Food Court as an Information Ground
Eating is a necessity and many of us eat three times a day, sometimes more. By nourishing our bodies with food, we energize ourselves and energy from the calories can help us to get through the day. Most of the time we do not do this eating activity alone; we have friends, family, co-workers and even strangers to go out and dine with. A common casual place that draws a large crowd of diverse people together is a food court. Food courts offer a variety of choices that cater to a wide audience. At the same time, they provide an open area for talking to others and facilitating information exchange both verbally through conversations and nonverbally by watching other’s behaviors. The food court we chose to observe is located within the Northgate Mall in Seattle.
A food court has a large open area with tables and chairs that provide a space so that people can sit down and eat anywhere they wish. Because of the open space that is made, it is impossible to provide complete privacy to dinners. However, when an individual or group sits down, a feel of a semi-private environment is created by the noisy atmosphere inhibiting sound from traveling too far, keeping conversations relatively private. Therefore, the food court can allow people to enjoy a social atmosphere while feeling comfortable in their own personal space.
Restaurants in the food court surround the area with large menus and advertisements to entice the customers with tasty bites of food. When people purchase their food, they exchange order information with the cashier, but the exchange is suddenly cut off once the ordering process is complete. However, we noticed unexpected information exchange between a Sprint employee and his customers. In an interview with the employee, he described to our group how customers often start conversation about non-business issues such as sports, politics, weather, etc. while they are waiting.
Information does not always have to be verbally exchanged, but it can be visually exchanged as well. Because the food court is within the mall, the vision of stores lingered not too far from the eating area. Flat panel television screens that face every corner of the food court were displaying commercial programming and brief news reports. In many cases, we found that people who were there by themselves often watched the advertisements on the TV screens, read the newspapers, books or watch other people as they move about in the food court and eat. The sparking of new conversations in the area amongst single people was sparse and was unseen.
After observing the above activities of the food court, our group came up with several technological and physical improvements for the food court to serve as a useful information ground. In a society moving towards using the internet and technology as primary means of communication, we felt public computer kiosks could better facilitate information exchange and communication for mall-goers. We also thought an interactive directory system would be more useful than the current directory which is a traditional poster board. The setups of the tables are rectangular and are laid out in rows. We thought round tables would better facilitate spontaneous conversation between strangers and promote serendipitous information exchange.
Overall, we were surprised at the lack of casual information exchange between strangers and the overwhelming amount of information that appeared as advertising. Despite these observations, the food court can serve as an information ground for people in groups and the employees that work there so that eating and serving can be more gratifying experience.
Written by: Eric Wong and Clarke Freeman
Group members: Eric Wong, Philip Phung, Sandra Li, Clarke Freeman, Isaac Elliot