Caccamo, Pittino and Tell clarify boundary objects by organising a dispersed literature around three modes of knowledge integration: information processing, cognitive exchange and collaborative learning. In the first, documents and platforms coordinate differentiated actors; in the second, shared concepts and narratives support mutual understanding; in the third, products and prototypes evolve through interaction and generate new knowledge. This framework restores plurality to a term often reduced to a generic synonym for collaboration. Boundary objects are effective precisely because they remain sufficiently stable to coordinate while remaining plastic enough to sustain divergent interpretations. The review also emphasises temporality: objects alter their role as projects move from exploration to implementation, and their effectiveness depends on changing problems, participants and institutional conditions. The wider bridge to transdisciplinary research is decisive. Integration does not require epistemic unification; it requires carefully constructed objects through which differences can become productive, visible and negotiable.
