Boundary Object

A boundary object is a concept, artifact, or practice that is interpretable across multiple social worlds while remaining faithful to the concerns of each. It is not a universal translation device — it does not mean the same thing to everyone. Rather, it is robust enough to maintain identity across contexts yet plastic enough to accommodate local meanings. The term was coined by Susan Leigh Star and James R. Griesemer in 1989 to explain how collaboration works across disciplinary, organizational, or epistemic boundaries.

Boundary objects are interfaces between paradigms. They enable coordination without consensus. Scientists from different specialties can collaborate on a shared project — a museum classification system, a genome database, a climate model — not because they agree on what the shared object really