Asynchronous Analysis

Write up thoughts from in-class discussion. (Save links, etc., as references for your analysis / responses to the cultural and entertainment websites we discussed.  
 
My peers and I are getting our proverbial feet wet acquainting with the various websites. Looking at these websites as works of art and offering critical viewpoints will take some practice. I began my review looking at the Visual Arts reporting, as I am comfortable there and it holds my interest. Really there was not an article written that I did not glean something from. 
The comments made by my classmates to be well informed. They seemed comfortable focusing on aspects of design, referring to color, layout and how well organized, the amount of advertising, continuous scrolling, color, and imagery familiar to Milwaukee, puzzles and games and classic newspaper layouts, top menu bar on the Shepherd Express is particularly useful. Lots of text with images cutting it up. 
The demeanor of the writing, whether it be laid-back, unprofessional, sarcastic, human interest, professional, unapologetically liberal, Milwaukee Magazine is fun and playful. Nice stories that are not super opinionated. Vogue is sexy, they involve their audience more. They (Shepherd Express) have personal ads, still. To find like-minded people. On Milwaukee is more enjoyable to look at because they are not as intense. 
The targeted audience was referred to: older crowd, queer, drag, family, youth, cannabis, subscriber, broader appeal rather than a local issue, something for everyone, political and social activism articles, grassroots, wishes they were more diversity.  
The content of the articles: hard news, queer, entertainment, drag, discrimination, alternative, Art Kumbalek wrote quirky Milwaukee observations, political and social activism articles, grassroots, local history (Highbury Pub), Fringe Fest, Milwaukee neighborhood news sources, arts, entertainment, music, food, and drink. 
How the various websites might be funded: subscriber funding, funding from advertising. 
Reading the content from the entire class and arranging it in the proto-paragraphs did help me to be able to focus on the various aspects of the content, technique, intent, and context.