Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol at the 4th Conference on Elderly and New Technologies: Technology on the go

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Miriea Fernández-Ardèvol participated in the 4th Conference on Elderly and New Technologies, organized by Jaume I University, between the 13th and 15th of May 2015 in the city of Castelló, Spain. The special topic of this edition of the conference is Technology on the go, which focuses on gadgets such as tablets, smatphones, wearables …; ubiquitous and personal connectivity; Internet of things; cloud services; and apps, among the most common topics.

Mireia delivered her presentation on May 13th looking at mobile apps to discuss on ageism embedded in research endeavours:

  • WhatsApp, why not? A reflection on aged-based stereotypes

Older people are commonly depicted as avoidant or incapable of properly using digital technologies. These stereotypes shape public opinion, and even the expectations of what an older individual can do, for instance, with a Smartphone: Would they know how to use it? Would they go beyond voice calls? Do you think they would be interested on apps? By taking into account available research showing that these are outdated stereotypes, I propose a reflection around them by looking at specific examples of mobile communication.

Perpetuating exclusion in Wikipedia

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Wikipedia has become an indispensable source of online information for students and researchers because of its ease of use as well as its reputation as a user-generated encyclopaedia of shared knowledge. But is it? Our research suggests a much more complicated and twisted tale. Wikipedia is a space of negotiation, contestation and struggles over inclusion and exclusion into “encyclopedic” knowledge.

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“Old in the Game: Age and Aging in Hip-Hop” Video of Murray Forman speaking at the University of Graz

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Murray Forman, ACT researcher and Associate Professor in Media and Screen Studies at Northeastern University presented on his research on March 17 at ACT partner institution the University of Graz.

While hip-hop is commonly associated in many mainstream contexts with youth practices and tastes, it has been a long time indeed since it could easily be defined as a facet of youth culture; generational turbulence abounds within contemporary hip-hop. Professor Forman critically examines the ways in which the past (as lore, tradition, and legacy) is constructed and understood in contemporary hip-hop and illuminates the manner in which individuals of different ages interact with one another according to multiple factors relating to experience and familiarity, rules, laws, and wider cultural norms as well as established hip-hop conventions. By focusing on an alternative cartography of age and aging he offers new perspectives on the character and representation of hip-hop elderscapes.

WAM summer school welcomes applicants

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The 2016 edition of the Centre for Women, Ageing, Media (WAM) Summer School will be held at the University of Gloucestershire on June 23rd and 24th.

ACT co-applicant Barbara Marshall will lead the keynote presentation/workshop. The School welcomes applications from new researchers and from PhD students. ACT is sponsoring the School and will offer some funding from students. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2015 and the call for applications is available here.

ACT connects to new COST-Action project on Ageism

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The COST-Action project on ageism, funded by the EU and led by Liat Ayalon, held its first meeting on April 27 and 28 in Dublin, Ireland. ACT members Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Eugène Loos, Loredana Ivan and Maria Soubati are part of the COST-Action and Eugène Loos leads, with his colleague Monika Wilinska, the subgroup on Ageism and Media. Kim Sawchuk, Shannon Hebblethwaite and Constance Lafontaine also attended the meeting, and it was decided that the COST-Action project on Ageism and ACT, two newly-funded and significant research projects on ageing, would connect and collaborate in the future.

Groupe Harmonie joins ACT as Community Partner

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We are delighted to announce the inclusion of Groupe Harmonie as an official partner in the ACT project. Groupe Harmonie is a non-profit organization that works with elders with addiction issues in Montreal. ACT has been working with Groupe Harmonie since 2014 and together we have been organizing digital literacy workshops in local low-income housing buildings for seniors as part of the InterACTion project.