By observing the process of finding somewhere to sit, I gained insights into how to make the process more efficient and ultimately more friendly for the community. Although menial, finding somewhere to sit is an important task we take for granted everyday. Factors that make it hard to find somewhere to sit—how crowded it is, poorly distributed tables, low number of seats—deters people from the process. Thus, in order to have a populous student center, the ease with which someone finds a seat is an important factor. Additionally, by choosing such a simple task, I was able to primarily focus on the people completing it. This clarified the factors that influence the task. By considering what influences people to complete such an everyday task, it becomes interesting to consider what the appropriate role of technology would be in the process, if any. Furthermore, the popularity and visibility of the location allowed me to be exposed to a variety of people—a conglomeration of majors, ages, and styles. Moreover, the universality of searching for a seat at the student center further invited this diversity. Diversity was important to the ethnography because the focus of the study was the general student body as opposed to a subsection.
I sat downstairs at Curry at a table next to the various food vendors and observed people trying to find a seat. Because it was around dinnertime, it was relatively crowded. Many of the people sitting down and looking for seats were there to eat. Many were eating food from the fast-food shops at the center, and others were eating food they appeared to have packed. Although many were with friends, there was a noteworthy number of people sitting alone. Those who were eating alone were primarily on their laptops or phones, making it unclear as to whether they were doing homework or entertaining themselves. However, the individuals who appeared to be doing work were sitting alone and were not eating. As for the age of people there, there seemed to be a mix of early 20s-late 20s, but few older than this. The few people who seemed over 30 were dressed professionally, which led me to believe they were probably employees of the university. A large number of the people who were looking for a seat came alone, while majority people who were seated seemed to be in groups of 2-3. There did not seem to be groups larger than 3.
I sat downstairs at Curry at a table next to the various food vendors and observed people trying to find a seat. Because it was around dinnertime, it was relatively crowded. Many of the people sitting down and looking for seats were there to eat. Many were eating food from the fast-food shops at the center, and others were eating food they appeared to have packed. Although many were with friends, there was a noteworthy number of people sitting alone. Those who were eating alone were primarily on their laptops or phones, making it unclear as to whether they were doing homework or entertaining themselves. However, the individuals who appeared to be doing work were sitting alone and were not eating. As for the age of people there, there seemed to be a mix of early 20s-late 20s, but few older than this. The few people who seemed over 30 were dressed professionally, which led me to believe they were probably employees of the university. A large number of the people who were looking for a seat came alone, while majority people who were seated seemed to be in groups of 2-3. There did not seem to be groups larger than 3.
The individuals that were observed were able-bodied and thus did not have any sight impairments; for this reason, they did not appear to rely on artifacts in the process of finding a seat. However, once they sat down, many of the people who were there alone had on headphones and were on their phones and laptops. Because it was dinnertime, eating was the reason why many people were at Curry. Therefore, food from the fast-food vendors, Tupperware, and silverware were a few of the artifacts of this activity.
The first individual I interviewed was a white male who appeared to be in his early-mid 30s. He was dressed in professional clothing, which is why I do not believe that he was a student. I observed him come into Curry, grab food from UBurger, and then find a seat. He zigzagged around the right part of the room, and settled once he found a vacant, large round table near the back. He then pulled out his laptop and was on it while he was eating. He did not have any other papers on the table, which is why I could not determine whether or not he was doing work. I first asked him what criteria he used to determine his seat, and he responded saying he wanted to sit somewhere that was not too noisy. He said that he had been there to eat only a few times before and does not recollect sitting at that particular seat. Even though the center was crowded around dinnertime, he thought that finding a seat was a pretty easy process and he cannot think of anything that could make it easier.
Afterwards, interviewed a white female who seemed like she was in her late 20s. She was sitting alone, eating a hamburger—not on her phone and laptop—and I had not observed her process of finding a seat. She said that her criteria of finding somewhere to sit was an empty seat that was not near other people. The woman added that she did not want to sit somewhere crowded. When I asked her if she comes in often, she says that she comes to Curry often but that she usually sits upstairs. Just like the man, she said that the process was very easy and she cannot think of anything to make it easier.
It was interesting to find out that both of these people do not usually come to Curry to eat; hence, they do not have a spot they usually sit in. Given that they do not choose their location based on habit, it becomes interesting to consider their criteria to find somewhere secluded. I learned that if people are coming to eat alone, they will generally look for somewhere that is not crowded to sit in. Other observations that I made is that even if people come in with another pair, they will try to find a large open table to sit at, as opposed to two small seats at the end of a cafeteria-like table. One example of this is when I observed a man and a woman come and choose a table with 7 empty chairs, despite the fact that majority of the seats remained vacant with them there. Thus, people like having space whether or not they are alone.
Another interesting observation I made is that individuals begin their search in the area where they finish their final task before eating; many searched the section right in front of the fast-food place where they ordered. Furthermore, people almost always search the back of the room before finding somewhere to sit, even if they sit near the front. From this I learned that people like to see all their options of where to sit before committing to one. This leads the belief that people generally employ the following step-by-step process when finding somewhere to sit: first, they walk through the region directly in front of them, looking towards the back if they fail to see any open tables there. Secondly, they walk in a zigzag motion through the area in front of them, scanning for open seats. Finally, they sit down at the first open table near the back if there is one.
A couple conditions that were not observed were whether a group of more than 3 employs the same method for finding a place to sit and how the time of day would impact the purpose and thus type of people at the center. Additionally, it would be interesting to see if and at what point people give up on finding a seat if it was crowded. On the flip side, if there was barely anyone at Curry, would people still gravitate towards finding a vacant table towards the back? The effect that these variations have on the process of finding somewhere to sit in Curry would be interesting to observe when determining how to make the process more efficient.