Digital Rights Management in Organisations: A Critical Consideration with a Socio-Technical Approach

Abstract

With emerging technologies constantly creating new possibilities for organisations to manage their information resources, this chapter proposes a model for designing systems to control access to, and usage of, digital resources in organisations.The authors argue that Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a socio-technical challenge that requires a holistic approach. The resulting socio-technical forces model, titled SYNAPSIS, includes the following interdependent dimensions: Technology, Task, Structure, People, and Organisation External Forces, which act as interrelated forces. The application of the SYNAPSIS model can help identify complex interdependencies among the involved dimensions, as well as their evolution with time. Models, like the one proposed, may provide significant support on the underlying field.