The Rotunda - University of Washington Health Sciences Common Area as an Information Ground
Physical setting
The Rotunda is an open common area located in the Health Sciences complex on the University of Washington's main campus. The primary central seating area is located at the center of a circular "hub" that features a 2-story vaulted ceiling with skylights, windows, and glass double doors along the north and south walls. This area includes approximately 30 tables with 4 chairs each, all of which may be moved and configured according to patron's preferences. A full-service cafeteria is located along the east wall, along with a vending machine area and an espresso cart. A print/copy shop and ATM are located along the west wall. It is a light, airy, and open environment where people come and go freely. Despite the fact that it serves as the primary seating area for patrons of the cafeteria, its use is not restricted in any way, and access does not require food purchase.
People and Social Aspects
The people who frequent the Rotunda as "regulars" are typically students, faculty, and staff of the University of Washington's health sciences and life sciences programs. Typical "ad-hoc visitors" to the Rotunda include visiting faculty, guest lecturers, prospective students, and occasionally sales representatives or external consultants.
Although the Rotunda is essentially set up as an area for dining and taking care of routine "to-do's" like getting cash, making copies, mailing a parcel, or making a phone call, it serves as an informal and comfortable environment for people to gather and socialize. It is not a quiet place, and a wide variety of conversations may be overheard at the Rotunda anytime throughout a typical Monday through Friday work day (approximately 7am to 6pm). People sit alone to study, read, work on their laptops, etc; in pairs to chat, sometimes eating or drinking coffee but often not; and in small groups to talk or collaborate on an assignment, sometimes pushing tables together to accommodate groups in the 6-8 person range (groups larger than 10 people are typically not seen in the Rotunda). During "peak volume" times (e.g., lunch), it's common for people to share tables, and taking an empty seat at a partially-full table is not uncommon - the norm is that most people ask first, although "rejections" are rare.
Types and Directions of Information Shared
Conversations that may be overheard at the Rotunda range from the purely social (e.g., so did you hear the latest about Brad and Angelina?), to work-related (e.g., "I can't believe that a-hole screwed up the reagents again..."), to collaboration around homework assignments (e.g., "So you do the second problem set using R? I used STATA, and ...") to discussions of theory (e.g., "I'm not so sure that I buy the expectancy theory arguments in this case but the transtheoretical model of behavior change states that..."). However, even given this broad range of conversational topics and objectives, the social environment is such that it would be highly unusual to witness a formally facilitated discussion or presentation in this environment. Even study groups that meet in the Rotunda typically appear to adopt a casual tone and approach to their discussions. Information is shared in multiple directions, and patterns vary widely by group.
Origin of Information Incidents
It's difficult to imagine anyone passing out a meeting agenda and plowing through a list of issues, action items, and status reports in the Rotunda! However, that's not to say that people don't have specific agendas or pre-determined objectives for their Rotunda encounters. In many of the health and life sciences communities at the UW, it's common to end an email thread with "let's meet at the Rotunda and talk about it". So some information incidents witnessed at the Rotunda are clearly extensions or continuations of pre-existing incidents, while others are truly spontaneous (e.g., "Hey Jim, mind if I join you? So what did you think of that HIPAA presentation yesterday...").
The Rotunda also serves as a robust information ground for both actively and passively sharing information on the content and quality of classes, and various instructors' teaching competencies. It's common to engage in or overhear a Rotunda conversation that starts as a casual discussion of "How's it going in your X class?", which evolves into a discussion of either the instructor (or, in the case of faculty, a discussion of the students), the course content, difficulty, workload, quality, or any combination of these.
Other information incidents in this environment are perhaps best viewed as opportunistic manifestations of attempts to fulfill information scanning needs (e.g., "Hey Jim, what've you been up to? Writing a grant, you say? Hmmm, are you guys proposing any PDA development?"). The Rotunda can serve as an excellent place to get the latest scoop on research activities. This information is typically shared freely as the by-product of a more casual (socially-oriented) conversation, a key qualifying characteristic of information grounds. The same can be said of sharing information regarding upcoming seminars, guest lectures, and other presentations.
The Role of Technology vis a vis Information Sharing
The vast majority of Rotunda patrons carry a cellular phone and/or PDA, and many also carry laptops. However, given the number of people typically present in the Rotunda at any given time, the prevalence of cell phone chatter is relatively low. Perhaps this is due to poor reception within the facility, or perhaps it is a facet of the culture that inhibits telephone conversation.
The Rotunda is also wifi-enabled. Although people sitting alone can often be seen working on their laptops and/or PDAs, pairs and groups of people sitting together in the Rotunda rarely have their laptops out of their cases, and it is relatively uncommon to witness people sitting together but all working independently on their laptops or PDAs.
Both of these characteristics indicate that at the Rotunda, "conversation is king". Identification of the specific elements of the Rotunda's culture or physical setting that inhibit technology use at the expense of conversation would make for an interesting study, especially given the technophilic nature of the UW community.
Jim Tufano, The Information School, University of Washington