Ageing and New Media Symposium - UWA€¦ · Ageing and New Media Symposium 1–2 December 2017 ... Diversity, dynamism, and digital disruption in ageing: case studies from metropolitan

Ageing and New Media Symposium1–2 December 2017Wilsmore Lecture Theatre, UWA

School of Social Sciences

Photo credit: Gabrielle Brand (2017) Depth of Field: Exploring Ageing ©

socialsciences.uwa.edu.au/eAgeing

2 The University of Western Australia

Welcome to the Ageing and New Media Symposium.This symposium highlights the current and potential role that new media play in fostering local, distant and virtual support networks of older people – locally, nationally and transnationally – to improve health and wellbeing outcomes, both at home and in residential care.

Much work is being done in the specific areas of ageing, new media, migration and cultural and linguistic diversity, but very little interdisciplinary work exists that features all four as important intersecting fields.

The discussions and presentations at this event will contribute to a much-needed update of aged care policy and service delivery, as well as conceptual understandings of the intersections of ageing, migration, distance, media and care.

A particular feature of this symposium is its emphasis on interdisciplinary strengths, bringing together the disciplines needed to lead research into ageing and new media. These include anthropology, sociology,

social psychology, public health, social work, geriatric medicine, occupational therapy as well as human computer interaction, migration, policy and media and communications studies.Strong community and good governance are critically important to successful ageing policy and programs. Therefore, we are very pleased to have the participation of researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and service providers and a number of community associations that deal with ageing and communication-related issues in this state and around the world.

The key aim of this symposium is to help build and strengthen links between the university, government, non-government and community sectors. We hope to facilitate rigorous dialogue and exchange to improve policy and service delivery.

Our long-term goal is to ensure that public debate on ageing, mobility and cultural and linguistic diversity is informed by high-quality research. To help us achieve this aim, we have

presentations from a number of international and national scholars, all leaders in their fields, as well as some practitioners and early-career researchers who are delivering research presentations, participating in panels and contributing to discussions about the latest international trends in aged care, social support and new media.

We trust you will enjoy the event.

Prof Loretta BaldassarA/Prof Raelene WildingAgeing and New Media Symposium Convenors

This symposium is hosted by Professor

Loretta Baldassar (Anthropology and

Sociology, The University of Western

Australia) and Associate Professor

Raelene Wilding (Sociology, La Trobe

University) with support from the

Australian Research Council Discovery

Project Ageing and New Media

(DP160102552) and a UWA Worldwide

Universities Network, Research

Collaboration Award.

socialsciences.uwa.edu.au/eAgeing 3

Program – Day 1, Friday, 1 December 2017

11.00–11.30 Registrationandcoffee

11.30–11.45 Opening

Convenors: Loretta Baldassar (UWA) and Raelene Wilding (La Trobe University) Welcome to Country: Len Collard (Indigenous Studies, UWA)

11.45–1.30 Panel 1: Ageing, New Media, and Care

Chair: Rosa Brandhorst

Loretta Baldassar (Anthropology and Sociology, UWA) and Raelene Wilding (Sociology, La Trobe University) Digital kinning: the role of distant care support networks in ageing Adele Millard (Anthropology and Sociology/Media and Communication, UWA) Diversity, dynamism, and digital disruption in ageing: case studies from metropolitan and regional Western Australia Helen Manchester (Education, University of Bristol) Care–ful co–tinkering: co–designing technologies for elder care

Discussion

1.30–2.15 Lunch

2.15–3.45 Panel 2: Transnational Ageing, Care and Communication Technologies

Chair: Catriona Stevens

Elaine Ho, Chiu Tuen Yi Jenny, and Olivia Goh (Geography, and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore)

Transnational ageing and care: PRC grandparenting migrants in Singapore Rosa Brandhorst (Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western Australia) Transnational care and ageing in the immobility regime. The case of transnational care between Cuba and Germany Prof Jyotsna Kalavar (Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University) Communication technology and transnational support exchanges

Discussion

3.45–4.15 AfternoonTea

4.15–5.30 Panel 3: Ageing, Intergenerational Relationships and Digital Narratives

Chair: Raelene Wilding

Janice Ying-chui Lau, Eliza Lai–yi Wong, and Eng–kiong Yeoh (Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Expectations, needs, and loneliness: a case study of transborder care in Hong Kong Jo Elfving-Hwang, (Asian Studies) UWA Gerontoromcoms Come of Age: Ageing and Romance in South Korean Cinema Peta Cook (Sociology, University of Tasmania) Confronting ageism through research: translating research for the community

