Post-It to Permanent

I walked into the library, half eager and hopeful that the signs we had
placed the weeks prior had made an impact on the metrics we had decided
on. The other half was hesitant, worried about walking into the space and
finding that our signs had been trashed the night before by a custodian.

I took a quick glance from a distance and saw that our brightly colored
post-it notes were nowhere to be found. I took a seat by the lounge chairs
facing each other and waited for the others in the group to arrive.

Ryan joined me shortly afterwards, and after I mentioned our prototype was
gone we both sat with a slight look of defeat on our faces. How were we
going to measure the success of a prototype that got scrapped?

Caitlin came over, excited to show us something —

She took us over to the west end of the collaborative space and pointed at
where our post-it notes used to be. There, instead of our makeshift,
propped up sticky notes, was a laminated sign that matched the color
scheme found on the rest of the library signage. It read, “Brady
Collaborative Space — Collaboration and socialization are permitted in
this space. Quiet study space is available on Floors 4–8”

It felt validating at first. It was as if our prototype had been iterated
by library staff who thought it would be helpful for defining the space as
a social one. We looked around the tables and saw that there were indeed
more people grouped together, talking and sharing notebooks.

Before we patted ourselves on the back though, we quickly noted that A/B
testing would prove faulty due to the nature of the school’s quarter
system. During week 8, the second round of midterms, it would make plenty
of sense that a space like this would be more heavily utilized — students
who struggled on the first round of exams might be seeking help from
others who understand the material better. This was all speculation but
brought doubt on our operationalization of collaboration and in turn, the
validity of our observations as evidence for an effective prototype.

The week before we had interviews and observations that indicated three
things about our initial prototype —

1. Many people are aware that this is a collaborative space, even without
the prototype installed
2. Some people felt the signs helped them feel more comfortable being
talkative

And most importantly,
3. We noticed that nobody had read the sign and decided to leave the space
immediately in search of a quieter space appropriate for silent studying.

It’s too soon to tell whether the iterated prototype made or will make a
difference. Even after installation of our first prototype, the sticky
notes didn’t create enough impact to drive silent studiers away from the
collaborative space. Most likely, it just increased awareness for those
who weren’t aware of the space’s label or made students slightly more
comfortable socializing in the space.

The small displays still do have the potential for some impact. But due to
the nature of the quarter system and the short time-span of the project,
we don’t have an appropriate metric to go by. Our hope is that the small
signs plant a seed of thought that will eventually draw more collaborative
students and drive away students looking to study alone.

This week, we will be discussing redefining our metrics so that we may
potentially gather meaningful data that explains the prototype and its
effects better. In addition, we’ve reached out to Kymberly Goodson from
the Geisel Learning Commons, who we found out was responsible for the new table signs, in addition to the larger task of “providing pleasant and
well-equipped spaces in which to study, think, develop new ideas,
collaborate with others, or just rest, read a good book, or surf the net”.
Stay tuned~