Linking Boundary Organizations to Coproduce Actionable Knowledge: A Case Study of Ice Forecasting for Great Lakes Navigation

Abstract Navigating the Great Lakes during icy conditions poses significant safety challenges for the shipping sector. Available ice information is uncertain and fragmented, and navigators must seek out multiple sources for information at the spatial and temporal scales they require, if the information is available at all. Navigators have expressed that they require more highly localized and easily usable information for current and predicted ice conditions to support decision-making. In this study, we seek to meet this information need by applying a boundary organization chain (BOC) approach to facilitate the coproduction of an actionable short-term Great Lakes ice forecast. We focus on two main aspects of this research: 1) producing an actionable decision-support product that meets the needs of Great Lakes ice navigators and 2) contributing to the knowledge coproduction scholarship on BOCs by providing a detailed account of our methods to create a BOC and coproduce an actionable ice forecast. Our results support incorporating existing communities of practice (COPs) into BOCs to enhance the coproduction of actionable knowledge, specifically through increasing their complementarity and embeddedness. COPs are informal networks of users that meet voluntarily to share knowledge and develop professional skills, which we found naturally builds the coproduction capacities of participants (e.g., embeddedness and complementarity). We also find that COP members are well positioned to disseminate coproduced knowledge across wider user groups. Significance Statement In this study, we identified critical gaps in available ice information to support Great Lakes winter navigation, including predictions of current ice concentration and thickness at localized spatial scales and predicted ice movement. We coproduced an ice forecast with a format that is accessible and usable for navigators, while increasing crew and vessel safety by enabling more informed decisions regarding where and when to travel. We also contributed to theoretical understanding of how boundary organization chains work in context to coproduce actionable knowledge. This is a burgeoning area of research with a small number of empirical studies. By expanding both its thematic breadth (e.g., ice forecasting) and methodological approach (an in-depth account of our engagement efforts), we believe we critically contribute to the existing literature.