Thursday, 1 May 2014

Idea - Post It Notes Developed

I was looking online for stats about microbes around the home and I came across this website: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-spots-for-household-bacteria/ which listed the stats on how many bacteria per inch are in certain areas around the home. I found the list very shocking and once again I was put off my food whilst reading it, I didn't want to eat the sandwich I had in my hand after knowing I'd touched thousands of bacteria already within just an couple of hours by touching things that I wouldn't normally think would pose as risk to me. I want others to know of this risk and I want to see their reactions to hearing how much bacteria there is around the home. I'm going to write the stats down on post it notes and stick them in the area that the note is describing the bacteria count for, this experiment is similar to my original idea following this path but this time I'm going to do it in my student home, I'm not going to tell my housemates about the experiment before hand and later on I will ask them what they thought of the things they read. I feel as though this will be am much more intimate experiment as I'll be able to talk to the person coming across the notes face to face rather than witnessing it from afar like I did with the post it notes in public experiment.

The stats that I'll be placing around the home are from this list:

Toilet bowl: 3.2 million bacteria/square inch
Kitchen drain: 567,845 bacteria/square inch
Sponge or counter-wiping cloth: 134,630 bacteria/square inch
Bathtub, near drain: 119,468 bacteria/square inch
Kitchen sink, near drain: 17,964 bacteria/square inch
Kitchen faucet handle: 13,227 bacteria/square inch
Bathroom faucet handle: 6,267 bacteria/square inch
Bathroom sink, near drain: 2,733 bacteria/square inch
Pet food dish, inside rim: 2,110 bacteria/square inch
Kitchen floor, in front of sink: 830 bacteria/square inch
Toilet floor, in front of toilet: 764 bacteria/square inch
Kitchen countertop: 488 bacteria/square inch
Bathroom countertop: 452 bacteria/square inch
Garbage bin: 411 bacteria/square inch
Dish towel: 408 bacteria/square inch
Toy: 345 bacteria/square inch
Kitchen tabletop: 344 bacteria/square inch
Home office phone or refrigerator door: 319 bacteria/square inch
Toilet seat: 295 bacteria/square inch
Bathroom light switch: 217 bacteria/square inch
Microwave buttons: 214 bacteria/square inch
Kitchen chopping board: 194 bacteria/square inch
Child-training potty: 191 bacteria/square inch
Infant changing mat and infant high chair: 190 bacteria/square 
Kitchen phone: 133 bacteria/square inch
Bathroom door's inside handle: 121 bacteria/square inch
Toilet's flush handle: 83 bacteria/square inch
TV remote control: 70 bacteria/square inch
Home office computer keyboard: 64 bacteria/square inch
Home office computer mouse: 50 bacteria/square inch



I will stick them around my student home when I get back later tonight so when me housemates wake up in the morning they will be completing their daily routine along with the shocking statistics of how much bacteria they're sharing their routine with. Hopefully what I've wrote on the post it notes is self explanatory after I've located them in their specific spaces, if my feedback comes back that it wasn't then I'll modify what I write on them and complete the experiment in another location. I would also like to do this experiment in my family home as well to compare the results of how the students found it to how my family found it due to the stereotypical view upon students of being un-tidy, un-clean and not caring as much about sanitation to what families may do. 

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