Ageing + Communication + Technologies

Ageing + Communication + Technologies (ACT) is a multi-methodological research project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), which brings together researchers and institutional and community partners to address the transformation of the experiences of ageing with the proliferation of new forms of mediated communications in networked societies. ACT is comprised of researchers, students, and community and institutional partners from around the world. Together, we are investigating how ‘digital ageism’ – the individual and systemic biases that create forms of inclusion and exclusion that are age-related – operates in subtle ways at this time. Through our collective and collaborative research, we provide an analysis that comes from our engagement with individuals and communities of elders and suggest strategies for change.

For further information about the range of research, visit the ACT website.

Project timeframe

This project commenced in September 2014 and ended in August 2021.

Project aims

ACT aims to create enduring and meaningful partnerships and connections across academic institutions and non-academic organisations while transforming public discourses and understandings of age and ageing. We include older adults as active agents and collaborators in our research agenda and work together to develop appropriate languages, methods and ways to communicate inter-generationally and intra-generationally. Across our institutions, we are developing curricula and teaching methods and building a lasting collaborative platform for the theorisation and critical analysis of the relationship between ageing and digital worlds. Our project draws on the interdisciplinary expertise of our researchers who are working in a wide range of national and transnational settings and fosters an inter-institutional sharing of resources and expertise on ageing and media for students, faculty, community workers and selected industry partners.

Project findings and impact

The project is ongoing; output, findings and impact will be updated in due course.

Research team

Lesley Murray

Output

ACT website

 

Partners

Research team

Kim Sawchuk, Director, Concordia University, Canada

Constance Carrier-Lafontaine, Associate Director, Concordia University, Canada

Sadeqa Siddiqui, Ressources Ethnoculturelles Contre L'abus Des Aîné(E)S, Canada

Barbara Crow, York University, Canada

Barbara Marshall, Trent University, Canada

Catherine Middleton, Ryerson University, Canada

Eugène Loos, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Fannie Valois-Nadeau, Concordia University, Canada

Galit Nimrod, Ben-Gurion University of The Negev, Israel

Giuliana Cucinelli, Concordia University, Canada

Helmi Järviluoma, University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Josep Blat, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain

Josephine Dolan, University of The West Of England, UK

Line Grenier, Université De Montréal, Canada

Loredana Ivan, National School of Political Studies And Public Administration, Romania

Margarida Romero, Université Laval, Canada

Martine Lagacé, University of Ottawa, Canada

Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, In3 - Open University of Catalonia, Spain

Murray Forman, Northeastern University, USA

Roxana Barrantes, Institute for Peruvian Studies, Peru

Sara Cohen, University of Liverpool, UK

Shannon Hebblethwaite, Concordia University, Canada

Stephen Katz, Trent University, Canada

Wendy Martin, Brunel University, UK

 

Project partners

Chui Yin Wong, Multimedia University (Mmu), Malaysia

Anne Caines, Ressources Ethnoculturelles Contre L'abus Envers Les Aîné(É)S, Canada

Eric Craven, Atwater Library and Computer Centre, Canada

Claude Martin, Université De Montréal, Canada

Erin Lamb, Hiram College, USA

Harold Thwaites, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Julia Twigg, University of Kent, UK

Lib Spry, Théatre Agile, Canada

Michael Longford, York University, Canada

Patrik Marier, Concordia University, Canada

Paul Higgs, University College London, UK

Roberta Maierhofer, Karl-Franzens Universitat Graz, Austria

Ros Jennings, University of Gloucestershire, UK

Teresa Mangum, University of Iowa, USA

Marlene Goldman, University of Toronto, Canada

Cynthia Port, Coastal Carolina University, USA