Blurring Practices for Knowledge Creation (WITHDRAWN)

Abstract

This article explores practice changes in the process of cross-domain knowledge creation in academic research. Systems biology is an emerging field in which scientists combine laboratory experiments and computational modeling to capture system level phenomena that explain how cancer develops. Findings from an 18-month field study at two top-ranked US research universities suggest that scientists collaborated to make two diverse domain-specific practices converge around the dimensions of focus and magnitude. I call this process practice blurring and identify three microprocesses – absorbing, directing and rescaling. The conclusion that cross-domain knowledge creation requires the blurring of scientific approaches has important implications for the literature on knowledge creation, innovation process, and practice change.