The Forensic Analysis
Go deeper — the documentation layer, the oral history, and a revised cause-of-death diagnosis supported by the full weight of your evidence.
Due: 19 April 2027 · Weight: 25%
The brief#
The Dig Report was a survey. The Forensic Analysis is the deep investigation.
Your report should include:
- Architecture: the site plan from week 5 — the structure the team built and what it reveals about how they thought
- Documentation layer: the audit from week 6 — what was documented, what was not, and what the gap means
- Oral history: what you learned from contacting a former maintainer, or from secondary sources if contact was not possible or not appropriate
- Revised diagnosis: your cause-of-death, now supported by evidence from weeks 2-8. If your hypothesis changed from the Dig Report, explain what changed it. If it did not, explain what new evidence confirmed it.
1500 words.
What you submit#
A PDF or Markdown document, citing specific commits, files, documentation artefacts, and (if applicable) oral-history sources.
The spec
The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.
- covers methods from weeks 5-8 (architecture, documentation, oral history, diagnosis)
- cause-of-death diagnosis is revised from the Dig Report and supported by at least four pieces of evidence
- if oral history was attempted, the ethics guidelines were followed
- if oral history was not possible, secondary sources are cited and the gap is acknowledged
- 1500 words
How it is marked
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Depth of forensic reading | 40% |
| Quality of argument | 35% |
| Clarity of presentation | 25% |