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Digital Participation
Abstract
The termdigital participationrefers to the active involvement in digital society through the use of modern information and communication technology (ICT), such as the Internet. This participation includes access to not only the Internet but also various online services and content. Non-participation in the digital world could lead to a feeling of social exclusion, whereas a feeling of social inclusion may be induced by having access to the Internet as well as the willingness and skills to use it.
... As civic participation becomes increasingly digitalised, growing numbers of older adults are assuming active roles, suggesting that digital participation should be prioritised in digitalisation strategies. The concept of digital participation acknowledges digital inequalities of whether people participate actively or passively in digital society depending on usage, skills, social support and self-perceptions [36]. In supporting the creation of age-friendly communities by making older people's voices public and broadcasting media content of relevance to older people [9], community media have been highlighted as a key route to civic participation in later life [30]. ...
... Assuming a 'situated community' approach and taking into account the "dynamic and mutually-shaping relationship between technologies and their everyday practices" [32], acknowledges the involvement of older adults and their (digital) civic contribution as a valuable part of society. As a term, digital participation "refers to the active involvement in digital society through the use of modern information and communication technology" [36]. According to Seifert and Rössel, access to the internet (or a lack thereof) is merely one element of digital participation, with more skills needed to achieve active involvement [36]. ...
... As a term, digital participation "refers to the active involvement in digital society through the use of modern information and communication technology" [36]. According to Seifert and Rössel, access to the internet (or a lack thereof) is merely one element of digital participation, with more skills needed to achieve active involvement [36]. Considering this wider impact of digital participation beyond access issues entails rethinking the role of technologies in older people's lives. ...
In increasingly digitalised societies, government initiatives to ensure that public services remain accessible for everyone typically focus on the digital inclusion of older adults. However, by solely viewing older adults as passive recipients or consumers of services, digital inclusion strategies under-emphasise the concept of digital participation. Highlighting the importance of older adults as active contributors in a digital society, we investigated the potential of content creation to increase older adults' digital skills whilst also strengthening their digital participation. Through a workshop and interviews involving three different groups of older content producers, we show that content creation can stimulate older adults' digital participation. We report on challenges faced by the content creators, including time constraints, lack of professional support and the preference to create content collaboratively. We propose that by facilitating collaborative content creation activities, local communities can better support older adults' digital participation and facilitate inclusion across different life domains.
... Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has recently advanced, fueling the nature of partnerships and modes of operation in various sectors, such as those with business and government administration processes [1]. Countries worldwide have been implementing digital or e-government platforms as a strategy for improving government administrations [2] and providing good governance by using government applications as essential tools to support the plan of action [3,4]. The digital government provides benefits to the citizens, such as efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability, among others. ...
... cations as essential tools to support the plan of action [3,4]. The digital government provides benefits to the citizens, such as efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability, among others. ...
The Philippine government is taking advantage of the advancement of digital technology to bring and provide an accessible, sustainable, and broader version of its service and connection to its citizens by adapting digitalization and launching a mobile app called eGov PH. This application integrates with multiple sectors of the government, providing a sustainable and convenient way to conduct transactions between government agencies and citizens. This study aimed to investigate and assess the various factors that affect the accessibility of the eGov PH mobile app from the citizens’ viewpoint via an online questionnaire. A comprehensive 64-item research questionnaire was constructed and answered by 320 respondents. This study determined the key factors that influence the accessibility of the application, which will be assessed to improve the service efficiency of the mobile application. The technology acceptance model was used to correlate perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness to attitude toward using. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results revealed a noteworthy correlation between awareness of service and technology readiness and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, perceived ease of use was shown to have an insignificant direct relationship with perceived usefulness and the attitude toward using the eGov mobile application. These findings offer valuable insights into critical factors influencing the accessibility of the eGov app, contributing to enhanced sustainability and overall service efficiency. The identified model constructs from this study can serve as informative guidelines for researchers and various sectors exploring user-software interactions in relevant government applications.
... Unfortunately, certain segments of the population, especially older adults, lack access to or proficiency in using this new technology . As a result, older adults may be at higher risk of feeling excluded from our digital society (Seifert and Rössel, 2019). Given the rapid evolution and widespread use of technology, individuals today are faced with an ever-changing technological landscape that requires continuous upgrading of devices and software as well as the acquisition of new technology skills (Seifert and Charness, 2022). ...
... This phenomenon, known as the second level of the digital divide (Scheerder et al., 2017), indicates that besides access to the internet, it is important to consider what older adults actually do with the internet and how frequently and intensely they use it. Research shows that, compared to younger adults, older adults use the internet less frequently and with lower intensity (Seifert and Rössel, 2019). According to the second level of the digital divide approach, the actual use of the internet is defined in terms of frequency, duration of internet use, and/or the type of activity performed online (van Deursen and Andrade, 2018). ...
Introduction
This study examines the digital divide among older adults in Switzerland within the rapidly evolving digital environment. It investigates changes in internet usage among this population, focusing on the proportion of users, frequency, and the intensity of their internet usage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
Drawing on Swiss data from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement (SHARE), conducted in 2021, the study analyzes a sample of 1,205 older adults.
Results
The findings indicate a growing proportion of internet users over time. It also highlights that gender differences persist but are decreasing. Notably, around 9% of individuals in this study had never used the internet, while recent users exhibited high activity levels, spending an average of approximately two and a half hours online daily. The study identified age, education, employment, living arrangements, and attitudes toward technology as influential factors shaping internet usage among older adults. Importantly, the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a significant impact on internet adoption among this demographic.
Discussion
These findings shed light on the complex dynamics that shape internet usage among older adults and underscore the need to promote digital inclusion and engagement within this population.
... Whilst digital inclusion is one of the foundations for civic participation and social inclusion in later life (Milenkova and Lendzhova, 2021), active digital participation in later life remains under-explored (Serrat et al., 2020). Digital participation focuses on active involvement in digital society through the use of ICTs, with digital inclusion and accessibility merely representing two elements of the concept (Seifert and Rössel, 2022). Creative digital skills, such as skills to create digital content, are needed to achieve active involvement. ...
... Creative digital skills, such as skills to create digital content, are needed to achieve active involvement. The concept of digital participation acknowledges digital inequities and whether older adults participate actively or passively in digital society depending on usage, skills, social support, and self-perceptions (Seifert and Rössel, 2022). Indeed, participatory digital skills have become more important throughout the COVID-19 pandemic due to the shift from in-person participation into digital spaces. ...
