regardless of the victor of the race, is it a successful website?
Next we would have a brief discussion about how many people have said that Obama's savy use of the internet played a big role in his winning the election. Next, I would have them look at www.barackobama.com and look for the same things they examined in the 1996 websites. How is Obama's website different from the websites form 1996?
Next, students would draw, and/or write about a website for a presidential candidate in the year 2020. What will change? How will they look? How will they involve voters? How will the technology have advanced in the next decade?
One of the goals of this assignment would be to see how the internet has changed and developed over time, and also the ways that candidates are using campaign websites has changed. In addition, this assignment gets students thinking about the future development and potential of the internet.
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Center,
ReplyDeleteThis idea is fantastic! I remember you bringing this website in for Cassie's class (I think) and thought it was pretty sweet. Having students look at the change of the internet and how political campaigns are able to have such a strong impact through websites and email is a great idea! I think asking the students if the website is successful, is key to checking their understanding. Not to mention presidential advertisements from earlier in the 20th century are great to watch!
Hope all is well:)
Center!! I agree with Anna; this is a great assignmnent, one that students would immediately be intrigued by and love to explore. I remember you mentioning this website in one of the classes in our program. However, I never got a chance to peruse it. I could see how you could use this assignment every 4 years (during presidential elections). I mean, you COULD do it annually, but it would be that much more important if you implemented it during the year of the election. This is a great way for students to conduct critical analysis of the websites and get them thinking about the elections, due to the fact that majority of children and adolescents are rarely captivated by this poignant event in our country. Creating "future" websites gives them the opportunity to speculate, which is also someting they should be exercising.
ReplyDeleteGoing off of your idea, it would be really cool to have students do something like this when they're running for something on Student Council (president, secretary, treasurer). I mean, students are already addicted to technology, media, and the internet; why not set up a school website for student council where individuals can post blogs, commercials, etc. to support and furthur their "campaign."
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post Matt. Nice work!