Star does not define collaboration directly. Instead she developed the concept of boundary objects to argue against the consensus model. Fieldwork inspired her to question the (then) standard model of conceiving collaboration as being dependent upon the preliminary establishment of concensus between participants. By contrast, she witnessed and experienced numerous instances where scientific research and knowledge production continued productively without establishing consensus. The concept of boundary object was innovated to help explain the material-semiotic process underwriting this particular type of cooperation.
