Open Source Design (OSD) é uma estratégia de desenvolvimento adotada por comunidades que desenvolvem produtos manufaturados colaborativamente, em um regime copyleft e rede peer to peer virtual. O resultado é um conjunto de informações capazes de permitir a fabricação remota em que o usuário pode construir o seu produto, ao invés de um sistema produtivo específico previamente definido, como no desenvolvimento tradicional. A tangibilidade e a distância física entre desenvolvedores impõem barreiras à colaboração, mas avanços como a tecnologia de impressão 3D fez surgir plataformas virtuais para o compartilhamento de arquivos que tornam esta realidade possível. O número deste tipo de plataformas é significativo e há problemas na delimitação teórica do fenômeno e questões em aberto. No desenvolvimento OSD faz-se necessário o uso de objetos de fronteira (Boundary Objects – BOs). Qual o papel destes objetos? Eles estão presentes nas plataformas citadas? As plataformas existentes possuem recursos para a gestão destes objetos? Quais as características que estas plataformas devem apresentar para viabilizar o desenvolvimento OSD? Este trabalho reúne um conjunto de investigações para elucidar as questões acima. Por meio de um estudo de caso inicial e revisões sistemáticas, os conceitos foram analisados e propostos teoricamente. Por meio de um levantamento de 686 projetos de seis comunidades OSD diferentes hospedadas na plataforma Thingiverse, auxiliado por uma análise de conteúdo sobre a relação entre plataforma e colaboração, em seis projetos de diferentes plataformas, foi possível discutir o papel das plataformas utilizadas por comunidades OSD. Discute-se a relação com o desempenho do projeto e com a colaboração alcançada, identificando-se problemas potenciais e soluções latentes. Os resultados indicam que as plataformas estudadas, entre as mais difundidas, apresentam limitações. Finalmente, por meio da análise conjunta dos resultados, à luz das práticas de gestão de configuração existentes no desenvolvimento tradicional, foi possível identificar uma lista de propriedades latentes, que poderiam ser incorporadas nas plataformas, como: estrutura do produto, versionamento, ferramentas de armazenamento e rastreabilidade, auditoria, controle da configuração e governança da interface. As propriedades identificadas são uma contribuição importante para a inserção em ferramentas de design colaborativo. / Open Source Design (OSD) is a strategy adopted by communities that develop collaboratively manufactured products in a copyleft conditions and on a peer to peer network. The result is a set of information that allow the remote manufacturing where the users can build their own products, despite of a specific productive system previously defined as the traditional development. The tangibility and the geographic distance among developers impose barriers on the collaboration, on the other hand technology breakthroughs in the 3D printer technology made arise virtual platforms to share files that made this reality achievable. The number of these types of platforms is increasing and there are difficulties to delimitating of the phenomenon and there are gaps that need investigation. Is required the use of BOs in OSD development? What is the role of these BOs? Are they used in the mentioned platforms? Do the current platforms have features to the management of BOs? Which features must these platforms have to make feasible the OSD development? This thesis gathers an amount of investigations to elucidate the questions above. Through an initial study of case and systematic revisions, the concepts were analyzed and theoretically proposed. There was collected information of 686 projects from 6 different OSD communities hosted on the Thingiverse platform; in complement a content analysis about the relation between the platform and collaboration in six projects of three different platforms, to discuss the role of the platforms used for OSD communities. It is discussed the relation between the performance project with the collaboration, identifying the potential problems and the latent solutions. The result indicates that the investigated platforms, even the most widespread, present limitations. Finally, using a combined analysis of the results, according to the practices of management configuration existent in the traditional development, it was possible to identify a list of features that could be incorporated in the platforms, such: product structure, versioning, storage tools and traceability, audits, control configuration, governance. The identified features are important contributions to the insertion in tools of collaborative design.

