A current problematic issue in your community in Lebanon

Summary:  Identify a current problematic issue in your community in Lebanon. The problem/issue should not be unsolvable (like the electricity problem) and should be manageable within the scope of a short report (8 – 10 pages).  Investigate the problem and its parameters.  Think of an intervention (solution) that could be implemented in Lebanon.  Based on this study, you will write a problem–solution report that will be posted online. 

Problem:  Your report will involve a significant issue/problem that could involve an underprivileged group in your community or a problem that your community is confronting.  Examples of such issues/problems could be the homeless, the aged, the differently abled, and so on.  The problem itself could be a lack of educational facilities, discrimination, lack of health care, and so on.  Of course, the problem you choose cannot be superfluous.  For example, it would not be a good idea to choose the topic of traffic in Beirut.

Solution:  The solution should involve your discipline.  It should be implementable.  For example, to resolve the unemployment in Lebanon, you cannot propose as solution that the government create new businesses (not feasible).

Social Media:  I would like for you to make use of Twitter and blogs to reach out to the Lebanese community as well as to collect information.  You could create a blog that posts issues related to the problem.

Vested Interest:  You will need to be personally involved in the issue you choose.  Please select an issue which genuinely concerns you.

 Sources of Information

• The library (for background information)
• Personal interviews and / or questionnaires
• Personal observation
• The internet  & the media
  • Business magazines and newspapers
  • Business news
  • Talk shows
  • Blogs
  • Twitter
  • Websites etc…
• Journal articles
• Pamphlets and / or brochures
• Company / government documents

Since the topic is both current and local, the bulk of your data will be from primary sources (interviews and / or questionnaires), social media, and websites rather than traditional secondary sources. You should run your questionnaire and / or interview by me before administering it. You are not to interview vulnerable subjects on sensitive topics so please make sure you clear this with me first. 

A research report proposal and outline are to be submitted for final approval on the designated topic.  You should also use a minimum of two English sources: book, journal article, magazine article, and so on (2015 - 2016).

Multimodal Component:

Your report should be multimodal, that is, not only text.  You may use any effective modality but you need to consider how it will contribute to your readers’ understanding of either the problem or solution or both. 

Consider the following in choosing your multimodal component(s)

• Audience
• Purpose
• Context

Examples of multimodal components could be any (combination of) the following:

• Video
• Sound clip
• Link to a video
• Link to ….
• Picture
• Graph
• Table

Your whole report could be presented in the format of a video with a written component.