Law, Innovation & Technologies UG (11271) 2021
Research Paper Instructions
Research Paper
Word Limit: 2500 words. The word count does not include the bibliography, or references. If the word limit is exceeded by more than 10%, 2.5 marks will be deducted for each 100 words (or part thereof) over the 10% threshold.
Points: 50
Rationale:
Throughout this unit we engage with questions about the interaction of innovation (including disruptive technologies) with law and society. We look at past practice, contemporary controversies and how law might foster, inhibit or otherwise shape innovation and technology in future.
One way to explore legal issues raised by technologies is through considering hypothetical scenarios and possible future advances. The Research Paper requires students to demonstrate research, analytical and communication skills by writing a paper that explores law relevant to one of four fictional scenarios. This requires critical thinking and use of scholarly literature. The scenarios are close enough to reality to allow us to analyse the issues through a legal framework.
Referencing expectations:
please use the citation style required in your degree, eg Harvard or APA. If this requires you to use in-text citations and endnotes, please follow this usual practice. Please include a bibliography that lists every item cited in the assignment. Please do not include discussion in footnotes or endnotes, only citations and words required to introduce citations like ‘for example’.
Task:
The Chosen fictional scenario, is depicted in the movie:
• My Sister’s Keeper (2009, M), concerned with a young girl who has been conceived by her parents as a ‘saviour sibling’ to provide help to her older sister who suffers from leukemia. There are themes about property, reproductive technology, ethics and family relationships, among others.
Write a research paper of 2500 words discussing the law that is relevant to the fictional scenario. Explain the relevant technologies and how the legal issues are raised by those technologies. Critique the operation of the law in the fictional scenario. For example, this might involve identifying how a legal issue is addressed in Australian law, identifying how this differs from the fictional scenario and evaluating these approaches.
DVDs of the movies are available. The movies can also be viewed online or through services such as Netflix.
Be aware that some of these films include violence and sex scenes, and deal with serious themes. In addition, My Sister’s Keeper includes a scene in which a character tries to take a large number of pills. Classifications are included above, and further information can be viewed here: https://www.classification.gov.au/
If the film you chose raises quite a few legal issues, explain these briefly and then identify one or two that you will focus on.
Your discussion should focus on the legal issues, but can refer to matters such as ethics to inform this discussion. You can also draw on sources from other jurisdictions, but should primarily focus on Australia.
The markers are not seeking a movie review or a detailed summary of the story. You can include a short plot summary to help the reader understand what technologies are involved and their relevance to the story. Be careful to leave plenty of room for discussion of the issues rather than devoting a lot of words to the summary.