<p>This thesis explores object based design team communication. It is assumed that boundary objects in design teams serve as an important communication aid and are considered to have a crucial role in the conducting of multidisciplinary teamwork. Objects, such as design specifications and prototypes, can for example help bridging knowledge gaps between the different interests involved and offer guidance and support in their design work. The aim was to identify the possible problems that might occur connected to the different objects used in a design team. In order to study this, an ethnographical inspired study was carried out. Overall results were that the design team needed to extend their use of objects, in order to be fully supported by them in their work. Further, the existing objects needed to be changed or used differently. A “communication resource hub” was suggested, where all the new and old objects could be gathered. In this “resource hub” there should be room for different models that could be applied as a support for deciding on the right objects for the right purpose.</p>

olikaverktygkanunderlättaimplementeringenavettaffärssystem(enterpriceresourceplanning-­‐systems).Genomattappliceraenhetlighetsramverket(comonality-­‐frameworkforIT-­‐enabledchange)påfallstudienundersökervimedhjälpavbegreppetgränsobjekt(boundaryobjects)hursådanaverktygkanspelaenviktigrollförenlyckadimplementering.RättanpassadegränsobjektkanbidratillattskapaenförståelseförnyIT,samtintresseförattanvändaden.Efterendiskussionomdeempiriskafyndenpresenterarvirådtillpraktikerpåområdetochföreslårblandannatattverktygmedettvisuelltgränssnittärfördelaktigaimångasituationer.UppsatsensbidragtillforskningenbestårienutvecklingavenhetlighetsramverketgenomattvivisarpåhurgränsobjektpåverkardedimensionersomenligtramverketmåstegeshänsynvidenIT-­‐organisationsförändring.

Record keeping is not a static way to document history but rather a way for people in the present to engage with, and be affected by, the past. This is especially true in the case of online databases. Databases store information but their use also encourages the adoption of specific methodologies for apprehending reality because it is through those methodological agreements that the information in the database becomes relevant. In the summer of 2012 I spent four months observing and interviewing wheat researchers and database developers at a major agricultural research center in Mexico as part of my M.A. thesis project. This paper argues that people using the International Wheat Information System (IWIS) database at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are involved in a process that documents wheat pedigree information while also enacting a reality based on assumptions about the value of certain types of human pedigree.

This thesis studies knowledge processes which span organisational boundaries, examining how knowledge is formed and shared between two companies with divergent interests, facing the challenges of innovation processes. Cross-boundary work provides access to diverse sources of knowledge, specialties and approaches, and this enhances the innovative performance of firms. However, managing knowledge and spanning diverse boundaries has proven to be difficult. While the epistemic and social challenges have been identified to trigger conflicts and misunderstandings across boundaries, the complexity, inter-dependency and uncertainty of innovation processes have been found to multiply these challenges. Informed by the practice-based perspective, this thesis examines how the challenges of integrating knowledge in such a context are addressed and resolved. Building upon this theoretical perspective, the thesis aims to enhance understandings of knowledge processes between the large bureaucratic organisations (publishers) and small/medium-sized companies (developers) in the videogames industry. Underpinned by a social constructionist and interpretivist methodology, a qualitative study of three publisher-developer relationships was conducted. With thirty six semi-structured interviews with senior directors, managers and team leaders, the thesis examined cross- boundary practices and the conflicts experienced in this process. In order to achieve this, the study focused on the role that boundary objects, trust development and power structures played in facilitating knowledge processes. The thesis recognises the evolving and relational character of boundary objects, highlighting that a combination of static and dynamic boundary objects were effective in facilitating knowledge integration in the publisher-developer relationship. It also reveals that despite high levels of distrust between the parties involved, they managed to create and maintain a working relationship by resorting to opportunistic practices, such as knowledge hiding, deception and collusion. It is emphasised that understanding the power dynamics in the publisher-developer relationship is a pre-requisite to explaining 2 how knowledge is managed across organisational boundaries during the course of a project. Drawing upon a Foucauldian perspective, the thesis identifies the positive and enabling aspects of power dynamics in this relationship. It argues that when the parties have discrepancies, competition and high levels of distrust, power games positively influence cross-boundary practices, the use of boundary objects and knowledge processes, ultimately mobilising knowledge integration. The thesis makes four significant contributions to the knowledge management and cross-boundary work literature. First, it identifies an evolving role for boundary objects, showing how they develop during the course of a project. Second, it finds a relational and politicised dimension for boundary objects, highlighting the role of brokers to manipulate and mobilise the use and effectiveness of these objects. Third, the thesis extends the existing literature by revealing that despite high levels of distrust, parties can create a working relationship. The research shows that this is achieved through resorting to opportunistic behaviour, such as knowledge hiding, deception and collusion. As a result, this thesis adds a complementary level to Carlile's Integrated Framework, explaining that when there are high levels of differences, dependencies and novelty in the cross-boundary work, knowledge hiding, deception and collusion are the driving force to facilitate knowledge integration and maintain a functional relationship. The fourth contribution of this thesis is recognising the positive and productive aspects of power dynamics that enable and mobilise boundary objects and knowledge processes, ultimately bringing positive outcomes and creating a functional relationship between two companies with divergent interests.

