How do you analyse the impact of a piece of digital technology on the people and groups it affects?
How to investigate and discuss computer science technologies while considering ethical, legal, cultural, environmental and privacy issues, and how to identify the stakeholders affected by a given technology.
An OCR J277 1.6.1 answer on how to investigate a digital technology against the five impact categories (ethical, legal, cultural, environmental and privacy), how to identify the stakeholders affected, and how to structure a balanced extended-response answer.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
OCR wants you to be able to take any digital technology, from artificial intelligence to a new app or a piece of hardware, and discuss its impact in a balanced way. You must work through five categories of impact (ethical, legal, cultural, environmental and privacy), and identify the stakeholders, the people and groups affected. This is the skill behind the 8-mark extended-response question on Paper 1, so it is about structured argument, not recall of one fixed answer.
The five categories of impact
These categories overlap, which is normal and expected. Collecting a customer's data is both a privacy issue and a legal one (the Data Protection Act). Replacing workers with automation is both ethical and cultural. In an exam answer you do not need rigid boundaries; you need to show you can see a technology from several angles at once.
Stakeholders
Identifying stakeholders is the move that turns a vague answer into a strong one, because every impact lands on a specific group. A self-driving car benefits passengers and reduces some accidents, but it raises ethical questions for pedestrians (who is to blame in a crash), legal questions for insurers and regulators, and job questions for professional drivers. Naming the group affected makes each point concrete.
How to structure a balanced answer
The structure that scores in the top band is: name the stakeholders, make a clear point in two or more impact categories, develop each point (point, then consequence, then which stakeholder), include a counter-argument so the answer is balanced, and finish with a conclusion that actually decides something and gives a reason.
Try this
Q1. State what is meant by the term stakeholder. [1 mark]
- Cue. Any person or group with an interest in, or affected by, a system or decision.
Q2. Name the five categories of impact OCR uses to analyse a technology. [2 marks]
- Cue. Ethical, legal, cultural, environmental and privacy.
Q3. Give one ethical and one environmental impact of streaming all films online instead of selling discs. [2 marks]
- Cue. Ethical: access depends on affording a fast internet connection (fairness, digital divide). Environmental: data centres streaming video use large amounts of electricity, though no discs or packaging are manufactured.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR 20218 marksA company is replacing its human telephone support staff with an artificial intelligence chatbot. Discuss the ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts of this decision. You should refer to the stakeholders affected in your answer.Show worked answer →
This is an 8-mark extended-response question marked with levels of response, so it rewards a balanced argument that covers more than one impact category and reaches a conclusion, not a list.
Identify stakeholders first: the company (lower wage costs, consistent service), the support staff (job losses, the ethical question of automation replacing people), customers (faster replies at any hour, but frustration if the chatbot cannot solve complex problems), and wider society.
Ethical: is it fair to replace workers with software, and who is responsible if the chatbot gives wrong advice. Legal: the chatbot stores customer data, so the company must comply with the Data Protection Act 2018. Cultural: a chatbot may not understand regional language or the needs of older or less confident users, widening the digital divide. Environmental: data centres running the AI use electricity, though removing a call centre may reduce some energy use.
Markers reward a clear point in at least two or three categories, each developed (point plus consequence plus a stakeholder), a counter-argument, and a justified conclusion. A one-sided list of advantages stays in the lowest band.
OCR 20223 marksWhen a new technology is introduced, several different stakeholders are affected. State what is meant by the term stakeholder, and identify three different stakeholders who might be affected by a school introducing a facial recognition system to take the register.Show worked answer →
Definition (1 mark): a stakeholder is any person or group with an interest in, or who is affected by, a system or decision.
Three stakeholders (1 mark each, up to two for the list): students (their biometric data is collected and stored), teachers and school staff (the register is taken automatically, changing their routine), parents (concerned about how their child's data is used and kept safe), the school or local authority (responsible for the cost, the data and the law), and the company that supplies the system.
Markers reward genuinely different groups with a reason each, not three near-identical answers such as "pupils, children, learners".
Related dot points
- Legislation relevant to computer science: the Data Protection Act 2018, the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and software licensing (open source versus proprietary).
An OCR J277 1.6.1 answer on the key computing laws: the Data Protection Act 2018, the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and its three offences, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the difference between open source and proprietary software licensing.
- The privacy issues raised by digital technology: what personal data is, how it is collected and used by organisations and websites, the risks to individuals, and the tension between convenience, security and privacy.
An OCR J277 1.6.1 answer on the privacy issues digital technology raises: what counts as personal data, how organisations and websites collect and use it, the risks to individuals, and the trade-off between convenience and privacy.
- The environmental impacts of digital technology: the energy used in manufacture and operation, the raw materials and rare metals consumed, electronic waste and its disposal, and ways the impact can be reduced.
An OCR J277 1.6.1 answer on the environmental impacts of digital technology: energy use in manufacture and operation, the raw materials and rare metals consumed, electronic waste (e-waste) and its disposal, and how the impact can be reduced.
- The cultural impacts of digital technology: the digital divide, changes to work and jobs through automation, the effect of social media and the internet on behaviour and society, and issues of access and inclusion.
An OCR J277 1.6.1 answer on the cultural impacts of digital technology: the digital divide and unequal access, automation and the changing job market, the effects of social media and the internet on society, and issues of inclusion.
- The purpose and functions of the operating system: user interface, memory management and multitasking, peripheral management and drivers, user management, and file management.
An OCR J277 1.5.1 answer on the purpose and functions of an operating system: the user interface, memory management and multitasking, peripheral management and drivers, user management, and file management.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR GCSE (9-1) Computer Science (J277) specification — OCR (2020)