Behind the Screen

Studying communication and working in the communication field has taught me a lot about how to create digital messages and how to have an influence on the internet. However, not many people realize the in-person relationships that are created behind the scenes of those messages.

As I have written about previously, I worked on creating a Wordpress website called Protest at MU with two history interns, Angela and Dolan, during the 2017 fall semester. Together, we created a message to educate our audience on the protests that happened on Marquette’s campus in the 1960s. They used their knowledge and research of the topic and I used my communication skills to create a digital message. The goal was to communicate with their audience over the internet. However, I do not think any of us planned to not only create a website, but also create a strong relationship.

I have always known how strong relationships can become when working with someone behind a screen. The rest of the tutors and I at the Digital Scholarship Lab have become close and enjoy working together and learning about each other. Every shift we have together, laughs are shared. That being said, we have worked together for over a year. Angela, Dolan, and I knew each other for less than a semester.

In less than a semester, we created a relationship that is still around now and a relationship that I am confident will continue.

With every minor success or major issue the three of us came across while creating the website, we became a little closer. We would finish our task for the day and then share a story or two about our life. Before Christmas break, we even jammed out to Christmas music. Then, the project was done. It was Dolan’s last semester at Marquette and Angela and I did not have classes together.

Throughout this semester, I would randomly run into Angela on campus. We would stop in the middle of the sidewalk to talk about the website and other random things. Neither one of us would put our head down and pretend we did not know each other.

Last weekend, the three of us ate an entire pizza together. I now know Angela has a succulent that once suffered a stab wound. I now know that Dolan hates to parallel park. They both now know that I embarrassingly ran into a past TA at a concert last weekend.

The relationships created behind a screen do not end when the publish button is clicked. We might not be best friends and we do not see each other every week, but the relationship created behind that Wordpress website has stuck.

We might not have verbally communicated the message of the protests to our audience, but we communicated with each other to make the project happen. We have not shook hands with every person who has clicked on our URL, but we definitely, with no shame, high fived when we finished the site.

Communication that is shared through a website or digital message is crucial, but let us not forget the relationships created behind a screen. In my eyes, the digital age is not hurting personal communication, rather it is opening up new ways to utilize teamwork and create relationships that would not exist otherwise.