IB Digital Society SL case studies
IB Digital Society SL · Put your knowledge to work in context.
IB Digital Society Standard Level is a Diploma Programme subject that examines how digital systems shape - and are shaped by - people, communities and institutions. It is not a programming or IT-support course. The IB Digital Society SL case studies are 5 cases and about 3,352 words.
1Cutover Under Pressure: Replacing a Hospital EHR
Northbridge Regional Hospital (420 beds) runs a 14-year-old electronic health record whose vendor ends support in nine months. The replacement is contracted, but acceptance testing found that 2.3% of migrated allergy and medication records mismatch the legacy system, and the laboratory results interface trails the vendor's reference implementation by 11 seconds.
681 words, about 3 min2Algorithmic Fraud Triage at Metroville Council
Metroville's social services department has piloted a machine-learning model that scores 90,000 households for likelihood of housing-benefit fraud and refers the top 2% (1,800 cases) to human investigators. The model uses 41 features, including postcode, payment history and household composition.
664 words, about 3 min3Selling Smallholder Sensor Data to an Insurer
AgriSense, a startup, has installed 1,200 soil-moisture sensors across 40 smallholder cooperatives in a drought-prone region. Each sensor costs 40, lasts about 18 months, and transmits over LoRaWAN to a gateway serving a 15 km radius; the region's 2G network is switched off next year.
667 words, about 3 min4BYOD or Loan Pool at Riverton Secondary
Riverton Secondary School (1,100 students, ages 11–18) is deciding how to equip classrooms for digital learning. Its 200 Mbps connection is shared with two primary schools, and 40% of students are eligible for free school meals.
666 words, about 3 min5ReBoot's Refurbished Laptop Programme
ReBoot, an NGO, has collected 3,000 five-year-old laptops from corporate donors and wants to distribute them to 60 rural schools. The machines have 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSDs, batteries at about 60% of original capacity, and cannot officially run Windows 11.
674 words, about 3 min