The ongoing digitalisation of societies, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to increased efforts to ensure the digital inclusion of older adults. Digital inclusion strategies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic predominantly focused on increasing access and basic digital literacy of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for all members of society. Older adults, who are more likely to experience digital exclusion, are amongst the target groups of digital inclusion strategies. We propose that beyond digital inclusion, there is a need to focus on digital participation and optimise opportunities for everyone to participate in communities and society in post-pandemic times. Creative digital skills are the foundation of digital participation and can lead to a variety of contributions. Digital participation offers conditions that support agency and active contributions in a digitalised society. Taking macro-, meso-, and micro-level enablers of digital participation in later life into account, we argue for the establishment and implementation of multi-layered and multisectoral partnerships that address environmental factors (including social and physical dimensions) of digital participation and create opportunities for diverse, meaningful and fulfilling engagement with ICTs in later life. The partnership approach can be used in designing and implementing digital participation programmes and should be further evaluated against the needs and lived experiences of older individuals. Foresighted research is needed to investigate key factors of effective partnerships for optimising environments for digital participation in later life.
... The main positive aspects of digital services highlighted by the older adults participating in the research included accessibility, convenience, and economic incentives (see also Blažič & Blažič, 2020;Hargittai et al., 2019;Seifert & Rössel, 2019;Tsatsou et al., 2018). As a way of managing services, digital technology was considered handy, practical, inexpensive, or various combinations thereof, as the account below illustrates of Maria (aged 71). ...
... In the section above, we have argued that accessibility, convenience and economic incentives provide the basis for older adults to use digital services. This was confirmed both by our interview data and by previous studies (Blažič & Blažič, 2020;Hargittai et al., 2019;Kuoppamäki, 2018;Seifert & Rössel, 2019;Tsatsou et al., 2018). Limitations and problems with digital services were, however, a recurring topic of conversation among interviewees. ...
The rise of public and other non-recreational digital services is based on the idea of catering to the daily needs of the citizens cost-efficiently and with ease. Previous research has approached the use of digital services mainly from the perspective of an individual, while the significance of shared practices of use has attracted only a little attention. In this article, we (1) examine the incentives and limitations associated with the use of non-recreational digital services, which either encourage or discourage older adults to use them. Based on the first question, we then ask (2) how older adults in this study manage those non-recreational digital services they have chosen to use. Our qualitative analysis is based on participant-induced elicitation (PIE) interviews (n = 21) carried out in Central Finland with older adults aged between 65 and 89. Our findings suggest that there are conflicting views about digital services – they simultaneously evoke both positive and negative associations among interviewees. The incentives and limitations of digital services are expressly heterogeneous among older adults and vary depending on the individual and shared digital repertoire of each user. We describe how participants in this study employed multiple strategies, such as sharing digital repertoires with warm experts, to actively manage using digital services in their daily lives.
... Telemedical solutions are often feasible and acceptable in delivering care to older adults in LTCFs, even in those with sensory impairments such as hearing or visual loss (9). However, older adults are less likely than younger people to be able to take advantage of the opportunities enabled by modern information and communication technology (ICT) or telemedicine (10)(11)(12)(13)(14). Older adults living in LTCFs often (a) opt not to use the internet, (b) cannot afford internet access or ICT devices, (c) lack technical solutions with which to use telemedicine to connect virtually with doctors or other health professionals, (d) have physical or cognitive limitations that may limit possible telemedicine use or prevent them from using telemedicine at all without assistance, and (e) lack the skills to use ICT or telemedicine even if they do have access (9,11,(15)(16)(17)(18). Furthermore, the institutional may prevent the individual use of telemedicine; for example, individual use may depend on internet availability, ICT access, and telemedicine tools/software at a given facility. ...
... Current projects (44) use Skype, for example, for telemedicine under control for privacy and security requirements. However, also potential socioeconomic inequalities in the use of telemedicine (45)(46)(47) or technology in general among older adults should be taken into account (15,19,33). Telemedicine enables cost savings (e.g., no transfer to the doctors' office), but also causes additional costs for older people (economical cost and acquired technical skills). ...
... Citizen participation has been a concept that most researchers and practitioners extensively studied in recent decades. As digital tools become increasingly prevalent, new terminologies such as e-participation (Macintosh, 2004), e-governance (Santos, 2017), and digital participation (Seifert and Rössel, 2019;Hasler, 2017), have entered the discourse. However, in common digital citizen participation practices, questions about the reliability of participation processes often arise, primarily due to the limited direct interaction with stakeholders in digital media (Santamaría-Philco and Wimmer, 2018), Some studies have taken this further, examining the reliability of qualitative data derived from participant interactions from the stakeholders' perspectives (McDonald et al., 2019). ...
Digital citizen participation tools revolutionize how residents engage with urban issues, enabling unprecedented levels of collective discourse and large-scale involvement. These tools are essential for advancing urban design and planning through individual and asynchronous contributions. However, their inherent complexity often poses significant challenges for users. To mitigate this, developers and practitioners equip these platforms with user instructions aimed at simplifying navigation. Despite these efforts, the strategies for communicating the functionality and objectives of these tools, as well as their impact on participation processes, are not well understood. Accordingly, this study investigates the influence of different types of user instructions—descriptive versus non-descriptive—on users’ perceived reliability of digital participation platforms. Conducted in three phases—pre-participation, participation, and post-participation—the research involved modifying a digital tool and testing it with 47 university students engaged in a campus transformation project in Singapore using the Consul Project digital platform. The evaluation, carried out through surveys and semi-structured interviews in the post-participation phase, reveals that well-crafted descriptive instructions, which contain clear objectives, step-by-step guidance, and contextual information, significantly boost participants’ trust and engagement levels. Consequently, our findings underscore the importance of carefully designed user instructions in enhancing the effectiveness of digital citizen participation in urban design and planning.
... The European Commission (2019) notes that digitalization encompasses economic, social, cultural, and organizational transformations, all driven by digital technologies. Seifert and Rössel (2022) introduce the concept of digital participation, which they argue is a step beyond mere connectivity. It's about how individuals immerse themselves in the digital realm, interacting with a myriad of online services and content. ...
... In a society deeply integrated with digital technologies, the notion of digital inclusion is widely acknowledged to produce social inclusion and equality through education, services, and opportunities to make an impact (Gallistl et al., 2020). Furthermore, at its core, digital inclusion can be seen as active involvement in a society shaped by modern technologies (Seifert & Rössel, 2019). To provide this opportunity for everyone equally, it becomes essential to extend digital skill training to those who require it (Bhattacharjee et al., 2020). ...
