boundary objects

Terms from Artificial Intelligence: humans at the heart of algorithms

Boundary objects are physical, digital or conceptual items that can act as a point ofcommunication or collaboration between types of people who otherwsie may have very different goals, knowkedge and backgorunds. The term was first coined to consider the various groups who work around zoological exhibits in a museum, and examples in that context include the phsyical exhibits and the texonomic structyre used to classify them. As an example in a digital context, archirects and engineers might collaborate around a CAD drawing even though they understand diffent aspects of it, and use it for different purposes. In synergistic AI-human collaboration, we might seek to create bondary objects that have meaning for both human and system. For example, in Query-by-Browsing the selected items in the list and SQL query are used differently by AI and human, but are a point of connection between them.

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