With the future of print I used Clark College EBSCOhost I typed in his last name made sure full text was checked, and I also checked article in the document type, and the PDF full text again. This article was the first to show up.
Open Web Search: Morrison, E. (2011, August 22). Are books dead, and can authors survive? The Guardian.
With this article I used a google advance search typing in the authors name, and the name of the article. Which to my amazement it was the first site.
Evaluate the articles using ASPECT:
The Future of Print: The Book
Authority: What I found out about Merrill Distad is that he is an Associate University Liberian at the University of Alberta, he is also the co-editor of Peel's Bibliography of Canadian Prairies, and the author of The University of Alberta Library: The First Hundred Years.
Sources: With in this article I found no sources, so this makes me feel that this article is in his opinion.
Purpose: Even with lacking the sources he does make a good point with paper vs e-books, and how paper books are dwindling away and becoming obsolete. So I feel that there is a purpose to this article.
Evenness: The article seemed to have a evenness to it, but after reviewing IRIS there is probably a little bias, since I feel that he is leaning more towards the paper books.
Coverage: I feel the article shows good coverage, and the title is in no way misleading from the article.
Timeliness: The article is dated 2011 making it a current enough, that you could use it.
Since there is no other sources, and it is a little bias it's not the best in credibility, but I feel this would be great for a argumentative paper; since I feel it is common knowledge that books are becoming obsolete.
Are books dead, and can authors survive?
Authority: Ewan Morrison has published four novels, and written a collection of short stories.
Sources: There were no sources in this article, but however he did have links that allowed you to see where he has quoting from.
Purpose: The articles purpose seemed to be on how and if the writers are going to able to make a living in the digital age. He gives some great examples of "the financial downturn in the digital industries"(Morrison). Like home videos, music, newspapers, photography, and even the porn industry. Another thing he mentions is piracy, and why would you pay when you can get it for free.
Evenness: I believe Morrison touched down on a lot in this article, and gave clear examples, it flowed well.
Coverage: I feel the article showed good coverage on the topic he was writing about.
Timeliness: This article was published in 2011, due to the date I believe it could be current enough.
For it's credibility I think I would actually used it for research, Morrison makes some good points, and is very informative. Morrison also added links within his article, that can lead you to other sites, which this can be very helpful. I also like the paper he his writing for (The Guardian) which in the past I've found some great articles that have been reliable.
Even though both articles had good points, and both were convincing as a reader I feel Ewan Morrison's article, "Are books dead, and can authors survive?" to be more intriguing. This article made me realize how the web and other electronic devises have impacted the future of paper books. Even bookstores like Barnes and Noble are selling Kindles right at the front door, this makes me wonder how much of a impact of these devises have on their company, and why would a bookstore even sell something that would limit their book sells.
Morrison's article goes over some very important points, that really does makes sense. For starters writers get advances from publishers this allows them to live, once a book is published they receive royalties, this system keeps them going. When everything becomes digital the advances get cut out of the picture, making the only income coming in from that of future sales.
These days consumers are looking for is convenience at a low cost, and they have found it on the web. Sites like Amazon sell their books at a considerable large discount which have driven bookstores to close shop. What really shocked me was that "Amazon can sell millions of books by obscure authors, while at the same time those authors, when they get their Amazon receipts, will see that they have sold only five books in a year"(Morrison). Wow! Digital industries have impacted a lot of different industries such as home videos, music, newspapers, photography, and porn all of these have been impacted financially. Most are able to be viewed free or can be pirated off a torrent site. Google has even stated that they plan on scanning 130m books, and have plans on making it available free, and paying the authors off a minimal price per book.
I really feel the digital world will win over the paper, consumers are going to look for where they can get more for less. Unfortunately I feel our society will miss out on some great authors along the way, and it's a really depressing thought because writing is an art form.
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