Discussion

Time Event


Program – Day 2, Saturday, 2 December 2017

8.30 Registrationandcoffee

9.00–10.30 Panel 4: Innovative Methods, Social Support and New Media

Chair: Raelene Wilding

Ivaylo Vassilev (Health Sciences, University of Southampton) Mobilising social networks in open systems: a whole system approach to activating personal communities Leng Leng Thang (Family and Population Research, National University of Singapore), and Anita Ho (AWWA Non-

profit organisation, Singapore) Canappssupportthecaregivingofeldersathome?Reflectionsonnewmediainterventionandinformation

caregiving in Singapore Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) Mediapracticesofolderinternetusers:areflectionaroundanonlinesurvey

Discussion 10.30–11.00 Morning tea

11.00–1.00 Panel 5: Communities of Care, Memory and Nostalgia

Chair: Andrew Gilbert

Christa Lykke Christensen (Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen) Evoking a shared past by enforcing nostalgia? On the role of media in nursing homes Joanne Mihelcic (Media and Communications, RMIT University) Thesignificanceandimplicationsofsharingandrecordingpersonalstoriesinearlystagedementia Sanetta du Toit (Occupational Therapy, The University of Sydney) Care settings as micro-communities – how meaningful engagement enables the doing and belonging of people with

advanced dementia Aureliana di Rollo (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) and Celine Doucet (Arts and Humanities, Edith

Cowan University) Cansignificantsongsstimulatespeech?Apilotprojectusingsongstosupportlanguageskillsinbilingualpersons

with dementia

Discussion

1.00–1.45 Lunch

1.45–3.45 Panel 6: Engagement, Inclusion, Ageing and New Media

Chair: Adele Millard

Sheena Edwards (Rockingham iPad Group) Can seniors with no computer knowledge participate in New Media society? Lessons from the iPad group. Katie Curo (Befriend) The Befriend Social Network – embedding technology training to achieve social inclusion Henrietta Podgorska (Umbrella Multicultural Community Care) Both-And,notEither-Or:findingthebalancebetweenpaper-basedandelectronictoolstoincreaseconsumerchoice

in the new aged care system Louise Molyneux and Deb Whitelock (Amana Living) Fostering a digitally inclusive environment – an aged care service provider’s perspective

Discussion

Time Event


3.45–4.15 AfternoonTea 4.15–5.15 Panel 7: Communities of Resilience and Social Technologies

Chair: Loretta Baldassar

Jolynna Sinanan, Edgar Gómez Cruz, and Jessica Noske-Turner (Media and Communications, RMIT University) Digital Footscray: narratives of place by older persons and their younger relatives Gonzalo Bacigalupe (Education and Human Development, University of Massachusetts-Boston) Emerging technologies for community resilience: disasters are never natural

Discussion

5.15–5.30 Closing Session

Chairs: Loretta Baldassar and Raelene Wilding

Time Event

Umbrella’s Internet Cafe, 2016.


Panel 1

Loretta Baldassar, Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western [email protected] Raelene Wilding, Sociology, La Trobe University, [email protected]

Digital Kinning: The role of distant care support networks in ageing. This paper presents the methodological and conceptual frameworks in development in our ARC Ageing and New Media project, which examines the support networks of older Australians from diverse backgrounds (including from UK, Italy, China, India, and Myanmar). Our research builds on recent analyses of social networks to examine the potential role of ‘distant’ and ‘transnational’ family and social support networks on the health and wellbeing of people as they age. We know from our previous research that these forms of distant support can provide important sources of care, despite being mediated by distance and technologies. However, current policy and research tends to focus only on the role of local and proximate support. In this paper, we propose the notion of ‘digital kinning’ as a way to examine the practices of providing care and support across distance through the use of new media. Digital kinning comprises the inherently relational practices and processes of caring across distance through the use of new technologies, which constitute, build and maintain kinship relations. For older people in particular, these digital kinning practices often require facilitation by others, further emphasising their social relational nature. The concept of kinning (Howell 2013) highlights the processes of becoming kin, not on the basis of biological ties, but on the basis of what is done, performed and exchanged. In this rendering, kinship is fundamentally relational and performative, negotiated on a daily basis through diverse activities, with care-giving being the most significant. An analysis of digital kinning highlights how support networks can be transformed – through the use of new media – into transnational social fields that bring the diaspora worlds of the migrants into the everyday worlds of the locals.

