There are now more ways than ever for people to find their Shepherd Express news and views. Over its more than three-decade history, the Shepherd Express rode each wave of change, maintaining its identity while finding new ways of serving Milwaukee. Recently, the Shepherd debuted a completely overhauled website with a modern look, mobile responsive design, timelier and more diverse content, and a more user-friendly interface. This is the most comprehensive overhaul since the Shepherd Express went online in the early 1990s.
The adaptation to new technological developments is inevitable in any industry. As UW-Milwaukee Digital Arts and New Media Theory lecturer Marc Tasman explains, “All forms of media evolve through a process called ‘mediamorphasis.’ Technological shifts create new means for expression and distribution. The music industry, for example, has had to adapt, but the essential parts of that industry—the art, the business, the media—remained and grew as artists and managers adapted their practices.” The same is true for print. As an alternative weekly, we have always worked hard to participate and flourish on new frontiers.
Although there is a common conception of digital media as a force that’s shortening attention spans and deteriorating our brains, some media scholars see the issue as much more complex. In a 2013 interview, media scholar Malcolm Gladwell surmised that the digital age is actually having a positive effect on our overall literacy.
“What amazes me about the world we live in is how much written material people consume in one form or another,” he said. “There was a time about 25 years ago when the great fear was that all people were going to do was watch TV…but now the opposite has happened. All people do is either listen to writing, write or read… We are living in an age in which words have triumphed and that’s kind of exhilarating to someone who’s in the words business.”
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The new Shepherd Express website showcases those words in a number of prominent design improvements. Web/Content Developer Maggie Vaughn has worked on the site for the past six months, identifying avenues for innovation and new ideas to implement. “The most important aspect of the redesign was making the site more visually appealing to the user and making it more user friendly on all devices,” she says. “The use of images and text is important, but it is important to moderate the amount of text being used. Focusing more on the main image and title made the website’s transition from one device to the next so much better. It’s all about the user experience.”
Adapting to the digital age can be a tricky matter for a media company. A paper can follow the Huffington Post’s model and sacrifice brand integrity in exchange for an excessive amount of alarmist headlines, money grabs and soft news stories. It can follow Buzzfeed’s route and saturate its website with listicles in search of more shares and pageviews (“22 Impossibly Cute Ways to Drink Your Tea” is an actual recent headline of theirs). It can follow the “cooler than thou” model of Gawker or Vice and hire a bunch of feisty young writers and take a cynical viewpoint on national stories, while coming off as the semi-precocious alternative voice of the youth. Or, the media outlet can view these extreme directions as cautionary tales and go its own way.
Fortunately, the Shepherd has no intention to become gimmicky, opportunistic or tritely cute as we move forward. Rather, we want to continue to respect our readers’ intelligence and to continue to provide them with the insightful content that they expect from us, while adding online-only content that will diversify the value we offer.
As a brand, we have always celebrated and championed all things Milwaukee and have worked hard to help move Milwaukee forward. Our new web-only content operates under that same M.O. and will provide expert viewpoints on the story of Milwaukee. Here are some of those new online additions:
Baseball Buddha
Weekly baseball coverage from the perspective of baseball fanatic John Reimer, aka the Baseball Buddha.
Craft Beer Compass
A blog for all you beer lovers, featuring weekly craft beer reviews by aficionado Joel Kennedy.
Daniel Fleming Art
A behind-the-scenes look at making it as an artist in Milwaukee from the perspective of a burgeoning young talent.
One & One
Milwaukee’s thriving coffee culture is explored in this weekly blog.
Optimism Vaccine
A sophisticated look into all things unsophisticated in a weekly column and podcast by UW-Milwaukee journalism grad students.
Sexpress He Said/She Said Podcast
A humorous relationship advice podcast from local comedians Tyler Menz and Liz Ziner.
Video Games are Dumb
Videogame industry news and reviews in a weekly column and podcast from Colin Tanner.
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Tales from the underside of Milwaukee’s past from historian Matthew Prigge.
Steve Cuff, a Media Studies T.A at UWM and writer for Optimism Vaccine, is excited about the direction that the Shepherd Express web presence is moving in. “The new Shepherd site is simple, image heavy and easy to navigate—basically everything an independent newspaper website should be. The variety that the site brings to the table is what really sets the website apart from other local outlets though. I’m really excited to be creating content alongside so many other incredibly talented local people.”
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In addition to the new content, shepherdexpress.com will broaden our brand’s ability to point our audience to the most meaningful and culturally significant experiences that our city has to offer on a daily basis. “There will always be a place for print,” says Shepherd Express Arts & Entertainment Editor David Luhrssen, “but increasingly, people are getting their events listings and entertainment info online and in quick bites. Most people are happy to read our core content both in print and online, but the redesign gives us the opportunity to house a ton of new online-only content that takes advantage of the unique potential of digital platforms.”
As the newspaper industry ventures further into the digital age, we as a company are excited to continue to take on the challenge presented by this mediamorphosis. However, you can rest assured that on Thursday morning you will still find the familiar sight of the latest edition of the Shepherd Express newspaper at pick-up locations throughout the five-county area.
