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Der Durkheim‐Test. Anmerkungen zu Susan Leigh Stars Grenzobjekten
Author(s) -
Gießmann Sebastian
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
berichte zur wissenschaftsgeschichte
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1522-2365
pISSN - 0170-6233
DOI - 10.1002/bewi.201501724
Subject(s) - sociology , boundary work , flexibility (engineering) , sociotechnical system , epistemology , test (biology) , categorization , star (game theory) , character (mathematics) , boundary (topology) , computer science , philosophy , artificial intelligence , social science , management , paleontology , mathematical analysis , geometry , mathematics , economics , biology
The Durkheim Test. Remarks on Susan Leigh Star’s Boundary Objects. The article reconstructs Susan Leigh Star’s conceptual work on the notion of ‘boundary objects’. It traces the emergence of the concept, beginning with her PhD thesis and its publication as Regions of the Mind in 1989. ‘Boundary objects’ attempt to represent the distributed, multifold nature of scientific work and its mediations between different ‘social worlds’. Being addressed to several ‘communities of practice’, the term responded to questions from Distributed Artificial Intelligence in Computer Science, Workplace Studies and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and microhistorical approaches inside the growing Science and Technology Studies. Yet the interdisciplinary character and interpretive flexibility of Star’s invention has rarely been noticed as a conceptual tool for media theory. I therefore propose to reconsider Star’s ‘Durkheim test’ for sociotechnical media practices.