A Study on Media to Promote Collaboration in Innovation Activities

Sharing Boundary Objects and Empathic Boundary Objects

Abstract

Creating innovation requires collaboration among disparate people. Nevertheless, it is not easy. This paper focuses on boundary objects and discusses their role in innovation activities through literature reviews on boundary objects. Based on two cases of innovation activities, we classified boundary objects into two categories: sharing BOs, which promote collaboration by sharing information, and empathic BOs, which promote collaboration through empathy, and the SECI model is used to organize and explain the roles of these two boundary objects and show their potential application to the design process.