Boundary Object

"Artifacts, Documents and perhaps even vocabulary that can help people from different communities build a shared understanding. Boundary objects will be interpreted differently by the different communities, and it is an acknowledgement and discussion of these differences that enables a shared understanding to be formed." (from the enTWIne project)

In 1988, Susan Leigh Star introduced the term boundary object to describe information that is used in different ways by different communities of practice .

Boundary objects have interesting properties (from Brian Marick):

- If x is a boundary object, people from different communities of practice can use it as a common point of reference for conversations. They can all agree they're talking about x.

- But the different people are not actually talking about the same thing. They attach different meanings to x.

- Despite different interpretations, boundary objects serve as a means of translation.

- Boundary objects are plastic enough to adapt to changing needs. And change they do, as communities of practice cooperate. Boundary objects are working arrangements, adjusted as needed. They are not imposed by one community, nor by appeal to outside standards.

A goal is often used as a boundary object. "Finish this project successfully" is a boundary object in software development. It means different things to different communities of practice, but it is plastic enough to get everyone working together.

The term "taxonomy" is another boundary object. It is used differently by different communities of practice (designers, project managers, librarians, IA's).

What Star teaches us is that the fact that we all understand this term differently is not a problem. The boundary object serves to bring different communities of practice together.

References

Star, S. L. (1989) The Structure of Ill-structured Solutions: Boundary Objects and Heterogeneous Distributed Problem Solving. In M. Huhs & L. Gasser (Eds.), Readings in distributed artificial intelligence 3 (pp. 37-54), Menlo Park, CA: Kaufmann.

Star, S. L. & Griesemer, J. R. (1989) Institutional Ecology, "Translations" and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1970-39, Social Studies of Science, 19, 387-420.