Mini-Ethnographic Study

The third floor of the Massey Business Center is a quiet place. Students go there to study, work on group projects, or just relax for a little while. But the quiet, study atmosphere is a thin veneer that masks the multitude of action occurring every minute. For those who are willing to pay attention to subtler details, it's as busy as the cafeteria.

To someone passing through the room, it appears that everyone is simply engaged in their work. But upon closer inspection there are a multitude of activities going on. I observed people studying, but also eating snacks, talking to their friends, texting, and even falling asleep for a bit. But even beyond these activities were the odd temporary relations between people in the room. There was an obvious but unspoken agreement by anyone entering the room that he would be quiet, and when anyone spoke, it was only quietly to people near them. Also, whenever someone entered the room, there was a slight increase in tension - where would this new person sit? During my observations, no one ever invaded anyone's space when choosing a new seat; if there were a group of chairs that had even one person in it, no one would sit with them. The smaller tables filled up much quicker than the larger tables.

Once established in their "area," though, the action did not stop. Though most people seemed committed to doing their work, every now and then you could see a smile or a twitch or a shift in posture that indicated otherwise. Perhaps that person on the computer who just smiled was watching a Youtube video. Maybe that person who just slumped down in their chair is frustrated with a passage they are reading. These and many other things gave little hints to the variety of unseen, unheard activity.