Relaunch coming!!!
Posted by Kris Shaffer on May 29th, 2008Am Steg is undergoing some major changes right now. As you may have noticed, we have gotten behind in posting, as well as cleaning up the comment spam. The RSS and podcast feeds also need to be fixed, as there seems to be a bug in the system. We’ve also had some personnel changes in the contributor/editor ranks. So, this summer, we are taking the opportunity to address these issues, as well as refocus the content of the site. Over the past three years, we’ve learned some valuable things about what we can do well, what we can’t do well, and what is of interest and value to the music community. So at some point in the next few weeks, we will be relaunching Am Steg. This is more than a face-lift or a content cleanup. We believe it will be a substantial upgrade in the quality and coherence of the site, and it will be in a format that will allow us better to manage the task of authoring and managing such a site and to generate a resource that is of use to the community.
With that in mind, here are the general changes that will come with the relaunch:
- a new look
- a new format for the site’s organization
Am Steg will look less like a blog, and more like a static website—we know this bucks the trend of the way the web is moving these days, but we feel that the new format will better fit our focus of content. - a major upgrade to the software that runs the site
That means less spam, fixed bugs in the RSS and podcast feeds, and easier site management on our end. - no major changes to Sound and Mind at this time
- shifting the focus of Am Steg’s content to music theory only, emphasizing the following specific features:
- podcasts — interviews and panel discussions
- book reviews
- article reviews
- technology resources and tutorials for music scholars and instructors
- teaching resources for academic music instructors
Essentially, Am Steg is going to try to focus on what we have done best and what has generated the most reader interest and guest-contributor content over the past three years as well as what is most unique to our site. We regret eliminating the emphasis on composition (though, of course, much of what we will cover on the new site will be relevant for composers, as it will be for musicologists and others), but given the experience and expertise of those who are involved in the relaunch project, given what has worked the best for us in the past, and given the resources that are (and aren’t) available elsewhere, we feel this is the best path for Am Steg at the moment. Am Steg can still serve those ‘at the bridge’ of their professional life—graduate students, new professors and instructors, etc.—though we will no longer actively seek to bridge the disciplines of music theory and composition the way we envisioned three years ago.
We hope that this site relaunch will allow us to better serve the music theory community and other musicians interested in the issues and topics we will cover. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to email me. We hope to have the new site up in the near future. Thanks!
Kris Shaffer