After finishing up my latest blog post on 411 West Italian Café, I began to think about the various local businesses I have researched in the past four months. Because there are so many great local food spots on Franklin Street, I anticipated from the start that many of my posts would review restaurants, but I had no idea of the extent of my bias until breaking down the numbers.
Of 20 local businesses reviewed, 16 were restaurants. Yikes! This got me thinking. Did other factors affect my choices of which businesses to look into?
Below is a map locating every business I blogged about, with numbers corresponding to the order in which I blogged. Except for a few outliers, my blog largely focused on West Franklin Street. I walk down that stretch of Franklin Street to and from class every day, which means I saw those business’s signs every day, and they infiltrated my mind and prompted me to write about them.
blogmap-1
From the moment I created this blog, I knew that my biases would inherently affect each post. After all, design isn’t always based on objective facts. After creating this map, I have come to realize that bias is apparent in all aspects of this blog, from choosing the subject matter to critiquing the brands.
Sometimes, though, bias is good. As one psychologist argues, bringing unique predispositions to the table often helps facilitate problem solving. In any case of collaboration, unique and biased perspectives are what contributes to the end product. That’s why I encourage you to comment on my blog posts and offer your opinions. What do you make of the skewed breakdown of my blog posts? Comment below with your thoughts.