Adele Millard, Anthropology and Sociology/Media and Communication, The University of Western [email protected]

Diversity, dynamism and digital disruption in ageing: Case studies from metropolitan and regional Western Australia.The term digital disruption is frequently used to convey the impact of computer technologies on industries such as mining, finance, and agriculture. However, there is a significant digital disruption developing in social experiences of ageing,

with valuable implications for how public health policies and services are developed and delivered into the future. In best case scenarios, older Australians from CALD backgrounds enjoy new forms of autonomy, empowerment, and participation by using new media that enable them to ‘age in place’ more happily, socially, and for longer. Many enjoy winter travel to warmer climates, taking digital media with them ‘to remain connected to home’ – and ‘in case of emergency’ – finding that digital communications infrastructure installed in mining regions often provides better connectivity in remote areas than they enjoy in their own homes. Others may be overwhelmed by digital technologies or choices. And still more may have the desire but not the means, infrastructure or support to find out whether they like it or not. Experiences of and preferences in digital citizenship vary between individuals and families, as well as between geographic areas. This paper presents case studies from metropolitan and regional Western Australia that demonstrate these variations; and considers the implications for developing social and communications policy and infrastructure to accommodate such diversity and dynamism.

Helen Manchester, Education, University of [email protected]

Care-ful Co-Tinkering: Co-designing technologies for elder care.Technological solutions are often hailed as a dominant response to global and local problems of caring for older people but much of the design of new technologies follows old biomedical models (Vines et al, 2015). In this paper I argue that there is a pressing need to consider technologies as entangled in practices of caring and as increasingly implicated in what it means to be human. This paper calls for a more nuanced, critical and speculative approach to understanding and designing technologies for those in later life. It puts forward a new methodology for the co-design of technologies of care.

Panel 2

Elaine L.E. Ho, Chiu Tuen Yi Jenny, and Olivia Goh, Geography, and Asia Research Institute, National University of [email protected]

Transnational ageing and care: PRC grandparenting migrants in Singapore.This paper focuses on how ageing is experienced across national borders and considers how new technology mediates the experiences of older migrants as they recreate new social networks and spaces abroad. The experiences of older migrants remain under-researched but the way they journey between sending/receiving societal contexts is deserving of academic and policy attention. We focus on grandparenting

Speaker abstracts


migrants from the People’s Republic of China (henceforth PRC grandparenting migrants) who move temporarily to Singapore to provide care for grandchildren and/or to receive care. Our paper examines how PRC grandparent migrants adjust to life and care work in a foreign country. Many are on social visit passes or short-term visas. Rather than ‘ageing in place’, such migrants are charting transnational journeys of ageing. For this paper, we consider how several of the older migrants use WeChat as a way to maintain connections with friends and family back in China, and to build new social connections in Singapore. We carried out go-along interviews and use GPS and other data to map and make sense of their daily care routines in Singapore. Through mixed methods, we develop a layered analysis of how such grandparenting migrants experience ageing abroad and their aspirations for the future.

Rosa-Maria Brandhorst, Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western [email protected]

Transnational care and ageing in the immobility regime. The case of transnational care between Cuba and Germany.In this paper I analyse aged care and ageing in place in transnational families between Cuba and Germany. The paper draws on the results of a longitudinal multi-sited research on transnational families, based on reconstructive analysis of participant observations and biographical-narrative interviews with Cuban migrants in Germany and their relatives in Cuba. Adopting a case level of family histories enables me to see how the exchange of care is negotiated across generations. Originating from a transnational migration studies background, this paper addresses the implications of the transnationalisation of life worlds and the possibility to maintain contact via information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the concept of ageing in place. A special focus lies on the structural constraints (such as travel restrictions and ICTs access) on transnational care and ageing in a transnational place. Closed borders, restrictive travel and migration policies and restricted Internet access in Cuba highlight the impediments of transnational caregiving through national migration, healthcare, and other policies. Cuba’s gatekeeper state and its attempt to protect nation-state sovereignty and the Cuban socialist system in a context of socio-political transformation pose considerable obstacles for transnational carers. Immediate communication through ICTs and a care circulation are not possible here. The presented case studies reveal instead the effects of an immobility regime. Thus, this paper explores the importance of an imagined sense of belonging to a transnational family as an emotional resource for ageing in a transnational place.