... ICT can provide significant benefits to older people and is becoming increasingly important for accessing services (for example, digital health), circulating information and building and maintaining social relationships (Tomczyk et al., 2023;Tomczyk et al., 2022). Although access to the Internet through these devices has become widespread research results show significant differences in use between age groups (Schulz et al., 2015) and some studies confirmed that older people are particularly at risk of digital exclusion (Seifert, Rössel, 2019). As numerous research findings indicate, the low use of ICT by older people is due to, among other things, The analysis and synthesis of the barriers affecting the level of digital exclusion of older people formed the basis for the formulation of a new approach identifying the barriers to digital exclusion and the role of the institutional setting in counteracting it (Rohner et al., 2020). ...
... 2017). Suomessa tähän on panostettu esimerkiksi Kelan kuntoutuksen kehittämisessä muun muassa GAS-menetelmän (Goal Attainment Scaling) koulutuksen ja käyttöönoton kautta 2018) ja digitalisaation mahdollisuuksien ja rajoitusten puntarointi osallisuuden näkökulmasta (Seifert & Rössel 2019, Valjakka 2017. ...
... . Introduction "The term digital participation refers to the active involvement in digital society through the use of modern information and communication technology (ICT), such as the Internet" (Seifert and Rössel, 2019). In the everyday lives of people without disabilities, there is a tendency toward a fully digitalised living environment in which abstaining from digital technologies becomes increasingly challenging (Moser, 2019), as everyday tasks such as booking doctor's appointments, carrying out banking transactions, buying train tickets but also social communication and participation are becoming progressively carried out online or through digital media. ...
“Digitalisation” is the buzzword of many societal as well as social changes. Participation in society is increasingly realized digitally, which is why it is important to be involved in these processes and to participate in the digital world. The UN CRPD also assigns an important role to (digital) technology as a prerequisite for inclusion and participation. Universal design, accessibility, assistive technology, and reasonable accommodation should help to avoid exclusion for people with disabilities. People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD), who often have complex communication needs (CCN) in addition to severe cognitive impairments, have fundamentally limited opportunities for participation. These are also visible in the context of digitalisation. At the same time, digital media also offer specific opportunities, particularly for people with PIMD and CCN. Among other things through the combined use of assistive technologies, digital media can significantly facilitate their daily lives. The present paper examines the significance, requirements and challenges as well as the potentials of digital participation and digital education in the lives of adults with PIMD and CCN and presents considerations for the design of digital education for adults. Finally, a conceptual framework for digital education for people with PIMD is presented.
... Digital technologies, especially technologies such as computers, smartphones, tablets and the Internet, have increasingly permeated all aspects of human life for more than two decades now. The problem, however, is that different age groups use them with different intensity [Hunsaker, Hargittai, 2018;Seifert, Rössel, 2019]. This raises the question of why older adults use the Internet rarely or not at all [Schulz et al., 2015]. ...
Purpose – Analysis of the reasons for cyber exclusion of the elderly and a statistical illustration of this phenomenon in Poland Research method – Literature review, analysis of current statistical data, synthesis. Results – The introduction of modern ICT-based solutions can significantly help older people to remain independent and maintain a high quality of life. This is facilitated by strategic initiatives funded by the European Union, encouraging public units to take action to increase digital competences in society. Originality / value / implications / recommendations – Highlighting the role of public governance units in creating an ecosystem of support for building access to ICTs and increasing digital competence.
... A possible explanation for this phenomenon could be related to significant growth in the digital participation of tourists along the travel cycle. This trend is mentioned by Seifert and Rössel (2019) and refers to active involvement in digital society through the use of modern information and communication technologies. An increase in our digital participation means increased UGC as opinions, photos, videos, and various forms of communication on social media. ...
Destination Image can be considered as both, a theoretical and practical tool, to better understand how a destination is perceived in the minds of potential visitors. Given the im- pressive growth of digital sources of tourism-related data in the last decades, methods that exploit this information have been designed to explore this construct. Due to its capacity to emulate human intelligence and its ability to uncover hidden patterns, Artificial Intelligence has captured the attention of the academic and business sectors, for this reason, several ap- proaches from tourism research take advantage of such techniques. However, to date, there is neither sufficient information about what specific methods are being employed nor an eval- uation of their usefulness for the task. In this work, we identify the main techniques, as well as the representations, measurements, and results derived from the computational science perspective related to destination image in tourism studies. As a result, two taxonomies emerged: one related to the group of methods and techniques, and the other pertaining to the results obtained through these particular methodological designs. From our analysis, we found that electronic information is gaining strength as a primary information source, how- ever, our results showed that surveys are still on the top. On the other hand, the preferred techniques for information analysis are based on word frequencies but with a growing trend in the use of neural networks and deep learning techniques.
... Therefore, our study adopts the concept of digital participation to generalize the research question to the societal level. Digital participation (DP), according to Seifert and Rössel (2019), refers to a person's active use of modern information communication technology (ICT), such as the Internet, which is a sign of involvement in the digital society. However, we believe ICT is a broad concept that may not strictly limit to particular kinds of technologies (e.g., technology for communication) but can reflect a wide range of digital services that build up the architecture of social governance. ...
Government social media has been integrated as part of the government administrative tools to improve public service and promote public goals. However, the current government information literature is limited to understanding government social media adoption and its purpose for political marketing. The present study seeks to understand the role of government social media in promoting government digital initiatives (i.e., government-backed digital currency). The study validated the inter-relationships between government social media effort, privacy concerns, trust in technology, reachability, and citizens' participation in government-initiated digital innovations. A total of 505 responses from Chinese citizens were collected through an online self-administered questionnaire survey, and the data was submitted to a two-stage Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling-Artificial Neural Network analysis. The analytic results revealed that privacy concerns, trust in technology, and reachability positively influence digital participation. In addition, the information quality and perception of trust in government social media have significant positive influences on government social media engagement. The study provides strategic practical suggestions to government agencies in effectively utilizing social media as a communication platform to foster citizens' participation in government's digital initiatives.
... Flowchart of the review process.1 The term digital participation refers to the active involvement in digital society through the use of modern information and communication technology(Seifert and Rössel, 2019). ...
