Toward the Inclusion of Pricing Models in Sociotechnical Analyses

Beginning in the 1980s, the development of information and communications technologies (ICT) and computer networking introduced massive change to practices for distributing scholarly and scientific materials like journal articles. ICT and mass digitization led to changes in the nature of the available material, what attributes of content users valued, control over access and use of a work, and pricing and packaging. From a publisher perspective, ICT and networking increased risks of unauthorized copying and redistribution, thereby encouraging development of a controversial set of technologies known as technological protection measures (TPM), designed to control how users access or use digital works.