Blog Entry #4: If I Were An Ethnography REDUX

After having talked through our ethnography ideas with Dr. Hammond and her friend (attribution to follow), we have a clearer idea of what we would like to propose as an ethnographical study.

Instead of observing only study habits on the first floor of Evans Library, we are planning on observing the first floor of Evans Library as a whole to see how people interact with in a space that has been traditionally set aside for study purposes.

The transformation of this space from one purely geared towards study to a more multi-modal space is made immediately apparent by the addition of an coffee bar at the front entrance. This had originally been a separate building, closed off from the library: now the walls have been opened and the entire first floor of the library has been revamped. There are plenty of tables at which to socialize or study in the coffee bar area; study couches, some with tables, just behind the coffee bar; and a new wing of modular study desks and individual chair and couches at various locations throughout.

Our original idea of observing study habits was much too restrictive, as Dr. Hammond's friend (attribution to follow) pointed out. How would we know if people were studying or not? Is Facebook an indicator of a study break or idle passing of time between classes? Should we be interrupting people who might be studying to ascertain the aim of their dubious activities? Instead, we are going to observe interactions in the library in order to evaluate the space and its culture, if you will, to better understand how the modern college student understands the first floor of the library. Some things we might observe could include:

• How many people are alone, or in groups of two, three, or more?
• How many people are interacting with technology, e.g. cell phone, portable music player, computer?
• Does apparent group size have any influence on technology use, i.e. where is the interaction focused?
• What are the levels of interaction in the different perceived areas of the space?

This study will allow us to interact in the environment while we observe, which will hopefully contribute to a more organic study rather than something more akin to an experiment. We will also be able to reflexively examine our own interaction in the space with each other and others as we observe.

All in all our goal is to try to enumerate the interactions on the first floor of Evans Library to discover how the space and its use has transformed from the traditional concept of a library.