Jyotsna Kalavar, Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State [email protected]

Communication Technology and Transnational Support Exchanges.The research literature lacks a systematic investigation of the interface between communication technology and transnational support in different cultural contexts. Using an online survey, this study examined transnational support exchanges reported by 131 adult offspring residing in USA whose elderly mother lives in India. Four popular communication technologies (email, texting, phone, and audio-visual live interactions) were examined in terms of frequency of usage as well as rating of each technology. Findings suggest that such technologies play a significant role in certain transnational exchanges between generations. However, these technologies may also raise challenges that impact transnational support exchanges between generations.

Panel 3

Janice Ying-chui Lau, Eliza Lai-yi Wong and Eng-kiong Yeoh, Jockey Club School of Public Health, The Chinese University of Hong [email protected]

Expectations, Needs and Loneliness: A Case Study of Transborder Care in Hong Kong.The literature on technology and aging persons supports the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in enhancing intergenerational connectivity and social inclusion, but paid scant attention to how well can ICT address to the caregiving expectations and needs of culturally-diverse aging persons in their transnational aging process. To illuminate the situated context of transnational families, we present a case drawing on the fieldwork as part of a large research project conducted in Hong Kong during 2015 and 2016. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews and observation, we offer a reflective analysis of the experience of an old widower with multiple chronic conditions, where challenges of home care was attempted to be met by adopting ICT by her daughters living across borders. We identify the principle factors of utilising ICT: sustaining intergenerational relations through everyday virtual interactions, preserving the cognitive capital of the aging parent by engaging her in virtual gaming, and coping with home care challenges through distant-supervising the domestic helper. We examine the perceived benefits of ICT utilisation among the daughters in fulfilling care obligations while constrained by geographical distance. We also explore how the aging parent with mobility problem and mild memory impairment relates to ICT that results to ambivalent emotions with her family ties. While acknowledging the contributions of ICT in promoting digital inclusion, our results identify long-term loneliness of the


aging parent as a result of unmet caregiving expectations and needs. We discussed the challenges of transnational caregiving of individuals who are situated in a family-oriented and gendered norm of care in the Chinese context.

Jo Elfving-Hwang, Asian Studies, The University of Western [email protected]

Gerontoromcoms Come to Age: Ageing and Romance in South Korean Cinema. This paper will discuss a recent ‘geriatric turn’ in recent South Korean romantic comedy films. The rapidly ageing society is one of the most pressing social and economic issues in contemporary Korea, and also one that is often treated with a mix of anxiety and benevolent concern in mainstream media. Such representations have actively posited the elderly and the ageing bodies as ‘unproductive Others’ (de Beauvoir 1970), undesired and cast outside mainstream society’s concerns and priorities. This paper discusses the ways in which Korean romantic comedy films, a genre which has hitherto been seen as incongruous to ageing, has recently emerged as a discursive space to contest hegemonic assumptions about ageing and romantic love in later life. The way in which discourses around appearance are utilised in these cinematic representations point to the existence of age-specific and aspirational notions of beauty and romantic love in ways that problematise prevailing negative stereotypes about lives of older adults in South Korea.

Peta Cook, Sociology, The University of [email protected] Confronting ageism through research: Translating research for the community.Ageism, which refers to prejudice based a set of ideas, attitudes and beliefs regarding chronological age and the ageing process, is common experience for older people (Bytheway 1995). This is witnessed in the prevalence of social stereotypes and myths which, when it comes to older age, assert overwhelming negative, standardised judgements on personality, cognitive function, levels of social connections and integration, and physical appearance and performance (Thorton 2002). Unfortunately, unlike other forms of discrimination such as disablism, racism, and sexism, ageism is ubiquitous and widely socially accepted. It was expected that as the baby boomer (post-World War II) generation neared and entered retirement, this would alter the negative social attitudes towards ageing (Boyle and Morriss 1984). The social embedding and prevalence of ageism, however, means it is hard to challenge and, as a result, there has been little to no change. Intergenerational programs and events are one way to achieve this which, in general, involves older and younger generations coming into contact with each other and working together on shared projects (Fletcher 2007). The impacts of such programs, however, are unlikely to affect a wider

public audience. Similarly, the use of visual research methods has the potential to challenge ageism by allowing older people to represent their own ageing, given the devaluing of ageing in visual imagery (Twigg 2013). Translating such work beyond academia, however, has been limited. Drawing on my project, Reclaiming the Self, which employed a visual research method to examine how older people construct their age, I will examine how I have translated my research into contexts outside of academia. This has included art exhibitions and public outreach. I will explore these activities, and provide insight into the positive and challenging aspects of undertaking such community engagement.

