Question

Please observe people having lunch in a cafeteria for about 60 minutes. Observe not only what people are doing but what material signifiers of this community (and others) they are holding, wearing, using, or talking about. You can talk to people, but the main objective is to observe and explore. Write a passage with consideration of following questions:

• What happened at the activity? Include sights, sounds, materials, tastes, memories.
• What did you learn about inclusion and exclusion?
• Do etiquette or social norms play a role in the actions of those you are observing?
• How you felt during the activity.
• How people responded to you as an observer.
• Did your presence (and the fact that you were observing) influenced the activity

Answer 1

At the activity, there were students in the cafeteria, some just grabbing the lunch and eating out, others sat and had proper lunch. Most of the students were indulged in talking and did not pay attention to the food, maybe because they couldn't interact during the classes or any other reason. A minor part of students were indulged in their mobile phones but most of them just interacted with each other. There was a lot of noise in the cafeteria. The atmosphere was very jolly, everyone was laughing and shouting. Yes etiquettes do play a major role in the actions , since they were students they respected when a faculty or a professor passed by. As an observer, people responded to me observing them as quite normal and they did not pay much attention.