Sarah Fetzer Information Seeking LIS688: Human Information

Behavior Observation Week Behavior

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INTRODUCTION
This week I chose to observe two different retail environments in the days leading up to the
second of two large hurricanes to hit Charlotte, NC this year. I wanted to know if the context of
having been through Hurricane Florence, and its relatively low amount of damage for Charlotte,
would impact the information behavior of people as we approached Hurricane Michael. These
observations took place at a Costco Wholesale Store and a Harris Teeter. Each took
approximately ninety minutes and each produced two especially interesting instances of HIB
dealing with my previously stated premise or a similar premise. The text Looking for
Information: a Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior was used for
reference throughout this experience as it provides HIB concepts and models as well as a review
of previously published relevant literature.
COSTCO
The customer was a middle-aged woman pushing a mostly empty cart through the main
aisle of a Costco wholesale store in suburban North Carolina. The customer approached a man
who appeared to be in his early twenties and was wearing a red Costco vest. The young
employee was engaged in restocking cardboard cases filled with bags of trail mix. The customer
asked the employee where the bottled water was stored as she had been unable to locate the
correct aisle in the large store.
The employee asked conversationally whether or not the woman was preparing for the
upcoming hurricane. The woman stated that she was and that one could never be too safe when
preparing for inclement weather. The woman told the man that she had lived in Charlotte for
more than forty years and that she remembered Hurricane Hugo “like it was yesterday.” (As a
note to the reader, Hurricane Hugo happened in 1989, nearly three decades ago now.) She
recalled at great length what it was like to be caught without power for two weeks and she
remembered that the worst thing of all was running out of fresh water after the first few days.
She remembered having to boil tap water and waiting for it to cool down to get anything at all
done and that she would have given anything to have access to bottles of fresh water. Now, she
concluded, whenever a major hurricane is forecast to hit Charlotte, she comes and buys enough
fresh water just to make sure. She didn't want to get caught again like she did in Hurricane Hugo,
even if it means she’ll be left with many unneeded bottles of water later.
The stocker, though sympathetic to the older woman’s tale, was clearly not particularly
interested in the lessons of hurricanes past. He did his best to nod and smile throughout the
customer’s lamentations of Hugo so that he can go back to restocking trail mix and the customer
could purchase her bottled water and be on her way.
I found this to be an interesting case of HIB where the subject was not necessarily
primarily focused on seeking information but was very focused on sharing information that they
considered to be of great import. While the customer was certainly seeking to fulfill her needs
and purchase a case or two of bottled water, this was not the interesting portion of the
interaction. The interesting portion of the interaction was the customer’s drive to share her story
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of being trapped in a previous devastating hurricane and impart information that she felt might
be helpful to the young employee.
While the customer’s dramatic and likely unreliable retelling of Hugo might have left an
impact on me as an observer, it very likely that it did not leave a lasting impact on the young
employee who just wanted to finish restocking his trail mix. Even in the context of Charlotte
facing another potentially catastrophic hurricane, this information doesn’t really help anyone
prepare for the current threat of Hurricane Michael The young man who she told her story to is,
if nothing else, now more likely to blunt information about the hardships experienced by those
who lived through Hurricane Hugo. The young man will also be extremely unlikely to relate this
information to his current situation, as the context of Hurricane Hugo is likely to have occurred
before his memory.
A male customer of indeterminate age approached the man working behind the counter in
the center of the optical department. He pulled a yellow piece of paper from his pocket and set it
on the counter. The customer stated that he had ordered a new set of contacts one week
previously but had not yet received a call stating that they had been received. The man working
behind the counter took the yellow piece of paper and turned to the computer sitting on the
counter. After a brief interlude of typing in some information he informed the customer that the
shipment had been delayed. The customer immediately became agitated. He raised his voice loud
enough that he could be heard very clearly from the next aisle.
The customer stated that he had been told that his contacts would arrive within 8-10 days
of his order and that he found any delay in shipping unacceptable. (He was rather less tactful in
his language than this.) The man behind the optical department counter calmly explained that not
only did 8-10 days refer to business day but that many shipments were currently being delayed
due to the forecasts for the upcoming Hurricane Michael. The customer continued to argue
stating that he had no idea why mail carriers could not deliver his contacts “when all we are
going to get anyway is some rain.” The man behind the optical counter handed back the yellow
piece of paper while explaining that though the Charlotte area may not be hit particularly hard by
this hurricane, their optical deliveries came from all over the East Coast and that the delivery
company likely wanted to make sure that all of its staff were safe during the storm. The customer
left, still agitated but at least considerably quieter.
The incredibly interesting thing about this instance of HIB was its specific usage of blunting
as it refers to context. The customer was able to gather information very successfully in a few
different contexts. He was able to gather information successfully about his contact order by
providing sufficient information in the form of his original order form. He was able to gather
information about the incoming weather disaster and its likely impact on his particular situation
in that Charlotte was likely to only receive heavy rains.
However, the customer also managed to spectacularly blunt a few vital pieces of information
that ended up being relevant to him. The customer managed to blunt the fact that delivery time
was likely to take place not just in 8-10 days but rather in 8-10 business days which is something
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that was likely learned at the same time as how he could gain later information on his order with
original order form. Second, though he managed to learn how Hurricane Michael would be likely
to directly impact him, he blunted similarly available information on how it would be impacting
the entire rest of the country. This speaks to the man not lacking the skills to find or comprehend
information but rather having an extremely self-centered worldview.

HARRIS TEETER
Stockers talking to managers about scheduling and laughing about hurricane, blunting
information due to letdown that was Hurricane Florence

Two women in Khaki pants and Harris Teeter polo shirts were rearranging a shelf filled with
plastic containers of baked goods at Harris Teeter Their conversation is loosely recreated below.
They are referred to as 1 and 2.
1: Do you think we’ll get time off tomorrow?
2: For the Hurricane?
1: Yes
2: No, they gave us [time off for] Florence and that was a mess. All it did was rain and it was no
use closing everything down and panicking the whole town.
1: I don’t know, Panovich was saying that [this one] is going to be different.
2: They’re never different. We’ll be here tomorrow.
A few notes of context for the casual reader:
• Hurricane Florence caused major shutdowns in the Charlotte metro area but
comparatively little damage.
• Brad Panovich is a popular weatherman in Charlotte, NC.

Observing this conversation taught me a few things about context. In these few dozen exchanged
words, I was able to tell that woman 2 was basing her blunting of current weather forecasts and
information on the anti-climactic Hurricane Florence of only a few weeks prior. I was also able
to tell that woman 1 was not engaging in any blunting at all but was rather choosing to gather
information not only from local weatherman Brad Panovich but also from her coworker about
what the weather was likely to bring. While I don’t have any brilliant or powerful conclusions
about this particular observation, I think it is extremely interesting that even in the face of the
extreme blunting of woman 2, woman 1 continues to gather information and rely on other
sources.
Sarah Fetzer Information Seeking LIS688: Human Information
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Sarah Fetzer Information Seeking LIS688: Human Information
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References
Case, Donald Owen, and Lisa M. Given. Looking for Information: a Survey of Research on
Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior. 4th ed., Emerald, 2016.