The social networks and the rapid development of new technologies have led to considerable changes in the tourism industry. Artificial intelligence, in particular natural language process ing (NLP), presupposes a significant advantage in obtaining information on the mass content
generated by online users concerning tourism services and products. This work presents a systematic review of the use of NLP in the tourism industry and research. We used the well-known PRISMA methodology, and 227 relevant studies over the last decade have been reviewed. Our analysis identified the main methodologies, tools, data sources, and other relevant features in the field. One of the principal contributions of this study is a taxonomy for using NLP in tourism. In addition, metadata were examined using a three-fold approach: (i) general statistics, (ii) abstract text analysis, and (iii) keyword networks. Automatic analyses have identified six major topics in applying NLP to tourism issues and have shown that China, the United States, Thailand, and Spain share similar tourism issues or approaches.
... This can be facilitated by highly effective means of citizen participation, such as discussions, debates, and proposals, all expressed in natural language in digital mediums. A variety of asynchronous digital participation tools with such functionality are deployed in urban practices, which allow a high number of stakeholders to participate together at each person's own convenience and own schedule in one medium to effectively discuss urban issues (Klein, 2011;Seifert & Rössel, 2019). The output of such participation processes is mostly qualitative data because of the predominant textual interaction between participants. ...
This paper aims to improve the usability of qualitative urban big data sources by utilizing Natural Language Processing (NLP) as a promising AI-based technique. In this research, we designed a digital participation experiment by deploying an open-source and customizable asynchronous participation tool, "Consul Project", with 47 participants in the campus transformation process of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). At the end of the data collection process with several debate topics and proposals, we analysed the qualitative data in entry scale, topic scale, and module scale. We investigated the impact of sentiment scores of each entry on the overall discussion and the sentiment scores of each introduction text on the ongoing discussions to trace the interaction and engagement. Furthermore, we used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modelling to visualize the abstract topics that occurred in the participation experiment. The results revealed the links between different debates and proposals, which allow designers and decision makers to identify the most interacted arguments and engaging topics throughout participation processes. Eventually, this research presented the potentials of qualitative data while highlighting the necessity of adopting new methods and techniques, e.g., NLP, sentiment analysis, LDA topic modelling, to analyse and represent the collected qualitative data in asynchronous digital participation processes.
... Digital solutions such as social media have been proposed as one way to help maintain contact [4,5]. Gerontological research emphasizes the heterogeneity of lifestyles in older adults, and thus also the diversity of their use of technical devices and services such as social media [6]. We provide an overview of recent research on SMU among older adults, primarily from the U.S. and Europe, and detail the extant research which links SMU to well-being for this population (see Table 1). ...
While older adults (aged 65 years and older) are increasingly using social media, their usage rates still lag those of younger age groups. Social media use has been observed to have some positive effects on older adults’ well-being; however, divergent findings exist depending upon the sample, measures, and methodological approach. This review highlights what is currently known about social media use and well-being among older adults, identifies strengths and weaknesses of current research on this topic, and argues that methodological and content-related research gaps must be closed before researchers can confirm a positive overall effect of social media use in all everyday situations for older adults.
... To date, local council digital inclusion strategies, in the UK at least, predominantly adopt a needs-based framework that addresses factors of access and accessibility (e.g., the ability to connect to the internet or "knowing where to start online") [34]. We distinguish between this form of digital inclusion and the concept of digital participation, which encompasses the active use and contributions of older adults in the digital space [35]. Indeed, older adults are increasingly participating in and actively contributing to digital spaces by creating their own content in the form of blogs, videos and radio/audio broadcasts [10,36,37]. ...
The World Health Organization’s age-friendly city initiative emerged as a response to the intersecting global trends of population ageing and urbanisation. However, a third global trend—digitalisation—has largely been overlooked in research and policy making relating to age-friendly cities and communities. Within the context of a general shift towards online civic participatory activities, this article explores older adults’ digital citizenship in an age-friendly city in the North of England. Drawing on interviews, observations and field notes from design workshops as part of an ongoing participatory action research project, we consider two key questions. First, how does an age-friendly city stakeholder organisation of older adults make use of digital technologies in order to provide digital information and communications? Second, what is the potential of digital audio to increase civic participation in later life and local engagement with age-friendly issues? Our analysis focuses on two domains of the World Health Organization’s age-friendly city framework: Communication and information and civic participation. First, we report on the stakeholder organisation’s efforts to re-design their digital newsletter in order to provide information and communications to older residents about local work on ageing projects. We then outline the organisation’s efforts, in a public setting, to engage with digital audio as a way to increase the participation of older residents with age-friendly topics. We conclude by suggesting the need to re-frame the role of digital technologies within the age-friendly city, broadening the scope from accessibility towards enhancing digital citizenship opportunities.
... Digital technologies, especially information and communication technologies (ICT) such as computers, smartphones or tablets permeate all aspects of our lives (Castells, 2010), older adults notwithstanding. While access to the Internet through these devices has become widespread across the globe, a gap between age groups persists (Hunsaker & Hargittai, 2018;Seifert & Rössel, 2019). In 2015, fewer than 10% of those aged 80 and older in the EU accessed the Internet, while 48% of Europeans aged 65-69 did so (König, Seifert, & Doh, 2018). ...
Older adults face significant barriers when accessing the Internet. What can be done to address these barriers? This article analyses existing strategies to tackle the age-related digital divide on three different levels: research, policy and practice. It analyses (1) scientific conceptualisations that are used when studying Internet use and non-use in later life, (2) policies that address older adults’ Internet (non-)use in Austria and (3) characteristics of older Austrian non-users of the Internet based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, wave 6). Analysis shows that Austrian policy tends to emphasise the individual responsibility to learn digital technologies, while placing a lower priority on structural issues, such as investments in infrastructure. However, SHARE data shows that only a small percentage of older non-users of the Internet is in fact reached with such interventions. Thus, this article suggests that policy needs to base its strategies on more refined understandings of Internet use and non-use in later life as well as a more nuanced image of the older non-user. A perspective of critical-cultural gerontology, as laid out in this article, highlights that technology adoption is a domestication process that takes place in the everyday lives of older adults, and it is these processes that interventions that tackle the age-related digital divide should take as a starting point.
... According to this concept, members of different age cohorts experience different types of technology-related socialization in their youth. Although younger adultsmembers of what Sackmann and Winkler (2013) call the "internet generation"-are more familiar with different online activities such as social media, blogging, and online banking, older internet users often report more restricted and basic usage behaviors (Pew Research Center, 2018;Seifert & Rössel, 2019). For example, Büchi, Just, and Latzer (2016) found that age is associated with less frequent, and more narrow, uses of internet resources. ...