This thesis explores object based design team communication. It is assumed that boundary objects in design teams serve as an important communication aid and are considered to have a crucial role in the conducting of multidisciplinary teamwork. Objects, such as design specifications and prototypes, can for example help bridging knowledge gaps between the different interests involved and offer guidance and support in their design work. The aim was to identify the possible problems that might occur connected to the different objects used in a design team. In order to study this, an ethnographical inspired study was carried out. Overall results were that the design team needed to extend their use of objects, in order to be fully supported by them in their work. Further, the existing objects needed to be changed or used differently. A “communication resource hub” was suggested, where all the new and old objects could be gathered. In this “resource hub” there should be room for different models that could be applied as a support for deciding on the right objects for the right purpose.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The rationale for the topic flows out of education policy and societal pressures worldwide which are calling for an ever greater responsiveness from higher education to the workplace in the twenty-first century. Responsiveness to Work (i.e. the world of work) requires collaborative and integrative work between communities of academic and non-academic practitioners. Differences between knowledge and practices at Work and within the academy are broadly acknowledged in the literature, yet the ensuing nature and complexity of interactions between these two communities in curriculum design 'on the ground' is poorly understood. A key point is to recognize that integration as such cannot be the goal: the differences remain, but have to be turned into productive collaboration and joint development, for example, of a curriculum. Productivity here is not used in the sense of the ratio between output achieved and inputs needed, but rather refers to the activity theorists' concept of zones of potential development between two different, interacting activity systems (their way of conceptualizing communities of practice). Productivity is then a measure of the extent to which new hybrid knowledge emerges in the interactive zone with positive outcomes for both systems. Ideally, the integrated curriculum elements look to both Work and academic knowledge. Such productivity involves the acknowledgement of pre-existing boundaries and differences between types of knowledge and the subsequent actions of actors in crossing these boundaries. After sketching the policy backdrop to the issues of responsiveness to Work "on the ground", the first part of the thesis discusses theories of curriculum development, and of boundaries, differences, boundary crossing and maintenance. Inspired by the work of Nooteboom, a model is outlined for optimal difference allowing for innovative and productive curriculum development. The processes and patterns of responsiveness of higher education to the needs of 2 re studied empirically at two interconnected levels: The meso-level of the design of curriculum units; and the micro-level of face-to-face interactions between representatives from Work and the academy as they negotiate how to implement responsiveness. The curriculum units examined are those in which universities have attempted to design units which include aspects of Work. The face-to-face interactions are those between lecturers and Work representatives as they attempt to negotiate what sort of knowledge should be taught in the academy to meet both Work needs and those of the academics. At the meso-level, different cases (in different countries) were studied which together spanned the spectrum of differences between academic knowledge and workplace knowledge. At the micro-level, the focus was on the actual boundary work, and how it might set productive developments in motion. The processes involved are those of the mutual presentation of knowledge difference between work and the academy followed by knowledge transformations. These transformations are in tum enabled by the representatives' actions and their mobilisation of structures to enable bridging between the different types of knowledge. Difference between work and academic knowledge matters. Firstly, difference needs to be recognised and identified, not as a stumbling block to further developments, but as a resource. Secondly, an optimal degree of initial difference, rather than no difference at all, is an enabling factor, in concert with actor strategies, in the development of hybrid work/academic curriculum objects. The insights in micro-interactions can be combined with the analysis of meso-level curriculum development to create a model for productive work towards integration of Work and higher education. This model is supported by the literature discussed in the first part of the thesis, and can actually be used more broadly, for example for productive development and implementation of policy (in this case, for responsiveness to Work).

