Call for papers: Special Issue on Therapeutic Recreation in a Digital World

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The proliferation of digital technologies and the evolution of assistive technologies, virtual spaces, and new forms of leisure engagement raise key questions about the changing nature of therapeutic recreation and social justice. These varied technologies have the potential to benefit marginalized individuals and communities, but they may also be challenging and problematic. ICTs, therefore, have implications for therapeutic recreation (TR) professionals, educators, students, and researchers. The purpose of this special issue of the Therapeutic Recreation Journal (TRJ), therefore, is to critically explore opportunities and challenges associated with integrating technology in TR practice, education, and research.

TRJ is seeking manuscripts that address innovative uses and critical reflections upon a wide variety of technologies in therapeutic recreation. Manuscripts that address technology in research, education, and/or practice perspectives are highly encouraged. Additionally, qualitative, quantitative, and conceptual approaches are equally encouraged.

ACT at the Canadian Association of Gerontology Conference in Montreal

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ACT researchers will present as part of a panel titled Ageing, Communication, Technologies: Experiencing a digital world in later life at the upcoming conference of the Canadian Association of Gerontology (CAG) to be held in Montreal from October 20 to 22. The ACT panel will take place on October 22 at 3:15pm.

The panel employs and explores a variety of methodologies to broach the study of old age, media and technologies in manners that reveal the heterogeneity of life courses and the multiple ways one can age with and through technologies. In “Media portrayal of grandparents,”, Shannon Hebblethwaite, Linda Quirke and Kelly Leonard  critically examine how old age, grandparents, and their engagements with technologies can be normatively represented in some media discourses. Then, we move to challenging these representations, drawing from interviews, and participatory and creative approaches to probe engagements between seniors and media. In “Living with media,” Kim Sawchuk explores the variegated digital practices of elders gleaned from interviews with octogenerians. Through the seniors’ “technobiographies,” Sawchuk challenges the simplistic binary of use and non-use. In a similar way, Kate de Medeiros draws from an autobiographical writing workshop for older adults to examine the importance of the processes of telling and listening as part of “Applied narrative gerontology”. Finally, Giuliana Cucinelli, Ann-Louise Davidson and Margarida Romero further delve into the potentialities of collaborative learning and play. In their presentation of “Participatory game design in intergenerational contexts,” they explain how the creative and intergenerational design of a game can work to challenge perceptions of seniors on technologies. Along with the panel, the ACT will co-host a kiosk with the research group VIES from October 20 to 22nd.

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Ageing, Communication, Technologies: Experiencing a digital world in later life

Shannon Hebblethwaite, Concordia University; Linda Quirke, Wilfrid Laurier University and Kelly Leonard, Concordia University
“Media portrayal of grandparents: ‘Wise, white haired miracle makers’ or ‘Critics’?”

Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University
Living with media:  octogenarians, technobiographies and communicating digital “use and non-use”

Giuliana Cucinelli, Concordia University; Ann-Louise Davidson, Concordia University & Margarida Romero, Université Laval
Participatory game design in intergenerational contexts: Co-designing digital games for intergenerational learning using Scratch

Kate de Medeiros, Miami University, USA

Applied narrative gerontology: A case study on listening and the power of being heard

 

 

 

Shannon Hebblethwaite presents on “Grannie’s on the net” at McGill University

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Shannon Hebblethwaite, Assistant professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia University, will present her ACT-funded study on the uses of Facebook for family communication. This comparative case study brings together research on social media use, specifically Facebook, in Romania and Canada. The purpose of the study is to investigate how grandmothers communicate with grandchildren who move far away from home. The presentation, titled “Grannie’s on the net: Intergenerational communication on Facebook” will take place on October 25, 2016 at 3:30pm in the Wendy Patrick Room on the first floor of Wilson Hall at McGill University.

More information about the talk is available by consulting this poster.

Work Opportunity for Students, August 23rd – 26th

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Interested in social media, living labs, creativity and innovation? We have an opportunity for you this August.

Together with the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) and Communautique, Concordia is hosting Open Living Lab Days from August 23rd – 26th. We are looking for student experts to help us report on and document the panels, poster sessions, workshops, and keynotes that will take place throughout the week.

“Living labs are user-centred ecosystems that integrate research and open innovation processes through co-creation in areas ranging from energy, media, mobility, healthcare, agrifood and community development.” More info on living labs is available here and the preliminary conference program is available here. We are specifically seeking students who have knowledge in and a curiosity for innovation, creativity and lab life, and collaborative methodologies.

Details:
Pay: Stipend of $100.00 / day (up to 6 hours)
Access to conference for the 4 days and to Age3.0 on August 25th.
Must commit to working 3 day of the 4 days.
Must attend a training session (Date TBD)

If you’re interested in this opportunity, please send a short description of your interest in the conference and your availabilities for the days corresponding to the conference (all in 1 or 2 paragraphs, in email body), along with a resume or C.V. (PDF) or LinkedIn profile to communication@actproject.ca by Friday, August 5th. Cover letters aren’t necessary.

Please indicate which languages you speak and indicate which language you prefer to work in, as well as any technical skills you may have, including social media expertise, photography, filming and audio recording.

If you have questions, please email communication@actproject.ca

ACT members at the International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population

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ACT members Andrea Rosales, Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Margarida Romero and Eugène Loos were involved in the Second International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population (http://2016.hci.international/itap), 17-22 July 2016, Toronto, Canada. They organized and chaired the following invited sessions: New media in the everyday life of older people and Silver Gaming.

They also presented several papers, published by Springer; J. Zhou & G. Salvendy (Eds.) Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Healthy and Active Aging, Second International Conference, ITAP 2016, Held as Part of HCI International 2016 Toronto, ON, Canada, July 17–22, 2016, Proceedings, Part I and II:

  • Eugène Loos & Annemiek Zonneveld: Silver Gaming: Serious Fun for Seniors?
  • Margarida Romero & Hubert Ouellet: Scaffolding Digital Game Design Activities Grouping Older Adults, Younger Adults and Teens
  • Andrea Rosales & Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol: Generational Comparison of Simultaneous Internet Activities Using Smartphones and Computers

Age 3.0: The Creative Aging Fair is coming to Concordia on August 25

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The creative trade fair brings ageing to the forefront of public, commercial and academic discourses.Right now, Canada has more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 15, and in 40 years, seniors will make up one quarter of the country’s population.

Terms like “silver tsunami” alongside headlines like “Baby boom to ageing gloom” indicate the negative light that is often cast onto this demographic shift. However, not everyone views our ag

Right now, Canada has more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 15, and in 40 years, seniors will make up one quarter of the country’s population.

Terms like “silver tsunami” alongside headlines like “Baby boom to ageing gloom” indicate the negative light that is often cast onto this demographic shift. However, not everyone views our ageing population this way. Instead, many are imagining the creative potential of such a population.

On August 25, Concordia will host Age 3.0, a fair to explore the multiple intersections of innovation, the creative economy, emerging technologies and ageing.

The event is co-organized by the Ageing + Communication + Technologies (ACT) Project, a research group directed by communication studies professor Kim Sawchuk, and Communautique, a hub dedicated to learning, collaboration, research and experimentation in social and technological innovation.

The event will also include participation from local businesses and community organizations and the purpose of the day is to provide a space for conversations about creative ways people are thinking about growing older.

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Age 3.0 is open to academics, businesses, students and the general public alike. It will bring together researchers working on the topic of ageing from fields such as architecture, communication studies, psychology, education and fine arts to speak on panels about the ways university research can foster creative and complex approaches to ageing processes that challenge normative or stereotypical understandings of later life. A poster session will showcase the projects of graduate students from around the world.Throughout the day, Concordia’s Black Box theatre will feature lively community art interventions created by seniors organizations through collaborative research, and will feature groups and projects such as Respecting Elders: Communities Against Abuse (RECAA), the St-Henri Art Hive, The Yellow Door and the Atwater Library and Computer Centre.

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Live performances, knit-ins and multimedia presentations will occupy the Black Box theatre space (EV Building – S3.845) and visitors will be invited to interact with the installations. The ground floor of Concordia’s Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV Building) will be home to kiosks hosted by companies and research groups working to bring ageing to the forefront of public, commercial and academic discourses.

Age 3.0 takes place on August 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the atrium of the EV Building of Concordia University in Montreal at 1515 Saint Catherine St. W. The event is free and open to the public. More information about the day’s events is available here. You can register at the fair for free here. 

This article was written by Kendra Besanger and Constance Lafontaine and originally published on the Concordia University website.

“CRACKED: New Light on Dementia” Toronto: July 26th, 27th, 28th 2016

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CRACKED is an innovative, research-based play that follows persons with dementia and their families on their unique journeys with dementia, from diagnosis to their new lives in long-term care. The families struggle to see beyond the disease as they come to accept that each of us has cracks as part of being human.

Coming to Toronto in July: three dates, three locations. Watch the trailer here.

Cracked posterAAIC Jul 26 2016Cracked poster Isabel Bader Jul 27 2016 (002)