Background and Objectives
Increasing numbers of older adults use the internet, but relatively little is known about the range and determinants of different online activities among older internet users. This study explores the interplay between technology-related biographical experiences and subjective technology adaptivity to explain the variability of internet use. Older adults who report having had more biographical experiences with technologies were expected to use a greater range of online activities. In addition, subjective technology adaptivity was expected to serve as a mediator of this relationship.
Research Design and Methods
The analyses are based on a sample of 707 community-dwelling older participants of the University of the Third Age between 60 and 95 years of age (mean age = 72.49 years; 48% female) who use the internet. The measures include self-reports of online activities, technology-related biographical experiences, subjective technology adaptivity, and personal characteristics (age, gender, education, income, living-together status, and subjective health). Correlations and a path model with mediator effects were used to explore the research hypothesis.
Results
The bivariate effects on the variability of internet use showed that study subjects participated in a greater range of online activities when they lived together with other people and were male, younger, and had higher levels of subjective technology adaptivity, technology-related biographical experiences, and educational level. The direct effects on the mediator show higher levels of subjective technology adaptivity for people who reported greater technology-related biographical experiences and for those who reported higher levels of subjective health.
Discussion and Implications
The results show that the positive association between people’s past experiences with and stances toward technology in their own lifetimes and their range of diverse internet activities is mediated by subjective technology adaptivity. The findings also help to illustrate which biographical factors and which current individual factors explain differences in actual online behavior.
The participatory model of civic participation is attracting more and more attention from researchers of modern societies. The article is devoted to the issue of determining the content and structural components of digital participation concept. The problem of the digital technologies’ effectiveness for the implementation of civic activity is considered in the context of the practice and experience of foreign organizations in the implementation of digital activism. The author conducts an informal analysis of 46 foreign websites, their content is related to the development of digital participation (government agencies, educational and charitable organizations, digital platforms). The study made it possible to build a structural model of digital participation, including the main subjects, their goals and the necessary conditions / factors of the non-digital and digital environment, as well as the personal component. This is connected with an expanded context in the interpretation of digital participation, which considers the activities of not only the subjects of civic participation itself, but also all other subjects and conditions necessary for the involvement of citizens in digital participation. It is shown that the practice-oriented understanding of digital participation is based on a number of provisions in the documents of international organizations (the United Nations, the European Union) and is based on the assessment through various international indices. The participatory interpretation allows us to conclude that civic participation is extremely positive, based on a culture of participation and consistency in the goals of various social groups and subjects.
With the worldwide spread of COVID-19, existing face-to-face activities, especially social activities, have been incorporated as part of online services in the pandemic era. Therefore, the digital divide that continues to change with the development of technology has also become a serious social problem in the aftermath of COVID-19. This study aims to illuminate how the divide in a more digitized society and changes in Internet use caused by COVID-19 affect satisfaction with social participation activities. The analysis revealed that the motivation to use digital devices has a static effect on satisfaction with social participation activities. The variance in Internet social participation due to COVID-19 showed a significant mediating effect between digital motivation and social participation satisfaction. Furthermore, mobile usage skills were found to have static moderating effects between digital motivation and variance in Internet social participation, digital motivation, and satisfaction with social participation. These results suggest that there is a clear gap in social participation according to individual digital capabilities in the spread of information and communication technology services after COVID-19.KeywordsDigital divideCOVID-19Social participation
Digitalization affects citizenship practices as well as all areas of life. This change in the
sociopolitical field is important in terms of transforming the relations of citizens with the
state and with each other. In this study, after determining a framework focused on
citizenship and digitalization concepts, the impact of digitalization in different areas is
emphasized. Considering that, it is possible to interact regardless of time and place
without the determinants of physical boundaries today, the existence of citizens who will
actively participate in the digital world they live in is of primary importance. In the study,
the idea that digital developments help reinforce active citizenship practices in the context
of digital participation is discussed through the literature.
Telemedicine has been at the mainstay of patient care by offsetting the decline in outpatient visits during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) while providing critical patient continuity and limiting exposure to health systems and healthcare workers. However, there are concerns that the decline in outpatient visits has not been entirely offset by telemedicine, which may have consequences beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The current Book, “Telemedicineduring and beyond COVID-19,” presents a collection of articles on telemedicine during and beyond COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing an unprecedented public health crisis impacting healthcare systems, healthcare workers, and communities. The COVID-19 PandemicHealth System REsilience PROGRAM (REPROGRAM) consortium is an independent not-for-profit think-tank of international healthcare physicians, researchers, and policymakers formed to champion the safety of healthcare workers, policy development, and advocacy for global pandemic preparedness and action with a focus on advocacy and building capacity in under-resourced settings.
Digital technologies have impacted almost every aspect of our society, including how people participate in activities that matter to them. Indeed, digital participation allows people to be involved in different societal activities at an unprecedented scale through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Still, enabling participation at scale requires making it seamless for people to: interact with a variety of software platforms, get information from connected physical objects and software services, and communicate and collaborate with their peers. Toward this objective, this paper introduces and formalizes the concept of Social Participation Network, which captures the diverse participation relationships – between people, digital services and connected things – supporting participatory processes. The paper further presents the early design of an associated online service to support the creation and management of Social Participation Networks. The design advocates the instantiation of Social Participation Networks within distinct participation contexts—spanning, e.g., private institutions, neighbor communities, and governmental institutions—so that the participants’ information and contributions to participation remain isolated and private within the given context.
FREE PDF: http://rdcu.be/Fgy4
Abstract:
Access to the Internet is becoming increasingly important for all generations. However, a digital gap in Internet use remains between younger and older individuals as well as within the elderly population itself. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate Internet use among elderly Europeans. Representative data across 17 countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) were examined. Analyses were based on the responses of 61,202 Europeans aged ≥ 50. Results highlight that, on average, 49% of all respondents use the Internet. However, the situation varies widely among European countries. Alongside individual indicators, such as age, gender, and social class, results indicate that previous experience with computers during one’s time in the workplace is positively associated with Internet use in old age. Furthermore, use of the Internet among an individual’s social network positively influences their use. Wider contextual structures such as area of residence and country-specific wealth and communication technology infrastructure also tend to promote Internet use among elderly Europeans. Data from SHARE indicate that private Internet use among older Europeans is driven by personal resources, prior experiences with technology, social salience as well as contextual influences.
