Ethnography Results, Week 6

Paola Garza

March 21th, 2011 (Tuesday)

5:15-7:15pm

·         Computers:  ( M 1 P 4 )

·         Visiting: 7 (1 group of 7)

·         Alone  (I could see from where I was sitting, including me): 3

·         Two or more  (I could see from where I was sitting):   5 groups

·         Guys: 7

·         Girls: 15

5:45pm – 6

6:15pm – 20

6:45pm – 30

7:15pm – 28

7:45pm – 15

My Location:

I was sitting in the living room space, next to the back door. There is a new attraction to the room, a mannequin sitting on the ceiling bar. It looks like they just put it up because many students come in and make reference of it.

The Employees: I saw many people having dinner, so I noticed more employees going around bring in the food. Something I have noticed throughout the weeks is that if they are not bringing food, they do not really notice there are things they need to pick up from the tables.

The Customers:

There wasn’t much activity or noise when I first got here. I guess it is because of the time, it was too early. Students started getting here right after 6:00pm. However, suddenly many more students than I expected started to show up.

There was a group of around 23 students meeting there. Students just started getting there, some of them sitting down others just standing up around the couches. I kept counting them, but more and more continued getting there. I decided to wait until they started their meeting so I could a concrete count, however there was no formal meeting started. I did notice something weird, one of the girls had a money bag, and as students were getting there she would give them money for they to go buy some coffee and/or pastries.  Some of the students gathering came in with subway sandwiches but in addition bought something from the coffee shop. Around 7:30pm they started leaving, until only a few of them stayed behind.

There were three couples of students, all with computers and study materials out. Around 6:10 another group of students came in. With study materials and sat close to where the big group started gathering. But they changed from there to a different space right away. They must of thought it was too noisy . Two more groups of couples came in. They both went to the couches, with computers and study materials.

With the exception of the big group of students, majority of the other patrons were there with study materials as usual. Something different this time was that I did not see many students with headphones on. Maybe because this place invites students to come in and study in groups, not so many individuals students.