We’re collecting stories about the predatory sales practices of Canadian telecom providers

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Complaints from Canadians about the practices of phone, television and internet providers have increased by 73% in the last year. Media reports relaying situations of abuse, including tactics of overselling and upselling, are also multiplying. Who, exactly, is winning from a system that profits from abusive practices and consumer confusion?

As ACT’s Kim Sawchuk, Constance Lafontaine and Kendra Besanger recently argued in an op-ed published in the Montreal Gazette, seniors, especially those living their later years in situations of financial precarity, are placed at a marked disadvantage.

In collaboration with the Public Interest and Advocacy Centre (PIAC), ACT has set up a phone line to collect stories from older Canadians about dealing with service providers. Call us at 1-800-835-1979 and leave us a short message as well as contact information so we may call you back. 

 

Call for applications: ACT Research Assistantship at Concordia University

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ACT is seeking a Concordia University undergraduate or graduate student to join the ACT team as a research assistant for a 5 to 10-hour per week contract for three months, with the possibility of renewal in the fall. The salary will be commensurate with the student’s academic level and current TRAC rates.

Over the past few years, Concordia RAs have been involved in various projects, from coordinating and facilitating digital arts workshops with seniors, building relationships with community organizations, researching and writing articles, and creating videos, podcasts and other knowledge translation tools. You can see what ACT has been up to lately by browsing through our website, and if you’re interested in working with us, we want to hear from you!

We are looking for someone who is enthusiastic and hard working. Experience with small group facilitation, digital media skills, proficiency in French, and interest in aging studies are assets for this position. To apply, please send a brief email cover letter and a CV to application@actproject.ca by June 1,  2018. Any question pertaining to this position can be sent to Constance Lafontaine at admin@actproject.ca.

Portraits of Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Reimagining discourses on ageing.

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If you google Alzheimer’s and dementia, you will find articles on “the ticking time bomb” of dementia and the socio-economic costs of Alzheimer’s. You’ll encounter videos of scientists speaking authoritatively on our inevitable cognitive decline and perhaps, most alarmingly, you’ll read messages explaining that we reach our intellectual peak at 25 years of age and it’s all just a sad descent from there.

Read more →

ACT is hiring a postdoctoral fellow in Ageing, Communication and Technologies

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ABOUT THE RESEARCH

The research project “Ageing, communication, technologies: experiencing a digital world in later life” (ACT) is seeking applications for a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University, under the supervision of ACT Director Dr. Kim Sawchuk.

ACT is a multi-methodological and interdisciplinary project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and brings together researchers, local community partners and international institutional partners to investigate the transformation of the experiences of ageing with the proliferation of new forms of mediated communications in networked societies.

ACT is offering a postdoctoral fellowship in the area of “Ageing, Communication, Technologies” and invites applications from candidates whose research examines intersects with ACT’s mandate, and with one of its three research axes.

Agency in Ageing: Collaborative Creativity and the Digital Arts in Later Life encompasses a program of research that involves individuals and communities in the development of participatory action research projects that have both scholarly and creative outcomes. This approaches takes seriously people’s everyday interactions with technologies, and uses these experiences to explore what it means to be a critical citizen in the information age in a process of collaborative knowledge creation.

Critical Mediations: Everyday Life and Cultures of Ageing examines the everyday life practices and the variegated mediated experiences of adults in later life. Looking at how older adults engage with music, photography, film, television, or gaming, to name but a few of the key areas that are increasingly subject to transformations in their modes of production and circulation, this research employs methods and concepts drawn from cultural studies and the humanities.

Telecommunication Technologies: Ageing in Networked Societies investigates ageing in the context of networked societies. Research in this area primarily is conducted through methodologies associated with the social sciences, bridging internet and telecommunications research with ageing studies, including – but not limited to – cellphones that allow for talking, texting, and video calling, laptops for Skyping with grandchildren, and tablets for reading books, playing (intergenerational) digital games, or accessing the internet.

FINANCIAL COMMITMENT

The Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ageing, Communication and Technologies entails a yearly salary of $45,000 CAD and can begin as early as August 2018. Only applications for one-year projects will be considered, but there may be an opportunity for re-application for a second year. The ACT Postdoctoral Fellowship will be housed at Concordia University in Montreal, but can be undertaken in collaboration with a partner institution of ACT (see our full list of partners).

A central goal of ACT is to train a new generation of Canadian scholars in the study of ageing from the perspective of the social sciences, the arts and/or the humanities. As such, in addition to conducting and completing their own research project, the chosen candidate will be expected to participate actively in the intellectual development of ACT, to work on a regular basis from the ACT offices located in downtown Montreal, and to perform some of the following tasks that are intended to complement their postdoctoral training: assist in the organization and implementation of academic and community events, (including conferences and workshops), conduct public and university lectures, contribute to the development of collaborative projects within ACT, assist in the preparation of grant applications.

ELIGIBILITY

The successful candidates will have a PhD in hand before beginning the position. Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

HOW TO APPLY

Application Deadline: June 1, 2018 (for an August to October 2018 entry)
In a single email addressed to application@actproject.ca, please provide the following three components as individual attachments.

1) A letter of intent (maximum 3 pages) that articulates the research project to be
undertaken, how the research fits within the mandate of ACT, the candidate’s suitability
and expertise, the applicant’s timeline and collaborative interests within the ACT
network.
2) A CV.
3) A list of three references with complete contact information, who could be called upon to write letters of recommendation.

Shannon Hebblethwaite discusses Grannies on the Net on CTV Montreal

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On March 14, 2018,  Shannon Hebblethwaite appeared on CTV Montreal at noon to discuss her ACT-funded research project Grannies on the Net. Hebblethwaite discusses the roles that ICTs play in the lives of grandmothers, including how they factor in family relationships. For Hebblethwaite’s respondents, digital technologies can represent both “a blessing and a curse”. Watch the full interview below.

 

Weaving Memories: Cercle de Fermières, Age and Looms – happening March 16, 2018

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Join us for our first “Lunch & Learn” on Friday, March 16. ACT RA, Nora T. Lamontagne will present her research about the “crafters” of le Cercle de Fermières.

Ingrained in tradition and rurality, crafters of le Cercle de Fermières have been gathering together for over a hundred years to do needlework and textile art. What if technologies were at the very heart of their practice? My Master’s research looks into how Fermières, as older women crafting, use technologies in their activities, be them analog, digital or mechanical. During this presentation, I focus on how looms influence life at the Cercle in many engaging and surprising ways. Following Bruno Latour and ANT, I look into elements of the weaving assemblage generative of different types of memories.

More information here:

Lunch and Learn: “Cercle de Fermières, age and looms”

Josephine Dolan releases “Contemporary Cinema and ‘Old Age’: Gender and the Silvering of Stardom”

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ACT co-applicant Josephine Dolan has just released a new book titled Contemporary Cinema and ‘Old Age’: Gender and the Silvering of Stardom. This book examines cinema at the intersection of gender, ageing, celebrity and genre studies. It takes its cue from the dual meanings of ‘silvering’ – economics and ageing – and explores shifting formulations of ‘old age’ and gender in contemporary cinema. Broad in its scope, the book establishes the importance of silver audiences to the survival of cinema exhibition while also forging connections between the pleasures of ‘old age’ films, consumer culture, the ‘economy of celebrity’ and the gendered silvering of stardom. Read more here.