Success of Wikipedia would not be possible without the contributions of millions of anonymous Internet users who edit articles, correct mistakes, add links or pictures. At the same time Wikipedia editors are currently overworked and there is always more tasks waiting to be completed than people willing to volunteer. The paper explores the possibility of involving the elderly in the Wikipedia editing process. Older adults were asked to complete various tasks on Wikipedia. Based on the observations made during these activities as well as in-depth interviews, a list of recommendation has been crafted. It turned out that older adults are willing to contribute to Wikiepdia but substantial changes have to be made in the Wikipedia editor.
The Internet has gained much importance as a resource for older adults during recent years, e.g. as a resource for maintain lifelong learning. However, available studies targeting the adoption of the Internet have mostly focused on young-old, healthy, and community-dwelling adults. To our knowledge, no study has yet examined Internet use among individuals living in residential care facilities (RCF), i.e., old-old adults with a range of functional impairments. We provide data on the Internet use in a large sample of 1,212 residents (mean age, 87.9 years) living in 24 RCFs in Zurich, Switzerland. We found that 14% of residents used the Internet, a very similar proportion as previously reported in a Swiss survey of older adults in private households. However, when stratified according to age, individuals aged 65–84 years in RCFs had lower Internet use compared with community-dwelling older adults (21% versus 65%, respectively). No difference was observed among individuals aged ≥85 years. Compared with non-users, Internet users were more likely to be younger, male, living for a shorter duration in RCF, not living alone in the institution, and healthier and functionally unimpaired. Internet users also described themselves as having higher autonomy and satisfaction with life. In conclusion, Internet use has reached (at least in Switzerland) the long-term care sector and appears to play a significant role in the lives of a considerable portion of RCF residents.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2017.1326224
Background:
The supply of information and communication is becoming continuously more focused on the Internet. While the age groups up to 64 years have shown a vast increase in the use of the Internet since 1997, intensive use of the Internet by age groups above 64 years lags behind and this is not only the case in Switzerland. Against this background and an interest in finding out more about Internet (non)use of older people, two representative surveys were conducted in Switzerland, one in 2009 and another one in 2014.
Material and methods:
The data used were acquired throughout Switzerland via a standardized telephone survey. The random sample (2014) consisted of 1037 people aged between 65 and 100 years old.
Results:
Although the digital divide between the age groups has lessened over the past years, only 55.7 % of the elderly people interviewed were using the Internet in the autumn of 2014. Internet usage differs greatly between age groups. Resources such as education, income and health positively impact actual use of the Internet. Additionally, recommendations from a person's social environment, as well as an affinity for technology and a personal benefit assessment have a positive impact on Internet usage. In particular, security concerns and difficulties of use were mentioned as predominant reasons for the non-use of the Internet. Some of the people questioned felt excluded from society because they did not use the Internet.
Conclusion:
Internet usage among elderly people depends on individual and social resources, as well as on general attitude towards technology and personal benefit expectations. The exclusion of today's elderly "offliners" should be avoided, even if the digital divide will decrease in the future.
Based on representative surveys on Internet use, this article advances comparative research on the second-level digital divide by modeling Internet usage disparities for five countries with narrowing access gaps. Four core Internet usage types are constructed and predicted by sociodemographic variables in a structural model. Overall, the findings confirm the recently identified shift in the digital divide from access to usage in five further countries. Results show that sociodemographics alone account for up to half of the variance in usage in these high-penetration countries, with age being the strongest predictor. Measurement invariance tests indicate that a direct comparison is only valid between three of the five countries explored. Methodologically, this points to the indispensability of such tests for unbiased comparative research.
Interest in technology for older adults is driven by multiple converging trends: the rapid pace of technological development;
the unprecedented growth of the aging population in the United States and worldwide; the increase in the number and survival
of persons with disability; the growing and unsustainable costs of caring for the elderly people; and the increasing interest
on the part of business, industry, and government agencies in addressing health care needs with technology. These trends have
contributed to the strong conviction that technology can play an important role in enhancing quality of life and independence
of older individuals with high levels of efficiency, potentially reducing individual and societal costs of caring for the
elderly people. The purpose of this “Forum” position article is to integrate what we know about older adults and technology
systems in order to provide direction to this vital enterprise. We define what we mean by technology for an aging population,
provide a brief history of its development, introduce a taxonomy for characterizing current technology applications to older
adults, summarize research in this area, describe existing development and evaluation processes, identify factors important
for the acceptance of technology among older individuals, and recommend future directions for research in this area.
Despite considerable interest in online content creation there has been comparatively little academic analysis of the distribution of such practices, both globally and among social groups within countries. Drawing on theoretical frameworks used in digital divide studies, I outline differences in motivation, access, skills, and usage that appear to underlie and perpetuate differences in online content creation practices between social groups. This paper brings together existing studies and new analyses of existing survey datasets. Together they suggest online content creators tend to be from relatively privileged groups and the content of online services based on their contributions may be biased towards what is most interesting or relevant to them. Some implications of these findings for policymakers and researchers are considered.
Background:
Maintaining social relationships has been defined as a core element of aging well. With a considerable amount of older adults living alone, social media provides the possibility to engage in meaningful social contact, e.g. by joining online social networks and online discussion forums.
Objective:
The review encompasses current knowledge of prerequisites in social media use of older adults such as functional capacity, information and communications technology-related knowledge, and favorable attitudes towards social media. Then, the potential of social media use for clinical practice and possible negative consequences are outlined.
Method:
Literature on social media use from a gerontological perspective was reviewed in July and August 2012.
Results:
Online communities are suitable for providing and receiving social support when confronted with a difficult life situation, regardless of geographical location or time. From a practitioner's perspective, social media can be used to advance health-related knowledge such as information on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of specific conditions and disorders. Further positive consequences have been shown to be overcoming loneliness, relieving stress, and raising feelings of control and self-efficacy. Possible negative consequences could be misuse of personal data as well as the distribution and uncritical adoption of potentially harmful information via online communities.
Discussion:
The potential of social media in clinical practice is reflected in a wide range of intervention possibilities for older adults. However, with the rise of social media, new threats emerge for older adults as well.
Background
Older adults are at increased risk of experiencing loneliness and depression, particularly as they move into different types of care communities. Information and communication technology (ICT) usage may help older adults to maintain contact with social ties. However, prior research is not consistent about whether ICT use increases or decreases isolation and loneliness among older adults.
Objective
The purpose of this study was to examine how Internet use affects perceived social isolation and loneliness of older adults in assisted and independent living communities. We also examined the perceptions of how Internet use affects communication and social interaction.
