A national media company will use Ball State University students to conduct a newly developed research study.
Beginning in January, the students will write blogs for MediaPost, a New York publishing and content company, said Mike Bloxham, Ball State director of the Insight and Research team for the Center for Media Design.
"The project will focus on the experience of the student bloggers," Bloxham said. "They are open to write about whatever things may concern them at that time."
The blogs will feature the students' views on the Internet, video, Facebook, games, television, advertisements and other areas of the media, he said.
MediaPost will provide the research information to other media companies, MediaPost editor in chief Joe Mandese said.
"MediaPost is putting the world of academia with the commercial world," Mandese said. "This is more a conversation or dialogue than research. We want to pique students' interest [in the media] and explain their use of it to professionals."
The blogs will benefit Ball State, media companies and the participating students, he said.
"This will be a great reputation builder for the school in the sphere of media," Bloxham said. "It will also be good exposure for students and get their names known."
The media companies will benefit by knowing what media college students are interested in, Mandese said.
"This generation is an important demographic and the next generation ad agencies and companies are pursuing," he said.
MediaPost selected Ball State after Mandese visited the university, Bloxham said. The company originally became interested in the school because of the Middletown Studies, he said.
"We're aware that there is a lot of forward thinking going on on the campus," Mandese said. "The school does a good job of tracking the evolution of media."
The participating students were gathered from different fields of study, Bloxham said.
"We'd rather have a wide array of majors," he said. "We want a range of experiences and backgrounds."
Many of the bloggers had contacts in the CMD who approached them to participate in the project, Bloxham said.
"I volunteered because I knew the project head, Michelle Prieb, and I already had a blog," Ball State student Jason Maldonado said. "Blogs are a good way to let everybody know what's going on."
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