[About]
Hi, I'm Ella.
Marketing Communication & Communication Studies · Bemidji State University
I’m a junior at Bemidji State University studying Communication Studies and Marketing Communication. I also have an associate degree in editing and video production from Central Lakes College, which is where a lot of my interest in media started becoming more specific. The more I have studied communication, the more I have realized I am usually just as interested in everything happening around the message as I am in the message itself. Media, technology, culture, platforms, and human behavior all shape the way we communicate, often without us really noticing it.
Most of the questions I get interested in start with something ordinary and turn into something bigger. Why does the same message feel different depending on where we see it? Why does one video hold our attention while another gets ignored? Why do certain technologies become so normal that we stop noticing how much they influence us?
That is probably the easiest way to explain how I think. I like finding patterns, asking what is happening underneath the obvious explanation, and connecting ideas that do not seem connected at first. My long term goal is to become a communication researcher so I can keep asking those kinds of questions and study how media, technology, and human behavior shape the way people communicate.
[About This Project]
Media & Society is an independent student blog created by Ella Countryman, a Communication Studies and Marketing Communication student at Bemidji State University. The site documents coursework, observations, and essays related to Media & Society and Mass Communication at BSU, including work connected to MASC 1100 taught by Professor Virgil Bakken. Topics explored throughout the site include media theory, communication, technology, journalism, social platforms, advertising, culture, and the ways media systems shape everyday life.