Panel 4

Ivaylo Vassilev, Sociology and Human Computer Interaction, University of Southampton [email protected]

Mobilising social networks in open systems: A whole system approach to activating personal communities.There is recognition that social involvement and social networks play a key role in improving people’s health and quality of life. However, there are few interventions that are effective in engaging whole personal communities in the context of people’s everyday life. A web-based tool called GENIE aims to address some of these gaps through a focus on enhancing individual and network capabilities, and by engaging a range of stakeholders in the development and maintenance of a resource database, improving awareness of available resources and the links between them, addressing gaps in the provision of services. This paper draws on a program of work that informed the development, implementation, and assessment of GENIE as a way of reflecting on the processes and mechanisms operating within personal communities, the types of personal community structure and forms of network mobilisation, and the ways in which new technologies can enhance, restrict, and re-shape the ongoing relational work within the personal communities of older people.


Leng Leng Thang, Family and Population Research, National University of [email protected] Ho, AWWA Non-profit organization, [email protected]

Can apps support the caregiving of elders at home? Reflections on new media intervention and informal caregiving in Singapore.In recent years, technological intervention and new media have become buzzwords in the promise of better eldercare and quality of life. Hence, in conceptualising a project focusing on informal caregiving of elders with a solution-based approach, we included a piloting of mobile application to explore new ways in supporting and caring for frail elders at home. The qualitative study with in-depth interviews conducted with 30 caregivers of dependent elderly in Singapore, however, showed little interest among the caregivers to take up the pilot project. In this presentation discussing the reasons for the lack of interest among the caregivers, we supplement the data with focus group interviews conducted with a caregivers support group to better explore how new technology in the form of new media such as smart phone applications are perceived in the supporting caregiving of elders at home.

Mireia Fernandez-Ardevol, Communication Networks and Social Change, Open University of [email protected]

Media Practices of Older Internet Users: A reflection around an online survey.This paper shares the results of an online survey exploring digital media uses of older Internet users in Spain, with a particular focus on mobile communication practices. Data confirm the pervasiveness of mobile phones (90% have one) and the key role of instant messaging such as WhatsApp. Following the general trend, the mobile phone is more than a conventional phone for the older adults, as the camera (88%) and instant messaging (80%) are significantly more relevant than ordinary voice calls (68%). The survey was conducted in November 2016. With a sample size of 2238 responses, it is representative of Internet users aged 60 years and over living in Spain. The questionnaire includes closed-ended questions exploring media use, places of media use, and media preferences. Of interest is to understand the potential and limitations of the tool we used for data collection. In the Spanish case, the survey targeted a commercial online panel. It guaranteed a fast, high-quality data collection. However, we also faced the usual limitations that tend to ignore the oldest segments of the population in marketing research. I will discuss these issues in search of a better understanding of the improvements we should aim at.

Panel 5

Christa Lykke Christensen, Media, Cognition and Communication, University of [email protected]

Evoking a shared past by enforcing nostalgia? On the role of media in nursing homes.Everyday life at a nursing home is saturated by media. Based on observational studies and interviews with staff at Danish nursing homes this presentation describes how media are integrated in everyday activities in shared spaces at nursing homes. Who administers the use of media in common rooms and what are the criteria for the choice of media? In particular, the study focuses on staff’s use of nostalgia as a tool to create a shared past by using media to evoke residents’ memories.

Joanne Mihelcic, Media and Communications, RMIT [email protected]

The significance and implications of sharing and recording personal stories in early stage dementia.For the person diagnosed with dementia remembering and forgetting become critical and more conscious activities in maintaining a coherent sense of self. Autobiographical and biographical stories and events are routinely documented for use as aids in managing personal knowledge of and for individuals in the contexts of aged care. Existing research and anecdotal evidence indicate that the use of this type of biographical information is good in theory but difficult in practice. (McKeown, Clarke, Ingleton, Ryan, and Repper, 2010) Much of this information is recorded as a way of mitigating the loss of memories or used as triggers for remembering for the person with dementia in relationship with their carers. When memory aid creation is undertaken during moderate or more advanced stages of disease progression, the person to whom the records pertain may have diminished direct involvement in the processes of creation, decision-making or management of these records. This paper describes the design of consultative practices for working with people with early stage dementia and their personal stories. The shared telling and recording of personal stories were processes for making sense of self in the world. This embodied experience was composed of multiple and complementary dimensions. Through social processes participants were actively engaging in externalising their stories of self as material representations and as an extension of self. Participants were philosophical in how they applied their personal knowledge to contexts: past, present and future. Personal knowledge reflected individual’s values and beliefs and how this informed their social connections. The processes for sharing, representing and reviewing stories as vignettes highlighted the way these records and their meaning


were co-constructed; it was an emotional experience where people were affected by their records being co-created and also able to affect the co-creation process. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to imaging innovations in care contexts.

