A new way of communicating in different and unexpected contexts and meanings, expanding interaction in instantaneous times and spaces and without clear limits, (re)producing information from communication (Porto et al., 2017Porto, C. de M., Oliveira, K. E. de J., & Alves, A. L. (2017). Expansão e reconfigurações das práticas de leitura e escrita por meio do WhatsApp. In C. Porto , K. E. Oliveira & A. Chagas (Eds.),WhatsApp e educação: Entre mensagens, imagens e sons(pp. 113-128). EDUFBA. https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.0007 https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.00...
; Lapa & Girardello, 2017Lapa, A., & Girardello, G. (2017). Gestão em rede na primavera secundarista. In C. Porto, K. E. Oliveira & A. Chagas (Eds.),WhatsApp e educação: Entre mensagens, imagens e sons(pp. 29-48). EDUFBA. https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.0003 https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.00...
). A space rich in discoveries because of its interactivity within the heterogeneity of unknown people. Its use enhances the search for innovative alternatives in the use of the application, favoring the emergence of new cultural and spatial aspects (Oliveira, 2017Oliveira, C. A. de. (2017). Entre processos formativos e interativos: o WhatsApp como espaço significativo na orientação e formação. In C. Porto , K. E. Oliveira & A. Chagas (Eds.), WhatsApp e educação: Entre mensagens, imagens e sons (pp. 217-233). EDUFBA. https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.0012 https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.00...
). Its material structure informs if users are online, typing or recording messages, if the messages have been read, enables jumping from one interlocutor or group to another between distinct contents, and connects all or some of them via groups (Porto et al., 2017Porto, C. de M., Oliveira, K. E. de J., & Alves, A. L. (2017). Expansão e reconfigurações das práticas de leitura e escrita por meio do WhatsApp. In C. Porto , K. E. Oliveira & A. Chagas (Eds.),WhatsApp e educação: Entre mensagens, imagens e sons(pp. 113-128). EDUFBA. https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.0007 https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523220204.00...
) It enables the expression of information and emotions by various resources, such as emojis (Primo et al., 2021Primo, A., Valiati, V., & Barros, L. (2021). Práticas conversacionais no WhatsApp: A interação em conversações paralelas. Comunicação & Sociedade, 43(3), 41-76. ). The scope of the connections it enables can involve the most diverse instances of life, including the organizational one and family and friendships (Matassi et al., 2019Matassi, M., Boczkowski, P. J., & Mitchelstein, E. (2019). Domesticating WhatsApp: Family, friends, work, and study in everyday communication. New Media and Society, 21(10), 2183-2200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819841890 https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819841890...
). |
They enable the maintenance of simultaneous translations of the objectives of actors in multiple mandatory crossing points, which can be negotiated between different communities and without consensus to still cooperate in a broad environment (e.g., a country or a company) as they offer an immutable content between communities, which enables them to find common goals to relate between their borders (Star, 1988Star, S. L. (1988). The structure of ill-structured solutions: Boundary objects and heterogeneous distributed problem solving. In L. Gasser & M. N. Huhns (Eds.), Distributed artificial intelligence (pp. 37-54). Morgan Kaufmann. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-55860-092-8.50006-X https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-55860-092...
; Star & Griesemer, 1989Star, S. L., & Griesemer, J. R. (1989). Institutional ecology, ‘Translations’ and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39. Social Studies of Science, 19(3), 387-420. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631289019003001 https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312890190030...
; Whitson, 2018Whitson, J. R. (2018). Voodoo software and boundary objects in game development: How developers collaborate and conflict with game engines and art tools. New Media and Society, 20(7), 2315-2332. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817715020 https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817715020...
). Basic aspects of architecture (Star, 2010Star, S. L. (2010). This is not a boundary object: Reflections on the origin of a concept. Science Technology and Human Values, 35(5), 601-617. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243910377624 https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243910377624...
): interpretive flexibility -groups can interpret them in different ways; material or organizational structure specific to its type - concrete or abstract; scale and scope suitable for use as BO - defined by unstructured, unstructured, tailored, or group uses, in which it is applied. Their temporality and ability to mediate boundaries favors collaboration between them. However, this capacity may be lost, producing heterogeneity and discontinuing interactions, which configure dysfunctions to be corrected (Carlile, 2002Carlile, P. R. (2002). A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: Boundary objects in new product development.Organization Science,13(4), 442-455. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.13.4.442.2953 https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.13.4.442.29...
; Akkerman & Bakker, 2011Akkerman, S. F., & Bakker, A. (2011). Boundary crossing and boundary objects. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 132-169. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311404435 https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311404435...
; Whitson, 2018). |
At Approve, people from several sectors and with different experiences and backgrounds (some of which do not even effectively know each other) use WhatsApp to cooperate in issues related to leisure, day-to-day issues, and work throughout much of their day. The application provides interactions between external internal heterogeneous boundaries. For example: when it was inserted in a network of relations between actors unknown to each other and spread throughout Brazil who cooperate in the translation of the common objective of enabling participation in public exams, sharing specific content on topics such as transportation and lodging, which permeate everyone (E8); or when it enables even people with difficulties to use technology to insert themselves in the translation of common goals by this route due to its ease of use (E9); or when it goes beyond the boundary of physical distances (E1; S12). The different interpretations regarding the use of the material structure of the application occurred in the reports by E2, E7, E10, and other members of Approve as they manifested different meanings about the behaviors when they came across different relationships in the network, including different ways of using or not using the stickers in the application to express humor, contrariety, fun, and irony and make jokes in a scope that includes relationships in and out of work and more formal or informal groups. The importance of these elements in the Approve networks was evident on the day the application stopped working as a BO and people had difficulties to relate, as reported by E3. |