Abstract for: Are SD dashboards boundary objects, too?

System dynamics (SD) dashboards are increasingly used in participatory modelling, yet their role as boundary objects remains underexplored. Boundary objects facilitate communication across diverse stakeholder groups, particularly in complex, multi-sectoral contexts. This study investigates whether interactive SD dashboards can serve such a function, focusing on their capacity to support shared understanding and knowledge integration in collaborative settings involving stakeholders from the waste–energy sector in Helsingborg, Sweden. While traditional SD visual tools like causal loop diagrams are recognised as boundary objects, dashboards introduce new dynamics through interactivity and abstraction. Their potential to support interpretive flexibility while maintaining coherence across stakeholder perspectives is not well understood. This study addresses this gap by examining how dashboard features and workshop interactions influence the expression of five affordances—tangibility, mutability, analysability, associability, and traceability—within participatory modelling workshops conducted as part of the WECOS project. The study employs a qualitative, longitudinal design, analysing transcripts from four dashboard-focused workshops involving stakeholders from municipalities, utilities, waste handlers, and producer responsibility organisations. Thematic analysis is guided by Franco’s (2013) affordance framework, with initial AI-assisted coding used to identify patterns. A codebook is under development to ensure consistency and capture emergent themes. The analysis focuses on how participants engage with dashboards to explore scenarios, critique assumptions, and negotiate shared understanding. Preliminary findings suggest that dashboards function as dynamic boundary objects. Tangibility and mutability were most frequently expressed, supporting shared reference and interactive exploration. Associability increased over time, aided by the introduction of a causal loop diagram, while analysability became more tacit as participants gained familiarity. Traceability remained limited, likely due to dashboard design constraints. These early insights highlight a developmental trajectory in affordance use, warranting further analysis to confirm and elaborate these patterns. initial analysis, critical assessment of drafts and editing - also explained in text