Sanetta du Toit, Occupational Therapy, The University of [email protected]

Care settings as micro-communities: How meaningful engagement enables the doing and belonging of people with advanced dementia. The right to access and engage in what a person considers to be meaningful is termed occupational justice. Despite culture change and resident-directed care initiatives, residents with advanced dementia living in care settings are still prone to experience disengagement and isolation. It appears as if best efforts amount to a state of occupational foreclosure – engagement dependent on the initiative of others. Staff education and various approaches to address ‘challenging behaviours’ contribute to an attitude where staff view residents as ‘a puzzle’ – looking for what is missing to ‘fix’ a situation. These dementia care approaches have impacted on the definition and interpretation of meaningful engagement and need closer consideration. This presentation will critically consider meaningful engagement associated with advanced dementia care. As the wellbeing of older people with dementia is closely connected to the quality of their doing and belonging, care facilities needs to be considered as micro-communities – i.e. a place where independence and interdependence is part of a continuum. Factors for facilitating a community of care where all living and working in the specific social habitat make a contribution will be highlighted. Doing and belonging associated with access to a range of everyday activities as well a new media should enable people with dementia to embrace continuing opportunities for agency and will ensure occupational justice in residential dementia care.

Aureliana Di Rollo, Italian Studies, Western Australian Academy of Performing [email protected] Céline Doucet, French Studies, Edith Cowan [email protected]

Can significant songs stimulate speech? A pilot project using songs to support language skills in bilingual persons with dementia.This paper will discuss the implementation of a pilot project on the use of significant songs with bilingual and CaLD (Culturally and Linguistic Diverse) persons living with dementia (PWD) in Western Australia. The expected outcome of the pilot is to uncover whether and how familiar songs can be used to develop tools to support and facilitate the relationship between CaLD PWD, families and care-

workers. The ultimate goal of our research is to produce new knowledge in the field of arts-based approaches to dementia and new media. Research background: In Australia, the growing number of people living with dementia (PWD) poses significant challenges to families, communities and institutions. There were more than 353,800 Australians living with dementia in 2012. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW, 2012) projects that there will be around 900,000 PWD by 2050. Among this cohort, there are a significant number of ageing people from CaLD backgrounds. The incidence of dementia within the CaLD population in Australia is predicted to increase from approximately 35,000 in 2010 to 120,000 by 2050 (Access Economics, 2009). CaLD population are faced with unique issues due to be potentially cared for in a L2 which may not be as well mastered as L1. There are some anecdotal reports in regard to L2 deterioration, which is a potential problem for family and carers. However, scientific evidence does not support this perception. On the contrary, some studies say that L1 and L2 show equivalent decline. Aim of the Pilot: There is an urgent need to understand more about this issue and whether this is actually a problem faced by aged care staff/carers in communication with CALD PWD. Our pilot addresses this need. Through a series of thorough interviews with carers, we want to understand and characterise the communication problems faced by carers, before devising strategies to help. Among questions on how they do manage any difficulties currently, we investigate whether and how the nursing staff use music.

Panel 6

Sheena Edwards, Volunteer Coordinator, Rockingham iPad [email protected]

Can seniors with no computer knowledge participate in New Media society? Lessons from the iPad Group. The iPad group for seniors is now into its fifth year. About 30 people attend every week. In 2012, while teaching the computer to seniors it proved difficult to help people without previous computer experience to gain enough confidence to use the skills useful to them. Every update would alarm and confuse them causing some to pay for a technician to fix their computer! I heard people say that the iPad was much easier, but when I won one, despite my own computer knowledge, I found it difficult to know what to do with it. So with a friend, similarly challenged, I set up a trial group to explore the possibility of starting an ongoing group. Just word-of-mouth advertising brought 12 people to the first group and 18 to the second, demonstrating clear interest. However, half of those who came to each group didn’t own an iPad but wanted to find out about what it could do and how to get one. A grant was obtained to purchase some iPads for the group. Since that time hundreds of seniors have learned to use the iPad in the group. Some have stayed from the beginning and become


part of the teaching team. It has become evident that the need is greater than just teaching the iPad. They need help to know what to buy and how to get connected to the Internet. The iPad group gives this support and focuses on things that will be helpful to seniors including ways to stay connected with family and friends. There are frequent inquiries about groups like this from other localities and clearly there is a need for such.

