Authorship and Documentary Boundary Objects

Earlier research on documentary boundary objects has underlined the contextual nature of the process of their emergence. The aim of this paper is to discuss how the process of making and the attribution or non-attribution of authorship affects documentary boundary objects. A better understanding of the making of boundary objects is helpful in understanding why and how particular boundary objects work, and what are their implications. The article proposes an analytic model of four modes of authorship of documentary boundary objects (1. solitary, and 2. emergent authorship, 3. light-weight, and 4. heavy-weight peer-production) based on a review and synthesis of the spectrum of solitary and collaborative practices of creating documentary boundary objects discussed in the literature.