Call for Student Applications: GUSEGG 2019
For the fifth consecutive year, ACT is sponsoring a module on ageing, communication and technologies as part of the Graz International Summer School Seggau (GUSEGG). The school, which welcomes professors and students from around the world, will be held from June 30 to July 13 2019 in Leibnitz, Austria. This year, the module on aging […]
Ageing, the Digital and Everyday Life
This short piece, written by Dr. Wendy Martin, serves as a follow-up to a one day seminar held at Brunel University on October 26, 2018. The seminar was organized by Wendy Martin and Paul Higgs (University College London) and was funded by ACT.
Digital devices, information technologies and mediated systems of communication increasingly shape the social worlds of people in mid to later life. While tired stereotypes of older people as uninterested or unskilled users of digital technologies have waned, concerns over a digital divide remain. The increase in use of digital technologies as people grow older was the focus of the one-day seminar entitled ‘Ageing, the Digital and Everyday Life’ that took place in October 2018 at Brunel University London.
The presenters were an interdisciplinary and international group of academics and researchers from the arts, the social sciences and Science and Technology Studies (STS) whose work focuses on ageing, the digital and everyday life. The seminar provided an opportunity to examine and review the study of ageing, the digital and everyday life from a wide range of perspectives and to critically explore future challenges and possibilities. The seminar was very well attended by academics, doctoral students and the public and as the event was livestreamed there were further questions and dialogue via Twitter. The seminar led to stimulating and engaging debates amongst and between the speakers and audiences and was very positively evaluated.
The presentations are available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8nqSO89lEXivZ_JTuZVhhg/videos?disable_polymer=1
The seminar was organised by Dr Wendy Martin (Brunel University London) and Professor Paul Higgs (University College London) and was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) international partnership ‘Ageing, Communication, Technologies (ACT): experiencing a digital world in later life’.
Vibrations
ACT is supporting a unique, three-day symposium at Concordia. The symposium will bring together disabled artists from East London and Montreal to co-produce a suite of new digital artworks that explore sensorial relationships to the world through “vibrational” tactility. Learn more about the event here.
October 26: Live stream of “Ageing, the digital and everyday life”
On Friday, October 26th 2018 join us for the live stream of Ageing, the Digital and Everyday Life, a one day seminar held at Brunel University London in the United Kingdom. The stream begins at 10:30am BST.
The speakers are an interdisciplinary group of academics and researchers from the arts, the social sciences and Science and Technology Studies (STS) and include both members of the ACT partnership, and wider international colleagues whose work focuses on ageing, the digital and everyday life. The seminar will provide an opportunity to examine and review the study of ageing, the digital and everyday life from a wide range of perspectives and to critically explore future challenges and possibilities. The seminar is organized by Wendy Martin (Brunel University London) and Paul Higgs (University College London).
A full programme is available here.
Weaving Memories: Cercle de Fermières, Age and Looms – happening March 16, 2018
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:
End of Season Storytelling Café on December 8: La Tertulia
On Friday, December 8, the University of the Streets will host its last storytelling event of 2017 and they’re calling it la tertulia. A tertulia is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones: an informal meeting of people to discuss current affairs, arts, etc.
Anne Caines, the coordinator and one of the founding members of RECAA, will tell a story on Friday and we invite the ACT community to attend.
Find the Facebook event here.
Check out the University of the Street’s website here.
Annual ACT meeting at the University of Ottawa
The fourth annual ACT meeting will take place from October 13 to 15 at the University of Ottawa, Canada. The meeting is organized by local co-applicant Martine Lagacé, and brings together some 40 researchers from the ACT project, from ten different countries.
This year, we celebrate the midway point of the project, look back on what we have accomplished so far, and look ahead to the future as the priorities for the next few years begin to take shape. The meeting will begin with a keynote address by Marcel Mérette of the University of Ottawa, and a roundtable discussion featuring local and ACT researchers, and a representative from the National Research council. Both the keynote and the round-table discussion address the theme of “Bridging research and public policy: questions of aging and technology“.
The meeting continues with a working session on data management for partnerships and another on building and sharing pedagogical tools. A number of ACT researchers will take turns presenting their research to the group, and we will also provide the team with an overview of our midterm report. The tentative meeting agenda can be downloaded here.
October 13: Bridging Research and Public Policy: Matters of Ageing and Technology
As part of the ACT annual meeting, we are holding a public keynote address and round table discussion at the University of Ottawa. This event will take place on October 13, 2017 in Simard Hall (SMD) 125, located at 60 University Street in Ottawa, Canada.
Dr. Marcel Mérette, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Ottawa, will provide the keynote address on the topic of “Public Policy in the Context of Ageing Populations”.
Following this talk, there will be a round table discussion, featuring Mérette once more, as well as a number of researchers working at the intersection of public policy and ageing research, including: Dr. Roxana Barrantes (Institute of Peruvian Studies), Brian Colton (National Research Council Canada), Dr. Jeffrey W. Jutai (University of Ottawa), Dr. Sarah Fraser (University of Ottawa) and ACT’s Dr. Catherine Middleton (Ryerson University).
Bridging Research and Public Policy: Matters of Ageing and Technology
Friday, October 13, 2017
Introduction at 9:00am, keynote at 9:30 am and round table at 10:45 am
Simard Hall (SMD) 125
This is a public event but attendees who are not part of the regular annual ACT meeting should register by emailing admin (at) actproject (dot) ca.