CALL FOR STUDENT APPLICATIONS: GUSEGG 2019

/in , , , /by

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 will be taught by ACT Director Kim Sawchuk. ACT will partially fund up to five graduate students to attend the school, and will cover tuition and boarding costs. You can learn more about GUSEGG and this year’s school here. For more information about about ACT’s involvement, you can watch a great video “trailer” produced during the summer school in 2016.

This opportunity is open to ACT-affiliated students who have not had the chance to participate in the school. Interested students need to apply to ACT. Applications should be sent to application@actproject.ca by March 18, 2019 and should include:

1) a 500-word (max) letter on the student’s motivation to attend Graz International Summer School Seggau 2019 and why the topic of the lectures and seminar model is of value to them. The student should especially explain how their research fits within ACT and how they will benefit from courses in the module on ageing, communication and technologies.

2) A C.V.

3) The ACT student support form signed by a co-applicant or collaborator (the form is available here) OR a letter of reference written by an ACT co-applicant or collaborator.

Successful candidates will be asked to provide more information to GUSEGG, including academic transcripts and a copy of their passports.

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.

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

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

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