Methods
One wave of data from an ongoing study of ICT usage among older adults in assisted and independent living communities in Alabama was used. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between frequency of going online and isolation and loneliness (n=205) and perceptions of the effects of Internet use on communication and social interaction (n=60).
ResultsAfter controlling for the number of friends and family, physical/emotional social limitations, age, and study arm, a 1-point increase in the frequency of going online was associated with a 0.147-point decrease in loneliness scores (P=.005). Going online was not associated with perceived social isolation (P=.14). Among the measures of perception of the social effects of the Internet, each 1-point increase in the frequency of going online was associated with an increase in agreement that using the Internet had: (1) made it easier to reach people (b=0.508, P
RÉSUMÉ
Une population vieillissante est mieux servie par des services d’assistance socials, personnels et de la santé qui visent à maintenir et à maximiser l’autonomie personelle. L’Internet offre des opportunités nombreuses pour les individus de tous âges de commniquer, d’accéder aux informations, et de se livrer à des activités récréatives. Un échantillon à base communautaire de 122 adultes de plus de 60 ans ont rempli un questionnaire qui a évalué les trois groupes de caracteristiques : (a) la fréquence et les modes d’utilisation de l’Internet, (b) le bien-être (la solitude, la satisfaction de vie, l’auto-suffisance, les soutiens sociaux, et la dépression) et (c) les données démographiques (l’âge, le revenu, l’éducation). Des corrélations significatives sont apparues entre les trois groupes de variables mesurées. Tout en contrôlant les différences démographiques, l’utilisation d’Internet et de l’autosuffisance demeurent significativement corrélés. Parmi l’échantillon des personnes plus âgées, celles qui ont utilisé l’Internet plus présentaient une plus forte perception de leur efficacité que celles qui ont utilisé l’Internet que rarement ou pas du tout.
If offline older citizens remain offline they will become increasingly disadvantaged from a socio-ecological point of view,
as the Internet’s societal pervasiveness progresses. We study reasons for non-use and the frequency, intensity, and, the socio-demographic
correlates of Internet use of older citizens in Europe. Theoretical relationships on the individual and societal level are
ascertained. The Eurobarometer of 2003 offers a range of variables to explore the diffusion of Internet technology among 55+
year-old people in Europe. Descriptive statistics and population average models are used to identify the correlates of Internet
access. Within the population segment of older citizens, age continues to have a differentiating effect, net of marital, occupational,
and educational status for Internet access. Model replications show that only a few of the net coefficients differ in size.
Decisions to remain offline are mainly based on private access possibilities, motivational indifference, and deficient knowledge.
Existing socioeconomic inequalities regarding Internet access crystallise within the older population, particularly in the
Southern regions of Europe. A claim is made for a necessity to maintain efforts to close the digital age gap.
Older adults are not only lagging behind in terms of physical access to the Internet but also in engaging in political activities in the online environment. The findings from two independent studies bridging the USA and China suggest that older adults, even when they have access to the Internet, have ambivalent or negative attitudes toward political activities online. As political participation is seen as one of the key social benefits of the Internet and many governments are moving interactions with citizens into the online environment through e-government, the hesitance of older adults to engage in political participation via the Internet is a significant social and political issue that deserves further study and discussion internationally. This paper reviews the social impact of the Internet on political participation and the possible forms of political participation among older Internet users, examining the data from the two studies in terms of the parallel issues of older adults' attitudes toward political participation online and different cultural understandings of political participation. The findings from the comparison of the data are examined and the growing importance of this area of study is detailed. Ultimately, this paper offers suggestions for future research in the area of older adults, political participation, and the Internet.
A great deal of information and many services can now be accessed digitally. In order to make use of such services, however, it is necessary to have some form of Internet access. A lack of involvement in digital society may produce new forms of social exclusion. Older adults are particularly at risk of Internet-related social exclusion, since they tend to use the Internet less than younger adults. Little is known, however, about whether this lower level of Internet use among older people is in fact accompanied by a sense of social exclusion. In order to investigate the subjective sense of digital social exclusion resulting from a lack of Internet usage, we conducted a secondary analysis of a representative, cross-sectional telephone survey of 1,037 adults aged 65 years and over and living in Switzerland. We found that 33% of "onliners" reported that they would feel socially excluded were they to stop using the Internet, compared with 14% of "onliners" who felt socially excluded on account of their lack of Internet use. Our analyses show that onliners' attitudes toward Internet use and the variety of online applications available were related to their sense of social exclusion. By contrast, offliners' attitudes toward Internet use and their feelings of loneliness in general were predictors for their sense of social exclusion as a result of not using the Internet. The results of the study as well as its implications for research and practice are discussed.
As the world population ages and older adults comprise a growing proportion of current and potential Internet users, understanding the state of Internet use among older adults as well as the ways their use has evolved may clarify how best to support digital media use within this population. This article synthesizes the quantitative literature on Internet use among older adults, including trends in access, skills, and types of use, while exploring social inequalities in relation to each domain. We also review work on the relationship between health and Internet use, particularly relevant for older adults. We close with specific recommendations for future work, including a call for studies better representing the diversity of older adulthood and greater standardization of question design.
Recently, several digital divide scholars suggested that a shift is needed from a focus on binary Internet access (first-level digital divide) and Internet skills and use (second-level digital divide) to a third-level digital divide in which the tangible outcomes of Internet use are highlighted. A plethora of studies have been conducted to identify determinants of digital divides. Unfortunately, there is a lack of consistency in the terminology used. Moreover, terms are often not theoretically grounded. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review of digital divide determinants. The results show that the third-level digital divide was underexposed. The primary focus is on Internet use. More importantly, the identified determinants show that digital divide research is largely limited to sociodemographic and socioeconomic determinants.
Objectives
Older adults often prioritize socially meaningful goals over informational goals. Thus, we predicted that using information and communication technology (ICT) in service of socially meaningful versus informational goals relates to higher well-being among the oldest-old.
Method
We surveyed 445 adults aged 80+ (mean = 84, range = 80–93; 64% female; 26% non-White) online or via telephone. Participants reported motivations for ICT use (connect with others, learn new information) and rated their psychological and physical well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, loneliness, goal attainment, subjective health, functional limitations). We conducted regression and mediation analyses to test our hypothesis.
Results
Participants used ICT more to connect with friends/family (M = 3.66, SD = 1.28) than to learn information (M = 2.61, SD = 1.44), p < .001. Overall, ICT use predicted higher well-being across outcomes, ps ≤ .008. Motivations for use differentially mediated these effects: Social motivations mediated the relationships between ICT use and psychological well-being, whereas informational motivations mediated the relationships between ICT use and physical well-being.
