Boundary object

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The boundary object or boundary object is a concept from sociology to the different uses of information to be described by different groups. They are plastic, are interpreted differently by different groups, but contain enough unchangeable content to maintain a global identity. The idea was published by Susan Leigh Star and James R. Griesemer in the following article in 1989, in which they illustrated the concept using the example of a natural history museum in the US state of California (p. 393):

“Boundary objects are both plastic enough to adapt to local needs and constraints of the several parties employing them, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity across sites. They are weakly structured in common use, and become strongly structured in individual-site use. They may be abstract or concrete. They have different meanings in different social worlds but their structure is common enough to more than one world to make them recognizable, a means of translation. The creation and management of boundary objects is key in developing and maintaining coherence across intersecting social worlds. "

“Border objects are so plastic that they can adapt to the local needs and restrictions of the various parties using them, and at the same time robust enough to maintain a uniform identity across different locations. In general use they are only weakly structured, but receive a rich structure in individual use in one place. They can be abstract or concrete. They have different meanings in different social worlds, but they have enough common structure in more than one world to make them recognizable and a means of translation. The creation and handling of border objects is essential for developing and maintaining coherence across different, overlapping social worlds. "

- Susan Leigh Star, James R. Griesemer : Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Since it was published, this idea has been adapted by many different research directions and discussed in computer science and information science , among others . Susan Leigh Star , for her part, developed the idea further.

literature

  • Star, Susan Leigh. "Border Objects and Media Research". Edited by Sebastian Gießmann and Nadine Taha, Bielefeld: transcript 2017. Open Access at http://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-3126-5/ Grenzobjekte-und-medienforschung .
  • Star, Susan Leigh. "This is not a boundary object: Reflections on the origin of a concept." Science, Technology & Human Values ​​35.5 (2010): 601-617.
  • Barrett, Michael, and Eivor Oborn. "Boundary object use in cross-cultural software development teams." Human Relations 63.8 (2010): 1199-1221.
  • Brand, Fridolin Simon, and Kurt Jax. "Focusing the meaning (s) of resilience: resilience as a descriptive concept and a boundary object." Ecology and Society 12.1 (2007): 23.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Star SL & Griesemer JR: Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39 . In: Social Studies of Science . 19, No. 4, 1989, pp. 387-420. doi : 10.1177 / 030631289019003001 .
  2. ↑ Isto Huvila, Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson, Eva Hourihan Jansen, Pam McKenzie, Lynn Westbrook, Adam Worrall: Boundary objects in information science research. An approach for explicating connections between collections, cultures and communities . In: American Society for Information Science and Technology (Ed.): Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology . tape 51 , no. 1 , 2014, p. 1–4 ( asis.org [PDF]).