Major Findings

1.) Physical Space

• 2 elevators, 10 floors
  • 7 residential floors
  • 1-2 monitors in the lobby of each residential floor
• Apartment-style feel, sections closed off
• Proximity/Floors
  • Intra-floor interactions are more common than inter-floor interactions
• Heavy doors impose physical limits on socialization between residents
  • Difficult to prop open the door (open door is a cue that people are home and open to socializing
  • Makes it difficult to run into people (serendipity)
• Building access (non-residents)

2.) Current Social Atmosphere

• “Grounded, older, calmer” community
• 450 upper-level undergraduate students
  • Come with already formed group of friends
  • Specific goals/priorities 
• Physical space contribute to the quietness, “feels like no one is around”
• Focus on international “citizenship” and global outreach
• Meetings and events
  • Required monthly hall meetings (“forced”)
  • Poorly attend social events
• Social Hot Spots:
  • Lounges
  • Tower room
  • Community Center
  • Dining hall
  • Media gateways

3.) Window vs. Monitor

"I used to read it all the time at the beginning of the year,
but then I realized it was always the same content.
Now I just look out the window.” - U02

• 7 Residential Floors
• Elevator wait times can vary from 0-40 seconds
• Most people are wait alone (look around)
• Group of people
  • Talk to people they know, not strangers
• Lobby/Community Center
  • 35% of those entering caught elevators after waiting 0-3 seconds.
  • Majority of people exit the elevator without stopping
  • People like to check out what’s happening in the front desk area (there is a big screen TV)
  • Nobody watches the two monitors
  • Don’t use their cellphones while waiting for the elevator.
• Static Content
  • Standard template, a lot of text, content doesn’t change
  • Graphics are small (flyers)
  • Attempt to make it dynamic with twitter feeds and fading
• Useless Twitter Feeds
• Process for posting is cumbersome

4.) Meeting People

• NQ Residents indicated that they would be interested in meeting people if they knew a person lived in NQ
• Those having trouble meeting people, claim the top reasons are:
  • It’s hard to find people with shared interests
  • People tend to stick with existing groups of friends
• NQ Residents are interested in:
  • Sharing interests, groups, major, announcements
  • Finding study partners
  • Recruiting people for student organizations
  • Finding people to participate in impromptu activities
• NQ Residents are NOT interested in sharing:
  • Personal photos
  • Private comments & conversations
  • Personal information
• NQ residents currently meet people
  • On their floor, monthly hall meetings (proximity)
  • In class or student groups (affiliation)
  • Through other friends/significant other (friends of friends)
• Approaching someone
  • In a physical space, after you see someone a few times and you mutually acknowledge each other, it’s easier to start a conversation
  • Indicate they are open to conversation by propping their door open
  • Don’t feel they can just join a group of people playing a video games on the projector
  • Want the other person to feel comfortable about being approached
• “Creeping”?
  • People claim to be more comfortable looking at profiles when others are around, however they also claim to be less likely to interact when others are around

5.) Shared Interests

• Unusual shared interests are key motivator for interaction
  • A public display of info may discourage inclusion of more unusual / controversial information
• General facts residents use to categorize people
  • Floor
  • Age (undergrad, grad, etc.)
  • Major
• Focus dependent on user’s life goals (Socializing, interests, career, academics)
• Things residents are interested in knowing about others living in NQ
  • Interests
  • Values
  • Majors / schools
  • Passions
  • Groups involved in
  • Classes

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Design Implications

1. Facilitating Social Interaction

• There is a lack of social interaction
• Finding ways to motivate people to interact
• Desire/Openness of residents to take advantage of opportunities to connect with people with shared interests
• Residential elevator lobbies are an ideal location

2. Content must be New, Relevant, and Meaningful

• It must be obvious at a quick glance that content is new
• Provide a format that elicits info that is meaningful to residents
• It should be easy to post content and interact with screens
• Display content most relevant to the people standing in front of the screen
• Help people find common unique interests

3. Time Considerations

• Interactions must be quick and continued “on-the-go”
• Screens must be up long enough for people to interact with them

4. A Balance between Structure and Free Expression

• Allow some flexibility in the system so students have the opportunity to express themselves
• Provide structure so we can collect data and use it to connect people

5. Allow Different Levels of Social Interaction

• Allow privacy/blocking settings
• Design interactions that make the people who post things and the people who respond to things comfortable
• The design should allow comfortable interactions while alone or with other people there
• Take into account current social norms for meeting people in dorms

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