ACT panel selected as a “divisional symposium” at CAG2017

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The ACT Panel titled “Ageing, Communication, Technologies : Experiencing a Digital World in Later Life” has been selected as the divisional symposium for Social Sciences at the Canadian Association of Gerontology Conference (CAG), to be held from October 19 to 21 in Winnipeg, Canada. The panel will take place on October 21 from 11am to 12:30pm in the York room. You can consult the full program here.

Activist ageing and the “tactical theatrics” of RECAA
Kim Sawchuk,Concordia University,
Constance Lafontaine, Concordia University,

Signing, Ageing, Connecting: Intersections of Deafhood, Ageing and Technology
Line Grenier,Université de Montréal
Véronique Leduc, Université du Québec à Montréal

“A blessing and a curse”: Grandmothers reflections on digitally mediated family relationships
Shannon Hebblethwaite, Concordia University
Kelly Leonard, Concordia University

Aging and Technology Assistive Devices: Assessing the Role of Interpersonal Communication in the Context of Transitional Care 
Martine Lagacé, University of Ottawa
Sarah A. Fraser, University of Ottawa

Graduate and Postdoctoral Fellow Symposium: Emerging Research on Later Life

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On October 5, ACT is hosting its first ever graduate student and postdoctoral fellow symposium at the Loyola campus of Concordia University, specifically in the Department of Communication Studies. With the exception of the public keynote by Josephine Dolan, this is a closed event.

SCHEDULE

9:30-10:00 (CJ 2.130) – Welcome and Introductions
Josephine Dolan and Kim Sawchuk

10:00am-11:00am – Exploring and challenging the normativities of later life

Older adults and videogames: at the margins of productivity and play. Exploring the intersecting normative discourses of digital games and ageing
Gabrielle Lavenir

Food Talks: when the successful ageing injunction is being reconfigured through a foodblog
Myriam Durocher

11:15am-12:45pm – Engagements and community connections

Intergenerational Community Connections
Don Rosenbaum and Shayne Zal

Old, crafty and connected: Cercle de Fermières; community and technologies
Nora Tremblay-Lamontagne

 Alternative Approaches to Engage People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Through Imagination, Communication and Methods of Care
Carly McAskill

12:45pm-2:00pm – Lunch

2:00pm – 3:00pm – Aging and other-than-human attachments

Multispecied life courses and the dueling temporalities of bucket list adventures
Constance Lafontaine

 Aging Attachments and the ondes Martenot
David Madden

3:00pm – 3:15pm – Wrap-up

3:30pm-5:00pm (CJ 1.114) – Public Keynote

‘Old age’, gender and the silvering of contemporary Hollywood cinema: economics and ideologies
Josephine Dolan

5:00pm-7:00pm (CJ Atrium) – Reception

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: ACT graduate student and postdoctoral fellow symposium

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Emerging research on later life
ACT Graduate Student / Postdoctoral Fellow Symposium
October 5th , Concordia University, Montreal

The research project Ageing + Communication + Technologies (ACT), housed in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University, is seeking proposals for its first graduate student and postdoctoral fellow symposium. The one-day symposium, titled “Emerging research on later life,” will be held October 5, 2017 at Concordia University. This event brings together emerging researchers from multiple disciplines working on matters related to ageing, and invites them to present on their recent work to colleagues as well as to senior researchers and ACT members from Concordia University, the Université de Montréal and Women, Ageing and Media (WAM), a feminist research group based in the UK.

We invite interventions that fit within the mandate of ACT, specifically, research understood to fall within one or more of its three axes: (1) agency in ageing: collaborative creativity and the digital arts in later life; (2) critical mediations: everyday life and the cultures of ageing; or (3) telecommunication technologies: ageing in networked societies. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from all disciplines are invited to participate, and artistic and other non-traditional contributions are welcome. Presentations by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will take place throughout the day. In the afternoon, Dr. Josephine Dolan from WAM will deliver a public keynote lecture on titled ‘Old age’, gender and the silvering of contemporary Hollywood cinema: economics and ideologies.

There are no registration costs. Lunch will be served and a reception will be held after Josephine Dolan’s keynote address. Specific location is to be determined. Spots are limited. Interested candidates should send a title, an abstract (max. 300 words), and a bio (max. 150 words) to application (at) actproject (dot) ca by September 1, 2017. Questions can be sent to Constance Lafontaine at admin (at) actproject (dot) ca.

