"Our human rights work can succeed only if people understand the issues at stake. That's why education is such a critical part of what we do. With Amnesty Interactive, we're stepping into the center of the new educational media to make sure that human rights become a part of the interactive curriculum."
Amnesty Interactive is a landmark multimedia event, produced entirely by a team of volunteer artists, writers, educators, and multimedia specialists. Voyager is distributing the product on a non-profit basis, at a price of $10 to cover costs of materials and marketing.
Narrated by Leonard Nimoy and filled with a rich diversity of cultural styles in art and music, Amnesty Interactive includes :
IDEAS: A history of human rights from ancient times to the 20th century, presented through the ideas of noted thinkers and political figures.
PLACES: An atlas of human rights conditions throughout the world.
RIGHTS: A gallery of an human stories featuring former prisoners of conscience from Animation from around the world, illustrating human rights themes.
STORIES: A collection of Amnesty International case files, illustrated with portraits from leading photographers.
VOICES: A "What You Can Do" section about how to take individual action, featuring QuickTime video interviews with educators, activists, and entertainers.
The CD also contains hundreds of pages of reference documents in electronic form, provided for teaching and learning.
"I think what people respond to most in the Amnesty Interactive program is how human and natural it feels," said Ray Kristof, Ignition's co-founder and the driving force behind Amnesty Interactive. "Technology brings great opportunities to learning, but too often, people forget that if you're going to use computers to teach-about human civilization or anything else-you need to bring the essence of your subject to the computer; not the other way around.
Voyager has always established itself as synonymous with interactive publishing of the highest quality, so it was natural that they take on the distribution of Amnesty Interactive.
Roger Devine, Voyager's head of Rights and Acquisitions commented, "When Ray called and explained the project to us, we said yes immediately. This project is, among other things, a model for what personal philanthropy can be. The program that Ignition produced is beautiful and powerful, and we are proud that Voyager was their first choice to distribute it to the world."
Amnesty Interactive is being distributed through catalog and retail outlets, and can be ordered directly from Voyager at 1-800-446-2001. The CD-ROM is currently available for the Macintosh and will be available for Windows in late 1994.
Amnesty International is an independent worldwide human rights organization working impartially for the release of all prisoners of conscience, fair and prompt trials for political prisoners, and an end to torture and executions. Since 1961, Amnesty International has adopted or investigated more than 43,500 cases of human rights abuse. Of these cases, more than 40,750 are now closed. Today, Amnesty International has more than one million members, subscribers, and regular donors in over 150 countries and territories.
Ignition was formed in 1993 as a multimedia production studio and consulting firm. The company's products rely on striking stories, drama, and unique artistic styles to produce engaging learning experiences. In addition to creating original titles, such as Amnesty Interactive, Ignition also provides interactive media consulting and production services. Ignition can be reached at 415-221-4266.
Founded in 1984, Voyager is a publisher of high quality interactive media-CD-ROMs, laserdiscs, books on floppy diskettes, and tools for the development of multimedia titles. Recent releases from Voyager's catalog of over 300 titles include :The Complete MAUS by Art Spiegelman, Dvorak CD Companion , and First Person: Marvin Minsky. Upcoming titles include: First Person:David Norman , First Person: Stephen Jay Gould , and For All Mankind. For more information about Voyager titles call 800-446-2001.
To order your CD-ROM for only $10 (in the US), call Voyager at 1-800-446-2001 or 914-591-5500
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