A-C-M Project

Ageing Communication Media: Active ageing, mobile technologies – Access to communication for the elderly (A-C-M)

Period: March 2011 – March 2014

Source of funding: Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

Project reference: 890-2010-0138

Partners: Concordia University (Canada), Multimedia University (Malaysia), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Catalonia, Spain), Université de Montréal (Canada), York University (Canada)

Principal investigator: Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University

Description: The global population is ageing. According to UNESCO projections, the proportion of people who are 60 and over is growing faster than any other age group. Between 1970 and 2025, a growth in older persons of some 694 million or 223 percent is expected, with 80 percent living in developing countries. What are our communicational needs and desires as we age? How does the processes of ageing affect our network of social relations, our communicational practices, or our media choices and uses of technologies?

Ageing-Communications-Media brings together a team of researchers from Malaysia, Catalonia (Spain), Canada and Quebec whose goal is to better understand the intersections between communications, ageing and mobility. In discussions of active ageing the areas of health, education and participation typically are named as key elements to living a qualitatively better life. What is absent from much of the literature, is a consideration of the key role of communications, media or new technologies, as components of this strategy. Likewise, within industry documents and academic writings on media and technology, those who are 60+ are typically missing. The goal of our research partnership is to identify, understand, and to see what steps might be taken to rectify this double absence.

Case studies:

Links: