Re: Boundary object
Peter Smagorinsky (psmagorinsky who-is-at ou.edu)
Mon, 27 Oct 1997 06:27:50
I'm trying to build on Eugene's comments (below)--often (or at least
sometimes) a design is created in order to promote social ends. I'm
thinking now of open classroom schools. The first high school I taught in
had an open classroom design which was justified in terms of how it would
end restrictions on how we think about learning, disenclose our minds,
promote open dialogue, etc. Yet teachers did their best to construct as
many barriers as possible between their class and others. Administrators
used the structure to keep tabs on teachers with "bad attitudes." Students
used the structure to wave to friends in other classes. Lots of boundary
objects at work!
Peter
At 11:02 PM 10/26/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I think this is a good example of what Leigh Star would call "boundary
>object" -- the same material (or semiotic, e.g., blueprints) object that two
>communities understand differently. For designers, space is a "design"
>while for user, the same space is a place to live and use. Both communities
>try to transform the "boundary objects": designers by creating blueprints
>and actual construction, users by trying make sense how they inhibit the
>space. I think the entire situation is created by the phenomenon of
>"decontextualization" or "alienation" when two communities of practice try
>to use each other without wanting to engage in each other's practices.
>
>Eugene
>