This paper is based on a user-centric innovation project, Free2Ride, which is seen as an example of community interaction that overcomes boundaries. Free2Ride aimed at developing a piece of ICT safety equipment consisting of a sender (on the horse) and a receiver (application in a smartphone) to be used by equestrian club members during their everyday riding activities. We will answer the research question of what the characteristics of a boundary dialogue in user-centric innovation activities are. The aim of the paper is to propose a model describing the characteristics of boundary dialogue in user-centric innovation that involve different communities of practices such as ICT developers, users and researchers. We applied a combination of research approaches consisting of action research and engaged scholarship approach. The theoretical framework for analyzing our findings is communities of practices with a specific interest in boundary spanning and learning dialogues. Our contribution is a model describing the characteristics of boundary dialogues in user-centric innovation. An important element of that model is the mental wandering, inwards and outwards, by core members in a community. We discuss the temporal as well as the symbolic nature of the mental wandering during the boundary dialogue in user-centric innovation activities. © (2012) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved.