“Without the grandmas, there is no revolution”

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Catalan emotions ran high in September and October 2017. On October 1st, the population was called to an independence referendum. The pro-independence movement is a bottom-up movement that transverses across age groups. Of interest is the strong commitment of the older generations. While it might be too early for an in-depth analysis, three elements should be considered to justify this particularity. First, the willingness of the older people to get involved in the protests – a must in grassroots movements. Second, the public recognition of the role of older people now and during the dictatorship. And third, older people’s active participation in the digital spaces that articulate and support the movement.

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Age 3.0 Aging in the City – Concordia University, November 1

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From age friendly cities, to smart cities to sustainable cities, how we live, work, play, engage and negotiate the urban environment is on the public agenda. On November 1, 2017, Age 3.0: Aging in the city will explore the multiple intersections of innovation, technologies and aging, and bring together voices from the university, Montreal-based community groups, and local businesses to explore what it means to grow older together in the city.

For full details, visit our project page: https://actproject.ca/act/age-3-0/

Annual ACT meeting at the University of Ottawa

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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.

Our Fitbits, our (aging)selves? Digital self-tracking and embodied aging

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At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung surprised business-watchers with a shift in market development plans. Expected to focus on robots, they instead announced a focus on wearable health devices, such as fitness trackers, believing that (according to their CEO) “an aging society will help this market segment grow more quickly”. This article explores the different ways that self-tracking technologies depending on age. For older adults, conversations ten toward mitigating risks, and identifying onsets of, age-related decline.

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October 13: Bridging Research and Public Policy: Matters of Ageing and Technology

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Kelly Leonard defending MA thesis on “Exploring Community Inclusion in Older Adulthood through the use of Computers and Tablets”

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Kelly Leonard, a Research Assistant who has been working with ACT for two years, will soon defend her MA thesis titled “Exploring Community Inclusion in Older Adulthood through the use of Computers and Tablets” on August 21 at Concordia University. Her project was supervised by ACT co-applicant Shannon Hebblethwaite.

Exploring Community Inclusion in Older Adulthood through the use of Computers and Tablets

August 21, 2017, 10am
Concordia University, Loyola Campus
VE 317
7141 Sherbrooke Street West