Praktiska erfarenheter från fallföretaget och tidigare forskning visar på utmaningar i att kombinera processerna för agil systemutveckling och användarbaserad designutveckling. Användarbaserad designutveckling förespråkas av UX (User eXperience). Litteraturstudien visar på skillnader i syn på dokumentation, avsaknad av definierad process för gemensamma iterationer, problem med att bryta ner UX-arbete i små beståndsdelar samt hur rollen för UX kan eller ska arbeta tillsammans med utvecklingsteamet. Samarbete över funktionsgränser innebär ofta behov av informationsöverföring genom någon form av objekt eller artefakt. Studiens syfte är att bidra till den befintliga forskningen gällande interaktion mellan agila utvecklingsteam och UX-designers genom att undersöka båda parters perspektiv på hur gemensamt använda artefakter fungerar, för att effektivisera kommunikation, samarbete och informationsöverföring de två funktionerna emellan. Empirin är insamlad genom semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med produktägare, utvecklare, development managers och UX-designers/UX-specialister. Resultatet av empiri och analys visar att ingen av de funktionsöverskridande artefakterna som studien identifierat, stödjer informationsöverföring för båda funktionerna enligt kriterierna i Boundary Object Theory. Resultatet av den kontextualiserade jämförelsen i diskussionen visar att funktionernas metodologiska filosofi utgör ytterligare en möjlig barriär för effektivt samarbete funktionerna emellan. / Practical experience from the case company and previous research shows challenges in combining the processes for agile system development and user-based design development. User-based design development is advocated by UX (User eXperience). The literature study shows differences in their views on documentation, lack of a defined process for joint iterations, problems with breaking down UX work into small components and how the role for UX can or should work with the development team. Collaboration across functional boundaries often involves the need for information transfer through some form of object or artifact. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the existing research on the interaction between agile development teams and UX designers, by examining both parties' perspectives on how mutually used artifacts operates, to improve communication, collaboration and information transfer between the two functions. The empirical material was gathered through semi-structured qualitative interviews with product owners, developers, development managers and UX designers / UX specialists. The result of the empirical analysis show that none of the cross-functional artifacts identified in the study, that supports information transfer for both functions according to the criteria in Boundary Object Theory. The result of the contextualized comparison in the discussion shows that the methodological philosophy of the functions is another possible barrier to effective collaboration between the functions.

This study examines stakeholder relationships in the context of rumours of a forthcoming American Open Access mandate which surfaced in December 2019. Empirical material was gathered through the social media network Twitter, and through a data collection exercise of article-length documents on the subject. In the process of theme discovery, material was explored with manual scrutiny, software to produce visualisations of semantic maps and network analyses, and qualitative data analysis. The study is informed by the theoretical framework of boundary objects. The study finds that actor groupings central to the topic were academics, information professionals and Open Access publishers in support of the mandate, and subscription publishers opposed to it. Learned societies occupied the borderlands of the debate in a conflicted role of both publisher and academic champion. Themes uncovered through the study included nationalistic rhetoric, taxpayer value for money, financial imbalance in the publishing ecology, and representation of members by learned societies. The results are used to consider which elements of the communities might act as a boundary object between the groups of actors.

To radically increase the value delivered to the customers in the construction industry a concerted effort is needed to develop solutions beyond incremental adjustments. Simply providing add-on services to existing products does not effectively create solutions with enough gains in core customer values. Designing and developing a product service system (PSS) through the adjustment or reconfiguration of existing elements is a challenge on its own, and adding the design of new elements serves to confound the process even further. By realigning all components of a PSS from inception to a function provides an opportunity to escape current product limitations and explore new solutions with potentially higher value. Designing a new PSS solution from scratch comes with added ambiguity in an expanded solution space. The aim of this thesis is to investigate early conceptual phases of PSS innovation within the domain of construction equipment manufacturing. The research included the development and testing of a prototyping method to foster customer co-creation and transdisciplinary design which are considered primary impact factors increasing the value of final PSS solutions. The work was performed in collaboration with a construction equipment manufacturer, conducting a demonstrator project on an electric and autonomous production site. The thesis first depicts how the prototyping method can be implemented to enable stakeholder insights that were previously not accessible through current practices. This leads to the testing of the method in a broader perspective to represent tangible and intangible elements in a way that facilitates concept design decisions in multi-disciplinary settings. The thesis concludes by exploring the limitations on current practices in relation to the adoption and potential use of the method.