Discussion
Older adults aged 80+ use ICT less than other generations, but may have much to gain. Using social versus informational technologies may enhance multiple aspects of well-being in different ways during very late life. Highlighting such benefits may increase ICT adoption among the oldest-old.
Many older people do not use the Internet. We investigated the attitudes of older people who do (onliners) or do not (offliners) use the Internet, to assess their views of the Internet and whether they see the Internet as a resource for coping with everyday life situations. Participants aged ≥ 65 years ( N = 1,037), living in Switzerland, were interviewed in a telephone survey. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were conducted. The data show (a) many of the respondents viewed the Internet as useful, in general, and for coping with everyday life situations; (b) onliners saw more positive aspects of the Internet than did offliners; and (c) among onliners, 53% agreed with the statement, "The Internet allows me to stay independent longer into old age." However, it appears that especially older onliners with a high affinity for technology will presumably use the Internet to cope with everyday life.
Seifert, A. & Schelling, H. R. (online first - 2016). Seniors Online: Attitudes Toward the Internet and Coping With Everyday Life. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 1-11. DOI 10.1177/0733464816669805.
Diversifying participation in crowd work can benefit the worker and requester. Increasing numbers of older adults are online, but little is known about their awareness of or how they engage in mainstream crowd work. Through an online survey with 505 seniors, we found that most have never heard of crowd work but would be motivated to complete tasks by earning money or working on interesting or stimulating tasks. We follow up results from the survey with interviews and observations of 14 older adults completing crowd work tasks. While our survey data suggests that financial incentives are encouraging, in-depth interviews reveal that a combination of personal and social incentives may be stronger drivers of participation, but only if older adults can overcome accessibility issues and understand the purpose of crowd work. This paper contributes insights into how crowdsourcing sites could better engage seniors and other users.
While the majority of older adults are now active online, they are often perceived as passive consumers of online information rather than active creators of content. As a counter to this view, we examine the practices of older adult bloggers (N=20) through in-depth interviews. We study this group of older adults as a unique case of content creation and sharing. We find that the practice of creating and sharing through blogging meets several important psychological and social needs for older adults. Specifically, blogging supports the development of identity in older adulthood; fosters self-expression that supports older adults' values; provides meaningful engagement during retirement; and enables a sense of community and social interaction that is important for wellbeing in late-life. We argue for a focus on designing for late-life development and detail opportunities for online systems to better support the dynamic experience of growing older through online content creation and sharing.
Older adults have increasingly adopted Internet and social network sites (SNSs), but little communication scholarship has explored systematic differences in access within this population. Using a nationally representative sample of Americans over the age of 50 years from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study, we examine Internet access (N = 18,851) and SNS adoption patterns (N = 869) among this sample and explore how these patterns vary by age. Regarding Internet access, results suggest that while the gender divide has reversed in favor of women, older adults who are economically, socioculturally, or physically disadvantaged are less likely to have reliable Internet access. In addition, the view that the various divides in Internet access are less of a concern for those who are younger is only partially supported, as some access-related divides do not vary by age or even decrease with age. For SNS adoption, we found that access to technological resources (diversity of online activities) positively predicts SNS use. Moreover, SNS users are more likely to be younger, female, widowed, and homemakers, perhaps because these individuals are more motivated to use SNSs to complement or compensate for their existing social status. These findings reveal unique challenges and motivations in relation to Internet access and SNS adoption patterns across the later life span.
Research on the role of information and communication technology (ICT) use for active aging is limited. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the link between Internet use and mental health among older adults. The review was conducted based on searches in 9 electronic databases (2002-2014). A meta-synthesis approach was applied, examining quantitative (18) and qualitative (14) studies. The findings from the synthesis of quantitative statistical data indicate an overall positive association between Internet use and mental health and its psychosocial covariates in later life. The psychosocial links between Internet use and mental health identified from the qualitative data were (a) enhanced interpersonal interaction at individual level, (b) increased access to resources within the community, and (c) empowered social inclusion at society level.The results highlight the multi-level psychosocial links between Internet use and mental health, which may be applied in initiatives targeting healthy aging in various settings.
© The Author(s) 2015.
The ability to vote online has the potential to increase voter turnout for elections due to increased convenience over traditional voting polls. This study examines factors that can affect a citizen's intent to vote online. Survey subjects came from two different age groups: young adults, 18–25 years of age; and senior citizens, ages 60 plus. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the study found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, trust in the internet, and computer anxiety were significantly related to intent to use online voting. Trust in the government was insignificant. Performance expectancy, social influence, and computer anxiety were related to intent to vote online for both young adults and seniors. Effort expectancy was related to intent to vote for the seniors but not young adults, and trust in the internet was related to intent to vote for young adults but not seniors.
From the Publisher:
This ambitious book is an account of the economic and social dynamics of the new age of information. Based on research in the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, it aims to formulate a systematic theory of the information society which takes account of the fundamental effects of information technology on the contemporary world.
The global economy is now characterized by the almost instantaneous flow and exchange of information, capital and cultural communication. These flows order and condition both consumption and production. The networks themselves reflect and create distinctive cultures. Both they and the traffic they carry are largely outside national regulation. Our dependence on the new modes of informational flow gives enormous power to those in a position to control them to control us. The main political arena is now the media, and the media are not politically answerable.
Manuel Castells describes the accelerating pace of innovation and application. He examines the processes of globalization that have marginalized and now threaten to make redundant whole countries and peoples excluded from informational networks. He investigates the culture, institutions and organizations of the network enterprise and the concomitant transformation of work and employment. He points out that in the advanced economies production is now concentrated on an educated section of the population aged between 25 and 40: many economies can do without a third or more of their people. He suggests that the effect of this accelerating trend may be less mass unemployment than the extreme flexibilization of work and individualization of labor, and, in consequence, a highly segmented socialstructure.
The author concludes by examining the effects and implications of technological change on mass media culture ("the culture of real virtuality"), on urban life, global politics, and the nature of time and history. Written by one of the worlds leading social thinkers and researchers The Rise of the Network Society is the first of three linked investigations of contemporary global, economic, political and social change. It is a work of outstanding penetration, originality, and importance.
The role of technology in supporting social engagement among older adults
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Digital inequality: from unequal access to differentiated use
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Social media use continues to rise in developing countries but plateaus across developed ones
Pew Research Center (2018) Social media use continues to
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Tech adoption climbs among older adults
- Pew Research
- Center