New report to British Columbia government on mobile services

/in , , /by

ACT researchers were invited by the British Columbia government to submit an intervention as part of the province’s public engagement and legislative review to identify ways to improve cell phone contract and billing transparency. The ACT report, titled “Fair Sales Practices and Affordable Services: The Cell Phone Needs of Canadian Seniors,” emphasizes the need for challenging the current telecommunication landscape, ending aggressive and misleading sales practices, and providing affordable mobile services to all Canadians.

ACT releases the report on the first wave of its cross-country longitudinal study

/in , , , /by

ACT is pleased to announce the release of the report of the first wave of its cross-country longitudinal study. The report, which is titled Older audiences in the digital media environment: A cross-national longitudinal study, provides an overview of some key findings about seniors’ uses of media from a 2016 wave of quantitative data collection, undertaken in seven countries.

The project involves teams from multiple partnered universities in Austria, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain. It offers a unique opportunity to explore possible processes of displacement of traditional dominant media by innovative communication practices within the older audience of new media. Replicating Nimrod’s (2017) study of older audiences, data is being collected on a biannual basis over a five-year period, for a total of three waves. This first report outlines some of the results from the first wave of the study, which is based on surveys from Internet users aged 60 and up, to whom we will return in the following waves.

Older audiences in the digital media environment: A cross-national longitudinal study (PDF, 1.4MB)

We’re collecting stories about the predatory sales practices of Canadian telecom providers

/in , , /by

Complaints from Canadians about the practices of phone, television and internet providers have increased by 73% in the last year. Media reports relaying situations of abuse, including tactics of overselling and upselling, are also multiplying. Who, exactly, is winning from a system that profits from abusive practices and consumer confusion?

As ACT’s Kim Sawchuk, Constance Lafontaine and Kendra Besanger recently argued in an op-ed published in the Montreal Gazette, seniors, especially those living their later years in situations of financial precarity, are placed at a marked disadvantage.

In collaboration with the Public Interest and Advocacy Centre (PIAC), ACT has set up a phone line to collect stories from older Canadians about dealing with service providers. Call us at 1-800-835-1979 and leave us a short message as well as contact information so we may call you back. 

 

Shannon Hebblethwaite discusses Grannies on the Net on CTV Montreal

/in , , , , /by

On March 14, 2018,  Shannon Hebblethwaite appeared on CTV Montreal at noon to discuss her ACT-funded research project Grannies on the Net. Hebblethwaite discusses the roles that ICTs play in the lives of grandmothers, including how they factor in family relationships. For Hebblethwaite’s respondents, digital technologies can represent both “a blessing and a curse”. Watch the full interview below.

 

Transgenerational research on environmental relationships and aging: A new annotated bibliography

/in , , , /by

Sonja Pöllänen and Helmi Järviluoma have recently compiled and released a new annotated bibliography on the topic of transgenerational research on environmental relationships and aging. Completed as part of an ACT-funded project, this bibliography brings together recent studies published between 2003 and 2015 concerning intergenerational relations and aging with specific emphasis on environmental relationships. The authors aim for this bibliography to serve as a toolbox for fellow researchers interested in similar themes. They also welcome additions and contributions from readers. Suggestions of entries to this bibliography may be sent to info@actproject.ca with the subject line “Transgenerational research”.

Download the annotated bibliography

PDF version (314 KB)
Word version (48 KB)

 

Shannon Hebblethwaite and Concordia research on aging featured in the Montreal Gazette

/in , , , , /by

ACT researcher Shannon Hebblethwaite was recently featured in a piece in the Montreal Gazette titled “New research from Concordia examines how we can age well while living healthier, longer“. Hebbelthwaite, who is a professor of applied human sciences at Concordia University and the director of the recently-formed engAGE centre for research on aging, discusses her recent research on intergenerationality, and her ACT-funded work on online communication between grandmothers and grandchildren.