In Part 1 you logged history, structure and audience for your platform. Today you push into the harder half of the research: impact, ethics, and the current debate around it.
Your job is not to pick a side yet. It is to gather both the positive and the critical findings, and keep them in balance until the notes are done.
Three terms for this half of the research:
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Impact: the real-world effect a platform has on people, culture or work. | Ask what changed for users, creators, schools or workplaces because this platform exists. | GAA clubs recruiting match-day volunteers through WhatsApp or Instagram |
| Content moderation: the rules and systems that decide what stays up and what comes down. | Look for who sets the rules, who enforces them, and what happens when they fail. | A platform removing a post after user reports that it broke the rules |
| Current debate: a live public argument that has not settled yet. | Record both sides with sources, even if one side feels louder. | Whether every account should be identity-verified |
Balance rule for today: if a source only praises or only attacks, keep it, name its lean, and find the other side before you write up.
The six checks from earlier still apply to every new site: authenticity, authorship, bias, objectivity, accuracy and purpose.
Extend your sources log with at least three further sites that speak to impact, ethics or the current debate. Aim for a mix: one that leans positive, one that leans critical, and one that tries to hold both.
Add each source under the heading that fits, and note in one line why it belongs in Part 2 rather than Part 1. This log feeds Research Notes, Part 2 (the main Portfolio artefact for today). Keep a copy beside your notes if you want.
Before you write the notes, practise the sift on four claims you are likely to meet when researching any big platform. Weigh the tells, commit to a verdict, then read the reasoning.
Carry the same habit into the sources you just logged: keep what you can check, park what you cannot. This step is practice only; verdicts stay here.
This is today's Portfolio piece. Draft Research Notes, Part 2 once in the on-page tool below: that draft is the artefact. Cover impact, ethics and content moderation, and the current debate for your platform, using the 3-2-1 method from Lesson 55.
For each of the three areas: three facts in your own words, two short quotes (a clause or one sentence each), one question you still want answered. Keep positive and critical findings side by side. List the three or more new sources you analysed.
When the draft meets the brief, save or export a copy into your Communication Portfolio as m2_l56_research_notes_part2_<your-initials>. Before you finish, check: that filename, 3-2-1 on all three areas, at least three new sources, and a balance line (one finding for the platform, one against it). If the period ends first, finish the same structure for homework before Lesson 57 rather than cutting sections. Early finishers may mark weak spots and redraft underneath; that loop is optional today.
This working pack feeds the later KA3 presentation; full KA3 sign-off is at Lesson 58.
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