Poster: Teletalker - an online window to connect older adults

At the ISG I presented my poster about my research field research with the Teletalker. Field research took place from 12th - 15th June 2012 between the Day centre Age UK Barnet and the atrium Middlesex University.

Summary of main findings:
* The Teletalker worked well as an introduction for older people to online face-to-face communication
* Signage is needed to make the purpose of the Teletalker clearer
* Communication through the Teletalker worked better when there was a person at one end all the time
* Physical placement of the Teletalker was crucial for getting people to try it out and to connect older adults

At the ISG*ISARC conference

At the moment I'm at the ISG conference in Eindhoven. The ISARC part of the conference is all about robots, which I find fascinating. With fellow academics I discussed the question whether the majority of older people are still likely to be out of touch with technology in 20years time (even though by then the majority will be proficient Internet users)? There is the possibility that other technologies have been developed where the older person (including me by then) may not feel the need of wanting to learn. What is your view? Tomorrow I will be talking about my research: the Teletalker - an online window to connect older adults. With this research I investigate how to make online face to face communication easier for everyone... in particular for technological novices. From 11th June to 15th June I conducted field research with the Teletalker between Middlesex University and AgeUk Barnet. I'm still analyzing my observations, but here is a little video to give you a feeling for how it went.

Martha Lane-Fox introduces the Digital Unite Academy

Digital Unite Academy offers a Digital Champion ITQ (accredited by city & guilds) for people who are interested in helping other people to learn the computer. Martha Lane-Fox introduces the Digital Unite Academy in this little video. I agree with her that most people are not aware of the benefits of what you can do online and that it is people power what would bring more people online. Am just surprised to find that she's worried whether she's going to pass the ITQ course - not sure how encouraging this is.

External and internal locus of control

This Monday I listened to BBC4 Mind changers about Julian Rotter's measurement of internal and external locus of control. Depending on the person's perception of where the control lies for events they deal differently with life situations. If you have an internal locus of control you might be a 'go getter' and believing that you can change things. If you have an external locus of control you might believe that a higher power has decided events for you and that you can't do anything about it and this can show in for example "learnt helplessness". Particularly interesting for me was to hear that the locus of control changes with age and how it changes to an external locus in regards to health aspects. The Lifespan Developmental Psychology Laboratory at Brandeis University did research on this. Another interesting aspect for me was to hear how Julian Rotter was an academic, but he was also a keen sportsman and poker player and that these activities were for him as important as his research. Which feds my opinion to be a rounded, happy and enlightened person one should not only seek to accumulate knowledge but also to be in sync with your body through either sports or meditation. Surely poker can be seen as a form of meditation :-)

European Year of Active Ageing

2012 is the European Year of Active Ageing. here is the link to the EU website - the about section I find the events calendar on the right-hand side particularly interesting.

Life's third act

I recently watched with my mother-in-law (in her seventies) the talk by Jane Fonda "Life's third act" on TED talks. view talk here I really enjoyed her talk and thought that the analogy of life as 'going upstairs' (rather than going up some steps and after peaking, going the steps down) was very apt. My mother-in-law felt that most of it was very true. When I probed she said that she couldn't remember the details but it felt that way. She made, however, the point that Jane Fonda is someone who has sufficient money and that an older person's development might be very different when they have money worries. I couldn't disagree with this, and now wonder how for example a homeless older person experience life.

Introducing the Social Gerontology Group at Uppsala University

I only recently came across the theory of gero-transcendence, which made me aware of Lars Tornstam from Uppsala University. He developed the theory of gero-transcendence as answer to the discredited disengagement theory. Gero-transcendence, in a nutshell, is a shift in meta perspective, from a materialistic and rational view of the world to a more cosmic and transcendent one, normally accompanied by an increase in life satisfaction. Gero-transcencende is a possible natural progression with growing older towards maturation and wisdom. Lars Tornstam and team form the Social Gerontology Group at Uppsala University, which did work within the framework of the national multidisciplinary gerontological program - Elderly in Society - Past, Present and in the Future. Their current and past research output can be found here