Boundary dialogues in user-centric innovation

• This paper is based on a user-centric innovation project, Free2Ride, which is seen as an example of community interaction that overcomes boundaries. Free2Ride aimed at developing a piece of ICT safety equipment consisting of a sender (on the horse) and a receiver (application in a smartphone) to be used by equestrian club members during their everyday riding activities. We will answer the research question of what the characteristics of a boundary dialogue in user-centric innovation activities are. The aim of the paper is to propose a model describing the characteristics of boundary dialogue in user-centric innovation that involve different communities of practices such as ICT developers, users and researchers. We applied a combination of research approaches consisting of action research and engaged scholarship approach. The theoretical framework for analyzing our findings is communities of practices with a specific interest in boundary spanning and learning dialogues. Our contribution is a model describing the characteristics of boundary dialogues in user-centric innovation. An important element of that model is the mental wandering, inwards and outwards, by core members in a community. We discuss the temporal as well as the symbolic nature of the mental wandering during the boundary dialogue in user-centric innovation activities. © (2012) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Boundary dialogue

Community of practice

Equestrian clubs

Innovation

User-centric

Communities of Practice

Research questions

Theoretical framework

User-centric innovations

Information systems

Knowledge acquisition

Research

Informatics

Informatik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)