Katie Curo, Consultant, BeFriend, Perth, Western [email protected]

The Befriend Social Network: Embedding Technology Training to Achieve Social Inclusion.Befriend is a Perth-based non-profit social enterprise with a vision of an inclusive, connected society. Befriend facilitates the development of relationships and community connections through the Befriend Social Network (BFSN) and professional development workshops delivered to community service organisations. The BFSN brings together people from diverse backgrounds at a variety of offline social events, workshops and short-courses. The eFriends Project – a one-on-one digital technology training program intended to provide BFSN members with the knowledge, skills and confidence to connect with others using digital technology – was developed by Befriend in 2011 to increase digital inclusion of members. In 2017, Befriend discontinued The eFriends Project and embedded digital technology training into BFSN events so that members would have the opportunity to learn about digital technology in an applied social context. This paper will explore the reasons why Befriend shifted from providing one-on-one digital technology training to embedding digital technology into BFSN events. Three key insights will be explained. First, sustainability: While The eFriends Project was created in response to the needs of BFSN members, most participants came from outside of the BFSN and the program model was not financially sustainable. Second, training: While many service providers and funders understood the benefits of technology training, some participants had not developed the motivation and did not engage fully during sessions. Third, social inclusion: Befriend’s current conceptualisation is of technology as a vehicle to support the development of relationships. Consequently, Befriend has refined its focus to be about creating contexts for relationships, viewing digital technology as integral tool in this process.

Henrietta Podgorska, Umbrella Multicultural Community Care Services, Western [email protected]

Both-And, Not Either-Or: Finding the balance between paper-based and electronic tools to increase consumer choice in the new aged care system.Aged care system reform has brought a new ingredient into an already complex system: consumer choice. It has been seen by many as a step forward to a more inclusive system, where seniors have the freedom to decide about their future care needs by increasing consumer autonomy in community-based service delivery. However, this freedom comes at a cost. The consumer must be ready to understand a very complex system with its loopholes and dead-ends. We are also on the verge of a generational change; from the great generation to the baby boomers. And while the new system is preparing for the more tech-savvy generation, paper-based information still plays a big role in empowering clients and promoting choice. The challenge is to find the right balance to accommodate the needs of both generations.

Louise Molyneux (Enrichment Technology Advisor) and Deb Whitelock (Regional Operations Manager, South – Home Care), Amana Living, Western [email protected] [email protected]

Fostering a digitally inclusive environment: An aged care service provider’s perspective.Amana Living delivers a range of innovative enrichment initiatives that utilise technology to connect, empower and build capacity in older adult populations. A critical element in the successful delivery of these programs has been the creation of an Enrichment Technology Advisor position. This presentation will explore the way in which this unique role fosters a digitally inclusive environment for older adults in a community and residential care setting and discusses in detail the health and well-being outcomes of older adults participating in these programs.

Panel 7

Jolynna Sinanan, Edgar Gómez Cruz and Jessica Noske-Turner, Media and Communications, RMIT [email protected]

Digital Footscray: Narratives of place by older persons and their younger relatives.Mobile and social media have become increasingly imbricated in different categories of intergenerational family relationships and even more so for transnational families. Yet, with the availability of digital media to communicate and to care at a distance, obligations and expectations for different forms of circulating resources and emotion work also increases (Baldassar 2017, Miller and Sinanan 2014, Wilding 2006). This paper draws on preliminary field work conducted in Footscray, Melbourne. Footscray has long been recognised for its socio-cultural and economic diversity and our current project interrogates the meanings of mobility, belonging and community resilience through engaging with intergenerational uses of digital media. Further, a key initiative of the Maribyrnong City Council has been to implement public WiFi in the suburb’s main shopping area, which responds to several households who have access to the internet through pre-paid data or public WiFi only (i.e. they do not have WiFi broadband within their households). We present initial findings from interviews and our creative workshop that pilots Gómez Cruz’s ‘vignethnography’ methodological approach that involves older persons and their younger relatives, predominantly from the Vietnamese, South Sudanese and Australian Indigenous communities, several who have relatives who live in the wider region, interstate or overseas. The workshop had two aims: to engage youth and elderly in collaborating and discussing through mobile media, and to better understand uses of Footscray’s public WiFi, especially for older citizens who frequently use these services. We asked participants to make digital narratives in response to themes of place and belonging on their mobile phones and conducted interviews afterwards. We conclude with key insights so far and further directions we aim to pursue from the course of the research.

