Jiaqiang Guo

CS5340
guo.jiaqia@husky.neu.edu
https://hcijiaqiang.weebly.com/

The topic of the project of our team is the Husky Dictionary. This project is mainly intended to solve
the problems of the Northeastern events system. In this ethnography research, I choose to observe
two lecture events to see people's behaviors and actions. I think this research of ethnography gives
us a deeper insight into Northeastern students, our target group of people, and is helpful for us to
improve our project.
There are some biases which I will point out before observing the participants who participate in the
activity, interviewing them, and analyzing the data:
1. There are participants leave the activity before the end of the activity.
2. Participants will be more and more unfocused with the activity progressing.
3. There are some participants positively join the activity but there are some participants negatively
participate in the activity.
4. Participants rarely interact with the people they do not familiar with.
I observe the lecture for 1 hour and 45 mins, this is a lecture about Medical. The activity includes a
welcome, lecture, panel discussion, and reception.
The note of observation:
Before the open of the door:
Some participants or managers were coming. Some of them stood together (2-4 people form a group)
and talked with the people they familiar with. Besides, some people stood alone and played their
smartphones. I could approximately recognize the managers, faculties, and students because they
have different dressings and ages but separating them just through observation is inaccurate.
After doors open:
Participants walked in and found a place to seat down. The activity held on a space which is not very
big. The place approximately only can contain 50 people. There were no too many people. At the
beginning of the activity, some little people talked with other people and almost all participants focused
on the lecturer. Some people bring their laptops into the classroom however other people do not bring
a laptop into the classroom.
0-20min after activity beginning:
Some students played their smartphones frequently, some participants listened to the lecture and
typed on the laptop (I do not know what they write down on the laptop), and some participants just
seated there and listened to the lecture but do not open their laptops. Plus, there was a little participant
to leave the classroom, and some participants were arriving late. In this period, participants rarely
chatted with other people, a little participant chatted with the people they familiar with and using a very
low voice.
20-50min after activity beginning:
There was no significant variance with the first ten mins. The difference was that there were more
participants open their laptops and type something into the laptop (however I do not know what they
write down on the laptop). There was little participant who left the classroom. The people in the
classroom almost do not change.
40-70min after activity beginning:
14 participants left the classroom. 9 of 14 participants who left the classroom frequently played their
smartphones in the first 40 mins. 3 of 15 participants came back to the classroom later. More
participants communicated with other people who they are familiar with.
70min after activity beginning-end of the activity:
There were only 4 participants who left the classroom. Lecturer communicated with students more
frequently. The students who participated in communication with the lecturer are always the seven
students. The classroom became more noise than the first 70 mins. Lectures rarely introduced the
new contents after 73min from the beginning of the activity.
0-5min after end of activity:
Most of the students left the place. 2 participants talked with the lecturer, and 5 people talked together
out of the classroom.
I interviewed three participants. The first one left at 7min after the beginning of the lecture. The second
one left at 49min after the beginning of the lecture. The third one left after the end of the activity.
The interview with the first participant:
He said that he is not interested in the topic that the lecturer focuses on so he does not want to waste
time to discuss and investigate this topic. From where he gets the information about this activity, his
answer was getting the information from other students' recommendations on social App. For the
question that is he using the Northeastern events website frequently, he answered that he looked for
events on the Northeastern events website but rarely and difficult to find the event he interested in.
The interview with the second participant:
He thought he already got the most important part of the activity, and he thought the rest of the lecture
is not mattered. Therefore, he chose to leave. The activity was not required, so he could freely manage
his time. He participates in the activity because of the Northeastern website.
The interview with the third participant:
He found the activity because of the recommendation of an instructor of his course. He discussed his
interests with his instructor, then his instructor recommended this lecture to him. He said that it was
really interesting and helpful. The lecturer had a good discussion. This activity is suitable and helpful
for him. For the website of the Northeastern event, he said he sometimes looked through the websites
of the events but almost do not participate in the events on the Northeastern events website.
There is another activity I attended, this activity is about design, it includes a lecture, several penal
discussions, and a reception. Since the first 1 hour is lecture and penal discussion, I observe the
lecture and penal discussion. There are several differences with the first activity. First, there were no
seats in the activity area. Second, the activity area is far bigger than a classroom. Third, the lecture is
shorter than the first activity.
0-5min after the activity beginning:
Some participants came late. Some participants talked with their friends or the people they familiar
with. The space of holding activity was noise. A lot of participants did not focus on the lecturer but did
other things like chatting and playing mobile phone.
5-20min after the activity beginning:
Some participants left the activity. More and more participants were distractive and there were only
rare participants who focused on the lecture. There was no participant take notes.
At 20min after the activity beginning:
The lecture ended at 20min after the activity beginning. Some participants left the activity. Almost every
participant chatted with their friends. The space became noise.
20-60min after the activity beginning:
In the period of penal discussion, some people came into the activity space but some people left the
activity. 2 to 8 people grouped and discuss something. Almost no participant stood alone. Almost no
participant played a mobile phone.
According to the analysis of the observation, the choice of the space of activity impacts the user
experience. Because people relax and feel free in a bigger space. In a small space, participants are
more likely to focus on the lecturer and contents of the lecture. For the Northeastern events system,
the content of activities and events should fix with the students' interests better. In present, students
are tough to find activities and events they interested in. Plus, because of the terrible usability and lack
of events, students rarely use the Northeastern events website as their first option of looking for events
and activities.