Sponsors: 

The event is sponsored by Concordia University’s Feminist Media Studio, engAGE and  Department of Communication Studies. This event is also supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

ACT represented in three panels at the Human Computer Interaction conference in Vancouver

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Pictured: ACT members Barbara Ratzenböck, Francesca Comunello, Eugène Loos and Wendy Martin in Vancouver, Canada.

 

Eugène Loos launched the Intergenerational Gaming Platform at the Human Computer Interaction conference held in July in Vancouver, Canada. He also organized three panels: New media in the life of older people, Digital gaming among older populations, Intergenerational use of new media. The panels were presented as part of the stream on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, and involved various ACT researchers, including Francesca Comunello, Benjamin Lille, Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Wendy Martin, Simone Mulargia, Barbara Ratzenböck, Margarida Romero, Andrea Rosales and Eugène Loos.

 

Eugène Loos, Professor at the University of Amsterdam, Senior Lecturer Utrecht University and ACT co-applicant, presents “Exergaming: Meaningful Play for Older Adults?”

 

 

Francesca Comunello, ACT researcher, presents “My grandpa and I ‘gotta catch ‘em all.’ A research design on intergenerational gaming focusing on Pokémon Go”

 

Benjamin Lille, graduate student at Université de Laval and ACT graduate student, presents “Intergenerational Techno-Creative Activities in a Library Fablab”

 

Barbara Ratzenböck, PhD student at the University of Graz and ACT graduate student, presents “Everyday Life Interactions of Women 60+ with ICTs: Creations of Meaning and Negotiations of Identity”

 

Wendy Martin, Lecturer at Brunel University and ACT co-applicant, presents “Visual Representations of Digital Connectivity in Everyday Life”

 

Update from ACT at the Graz International Summer School Seggau

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By Eva-Maria Trinkaus

The Graz International Summer School Seggau (GUSEGG) 2017 has started on July 2nd and through the long-standing cooperation with ACT, this year’s summer school is again host to one ACT module that focuses on aging in the framework of technologies. Line Grenier, who taught the first week of the module, has handed over to David Madden who will teach the second week, focusing on ageing and music, and ageing and material culture. This year, the module hosts 13 students from 12 different universities and 9 disciplines, and focuses on the “’art of aging in its intersections with the proliferation of computer-mediated communications and networked societies,” as described by the seminar professors.

In the lecture of the first week, Line Grenier shared her perspectives on aging and “The working force of concepts: critical reflections on ‘memory’ and its travels.” Grenier emphasized further emphasized the in-class topic of the seminar, and focused on the importance of memory in her lecture, addressing aspects such as memory loss, regaining memory through neuroscientific methods, and the nature of memory as a process that travels through space and time. David Madden will continue to delve into concepts related to age studies in week two, and also provide focus on the production of audio-based media capsules.

Elders Make Waves for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2017

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On June 9, 2017, the members of community organization and ACT partner Respecting Elders: Communities against Abuse (RECAA), along with Le Groupe Herencias and Encounters Project, organized a public walk comprised of moving art installations in downtown Montreal.

This event was organized to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which takes place on June 15 2017.

Older adults reflect on austerity

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Our friends at Équipe VIES (Vieillissements, exclusions sociales et solidarités)  and CREGÉS (Centre de recherche et d’expertise en gérontologie sociale) invited us to help them set the tone for their upcoming conference on May 15 at Concordia University in Montreal by making an introductory video. The free one-day conference, titled “Impacts de l’austérité sur les conditions de vie et de santé des personnes âgées,” brings together a wide range of speakers to discuss the implications of living later life within a climate of austerity.

In making our video, we asked five local seniors what austerity means to them, and how the politics of austerity and ageing intersect in their lives.

 

Benefit concert for RECAA “Friendly Neighbours”

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On April 26 at the Rialto Theatre, ACT partner Respecting Elders: Communities against Abuse (RECAA) and Montreal Assault Prevention are hosting a benefit concert, featuring some great local talent. The concert is organized by Pop Montreal.

Tickets are $25 and some of the performing guests include Brad Barr (the Barr Brothers), Jordan Officer, Katie Moore, Plants and Animals, Patsy Gallant and Jason Ford, Beatrice Deer, uRockaoke, Little Scream, Bud Rice, Lisa Moore (Cowbella).

Get more information and tickets here.