Objects
Francoise Herrmann (fherrmann who-is-at igc.apc.org)
Fri, 31 Oct 1997 16:50:15 -0800 (PST)
Amigos! I am so glad that Leigh clarified the issue of boundary
objects as I was growign increasingly uncomfortable with what
appears to be a confusion of terms. To me a boundary object
compares with an Activity System as way of analyzing phenomena, bu
there is really no comparison possible between boundary object and
object in AT. In translation these are called "false friends".
Words that look alike, and even have the same etymology but that
have different meanings in the languages under scrutiny. I think
that there is also a technical term for this, but cannot think of
it now. Thinking about boundary objects, I saw an archeologist
reconstructing the ways of a people via the objects un-earthed. An
iceberg appraoch perhaps, that to me compares inversely with the
AT method where the isntitutional, and larger historical
traditions are often starting point, working to smaller levels
(and back out!) Object in AT is direction, movement, perhaps even
energy of the system. For example, the object of community
building conversations is continuity, the object of academic
(intellectual) conversations is cyclical and the object of
admistrative conversations is closure (getting things done!). In
a boundary object perspective, I think that the analysis would
yield a really different picture. And for my purposes, I found the
notion useful to bring out typological robustness and
impermeability of the categorical scheme. Finally to pick up on
the doctor's visit example that Eugene and Yryo (could not)
discuss. I think that this is exactly the difference of method and
approach (non intersecting). The uniforms, the tools, the rituals
of the visit as boundary object to work out
to the differential systems that give them meaning. Whereas in
AT, the uniforms, the tools, the rituals of the visit only
foregrounded inasmuch as some previous aspect of the analysis
makes these objects salient. Perhaps in an analysis of
patient-doctor relationship.
Francoise Francoise Herrmann fherrmann who-is-at igc.apc.org
http://www.wenet.net/~herrmann