Boundary Objects: Their Role in Articulating the Task at Hand and Making Information Relevant to It
Ernesto G. Arias, Gerhard Fischer · 2000
Complex collaborative design activities cannot be solved by individuals or by single groups. Communities of interest (defined by their collective concern with the resolution of a problem) bring together different communities of practice which represent groups of practitioners from different domains. Reaching common understanding between these communities is a major challenge for information technologies due to the communication divide produced by their respective cultures [Snow, 1993]. Therefore, future HCI innovations need to include notions such as "boundary objects," as necessary notions if they are to effectively support communication between such communities. The relevance of this notion is that without it such these communities cannot create the necessary shared understanding behind the framing and resolution of the emerging problem in design activities. Nor, we further argue that without it, can all stakeholders be empowered to actively contribute and critique constructively the...