Boundary Negotiating Artifacts: Unbinding the Routine of Boundary Objects and Embracing Chaos in Collaborative Work

Abstract

Empirical studies of material artifacts in practice continue to be a rich source of theoretical concepts for CSCW. This paper explores the foundational concept of boundary objects and questions the conception that all objects that move between communities of practice are boundary objects. This research presents the results of a year-long ethnographic study of collaborative work, specifically the multidisciplinary collaborative design of a museum exhibition. I suggest that artifacts can serve to establish and destabilize protocols themselves and that artifacts can be used to push boundaries rather than merely sailing across them. Artifacts used for collaboration do not necessarily exist within a web of standardized processes and disorderly processes should not be treated as ''special cases''.

The Social Life of Tunes: Representing the Aesthetics of Reception

“…Other times, the text proves too abstract and vague, masking its value and making it unattractive for musicians to read. These texts reflect the observation of Lee (2007) that ''unstandardized artifacts that are partial, incomplete, or are intermediary representations are ubiquitous in collaborative work. '' When Star and Griesemer (1989) and Lee (2007) talk of boundary (negotiating) objects, they speak of material artifacts.…”

“…These texts reflect the observation of Lee (2007) that ''unstandardized artifacts that are partial, incomplete, or are intermediary representations are ubiquitous in collaborative work. '' When Star and Griesemer (1989) and Lee (2007) talk of boundary (negotiating) objects, they speak of material artifacts. However, instead of trying to decipher when a tune becomes ''materialized'' (e.g., when it is played), I believe it more constructive to emphasize the creative process involved in representation via the lens of reader-reception theory.…”

Usability Specialists as Boundary Spanners – An Appraisal of Usability Specialists’ Work in Multiparty Distributed Open Source Software Development Effort

“…On the other hand, the literature on multiparty IT development efforts reveals that there nowadays are parties from numerous organizations and even countries involved, representing different kinds of areas of expertise: not only technology, marketing and business, but also strategy, manufacturing, education, curation, meteorology etc. [5,19,20,21,22]. In this kind of a design team collaboration is a true challenge [e.g.…”

“…In multiparty design teams, in which there are experts representing different disciplines, professions, organizations and nationalities cooperating, it has been reported that communicating, collaborating, and arriving at shared understandings are very challenging [5,19,20,21]. However, knowledge sharing and the creation of shared understandings are also postulated as vital for successful multiparty design teams.…”

“…Boundary spanners and particularly boundary objects have been extensively discussed in the literature and shown to contribute to knowledge sharing and to the development of shared understandings among various experts [20,22,23,29] as well as to mobilizing for design action and to legitimizing design knowledge [23]. While boundary objects are not the main focus of this paper, they will be touched upon in the empirical analysis.…”