Gonzalo Bacigalupe, Social Psychology, University of [email protected]

Emerging Technologies for Community Resilience: Disasters are Never Natural.Emerging technologies, the sophisticated and cutting- edge as well as the prosaic and simple, have become an intrinsic dimension for disaster risk reduction strategies for individuals, families, and communities impacted by extreme natural events. In this talk, I reflect and share vignettes from research that investigate the power of social technologies, aerial robotics, and private messaging communication tools, for individuals, families, and communities at peril. I will particularly focus on the role of the older adults and the elderly, as protagonists rather than framing in the standard discourse of followers or as just a population needing care.


Symposium convenors

Loretta Baldassar Loretta Baldassar is Professor in the Discipline Group of Anthropology and Sociology at The University of Western Australia and Adjunct Principal Research Fellow at Monash University. Loretta has published extensively on transnational mobility, with a particular focus on families and caregiving across the life course, including the award winning book, Visits Home (MUP 2001). Recent publications include, Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care: understanding mobility and absence in family life (with Merla, Routledge, 2014). Baldassar is a Board Member of the ISA Migration Research Committee and a regional editor for the journal, Global Networks. She is co-Chief Investigator on two Australian Research Council funded Discover Projects: Ageing and New Media (with Raelene Wilding, La Trobe) and Mobile Transitions: Understanding the Effects of Transnational Mobility on Youth Transitions (with Anita Harris, Deakin and Shanti Robertson, Western Sydney).

Raelene Wilding Raelene Wilding is Associate Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Her research explores intimacy, care, and mobilities through the lens of communication technologies. In the Transnational Aged Care project, with Loretta Baldassar, she explored the ways in which migrants in Australia and their ageing parents overseas use communication technologies to exchange care and support. In the Home Lands project, with Sandra Gifford, communication technologies were examined as a tool for supporting positive settlement experiences by connecting past and present homes and multiple geographic and virtual sites of belonging. Her current ARC Project, with Baldassar, explores the role of new media in ageing, by considering the ways in which elderly migrants and non-migrants engage with friends and family across distance and around the world. Her most recent book is Families, Intimacy and Globalisation: Floating Ties (Palgrave 2017).

Prof Loretta Baldassar

A/Prof Raelene Wilding

Ageing and New Media Project TeamAdele Millard, Project Manager (PhD, Anthropology and Sociology, UWA)Rosa Brandhorst, Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow (German Research Foundation) and Anthropology and Sociology, UWAŁukasz Krzyżowski, Postdoctoral Research Fellow (University of Kraków, Polish Ministry of Science) and Anthropology and Sociology, UWAEmanuela Sala, Research Associate (PhD, Anthropology and Sociology, UWA)Catriona Stevens, Research Associate (PhD candidate, Anthropology and Sociology, UWA)Rachel McMinn, Honours Student (Anthropology and Sociology, UWA) Anne Mette Andersen, Research Associate (Anthropology and Sociology, UWA) Andrew Gilbert, Research Associate (PhD, Sociology, La Trobe University)Shane Worrell, Research Associate (PhD candidate, Sociology, La Trobe University)Samiro Mohamad, Research Associate (Sociology, La Trobe University)Lwe Pree, Research Associate (Sociology, La Trobe University)Kiran Kaur, Research Associate (Sociology, La Trobe University)

UWA World Universities Network, Research Collaboration Award Host Committee Prof Loretta Baldassar, Discipline of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western AustraliaA/Prof Raelene Wilding, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, La Trobe UniversityDr Adele Millard, Discipline of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western AustraliaDr Sanetta du Toit, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of SydneyA/Prof Joanna Elfving-Hwang, Discipline Chair, Asian Studies, The University of Western AustraliaProf Judy Esmond, Social Work and Social Policy, The University of Western AustraliaA/Prof Christopher Etherton-Beer, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia

CRICOS Provider Code: 00126G

Ageing and New Media ARC Discovery Research Project DP160102552

The University of Western Australia Tel: +61 8 6488 3997Email: [email protected] socialsciences.uwa.edu.au/eAgeing

UWA DCS 000763CRICOS Provider Code: 00126G

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Documents

Ageing and New Media Symposium - UWA€¦ · Ageing and New Media Symposium 1–2 December 2017 ... Diversity, dynamism, and digital disruption in ageing: case studies from metropolitan