Idea - Microbe Spreading Experiment

Referring back to the idea generating mind map that I produced earlier on, I developed an idea to print out photos of surfaces around the home that are often in contact with microbes and people and therefore carry a risk. I've found the top spots around the home that hold these potentially dangerous areas and have printed each image 5 times. I want to manipulate each image showing the same thing, differently so to show how different microbes will look or effect that area. For example I will use UV paint to represent bacteria and bleach to represent viruses. As well as my manipulation experiment I'm going to leave one of each image in the area that it was taken from, for example, I took a photo of the surface of the window sill in the bathroom so I will print this image and stick it on the surface of the window sill in the bathroom.  I asked my family not to clean these areas for one week to see if they did gather anything 'dirty' and to my surprise the results were not pleasant, I now knew that these areas would be a good source to gather microbes and visible unpleasantries. will leave the images there for a week and go back to them, seeing what visible 'muck' they have captured over this time. My logic behind the idea is that if we can see that much damage to one area then to what extent is the damage that we can't see?

The photos below are the images of the surfaces I chose to capture after they hadn't been cleaned for one week:

The image above is of the doormat leading from the inside of my front door int he hall way to the door of my living room, this mat is used multiple times everyday by people with bare feet, socks on and dirty and clean shoes. An article from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/clean-doormat-germs_n_2679820.html says: When we think of germ hot spots, we're usually imagining dirty areas inside our homes. But there's actually one place outside the house that needs a lot of attention: the welcome mat. According to Prevention magazine, our doormats are one of the dirtiest spots. And editor Rebekah George even told CBS that the germs from mats can easily creep their way inside. "You walk around, you pick up germs, then you rest your shopping bags on your welcome mat while you fish around for your keys, and you bring the bags inside and rest them on your countertops, spreading all those germs to the countertop," she said.

This image is of my windowsill in my bathroom, unfortunately my windowsill is actually white but the image has printed blue, this is because I must have had the camera set to outdoor lighting. This doesn't particularly affect my experiment but it will affect the flow in the images, as the rest fit into their environment but this one stands out. I chose to photograph the windowsill because this is where we as a family leave our toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, deodorant and other toiletries so it gathers all sorts of different things that would harvest both dangerous and harmless microbes. Because the windowsill is so cluttered with all of our things it doesn't get cleaned as often as it should. 

This photo was taken of the tiles int he bathroom located over the sink, this area often gets condensed, toothpaste dripped on it and facial hair flicked on it after my dad has used his electric shaver. The website http://www.ehow.co.uk/way_5157638_bathroom-tile-cleaning-tips.html states that: Bathroom tiles come with their own set of cleaning woes. While they might be prone to dirt and germs, and located in an environment often filled with moisture.

This image is evidently of a light switch, it's located in my hall way, it is the first light switch that you see after entering through the front door, these two stitches light up the hall at the bottom of the stairs and the hall at the top of the stairs so it is probably the most used light switch in the house as we use it every time we want to go or downstairs and with four people living in the house, that equalises to a lot of trips. The website https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/general/galleries/photo/-/13994659/the-11-germ-infested-items-you-miss-when-house-cleaning/13994661/ states that: Many hands touch the light switches in your home, making it easy to transfer bacteria from person to person. Wipe over regularly with disinfectant wipes, especially when somebody has been sick.

This image is of the kitchen floor near my cat's food bowl. Macey is a messy cat, she's constantly playing with her food and spilling it all over the floor, sometimes she will take food to different locations in the house and begin eating it there so we're constantly cleaning up after her. Near a pets food bowl is one of the dirtiest places in the home and can be very dangerous if not cleaned properly. This is the spot that my mum was most unhappy about not being able to wipe throughout my one week of none cleaning because the mess is visible unlike some of the other places I chose to photograph. When researching the germ risk surrounding pet bowls I came across this webpage http://www.halopets.com/pet-education/pet-articles/food-safety.html that said: Pet products do pose a possible infection risk to people—especially youngsters. Every year people are infected with salmonella as a result of coming into contact with dog and cat food.

This is an image of the sink, I chose to photograph the a spot that is noted for having rapid germ spread., near the drain and the taps. Water and food often hit this suface making it a feeding frenzy for bacteria. The website http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/germs-in-kitchen puts into perspective how important it is to clean surfaces often by stating: While bathrooms get a bad rap when it comes to germs, it's the kitchen that actually harbors more bacteria than any other room in the home.

And these germs -- the same ones that can cause a cold or flu to spread through a household like wildfire - lurk everywhere from the sponges you use to clean your countertop to your cutting board and the drain in your sink.

Still not concerned? Consider this: One single bacteria cell can become more than 8 million cells in less than 24 hours! The number of bacteria it takes to make people sick can range from as few as 10 up to millions. And infections spread when germs are transferred from a contaminated item (say, your cutting board) to your hands to your body.

I chose to leave the surfaces uncleaned for one week just to see if these spots would do anything to the images I chose to stick over them so in reality after sticking the images over these spots and leaving them for another week they will look as though two weeks of dirt has gathered onto them, one week will be visible in the image itself and the other week will be present in a 3D form of the collections formed on top of the photo. To stop myself from getting ill or coming into contact with any microbes I will cover the images in sticky back plastic immediately after the experiment is up, this way I'll be in casing the microbes in an invisible plastic seal.