Research Catalog

Title

Gerontechnology : understanding older adult information and communication technology use / by Johanna L.H. Birkland.

Author

Birkland, Johanna L. H.

Publication

• Bingley, UK : Emerald Publishing Limited, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 209 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

Our aging societies have become increasingly digitalized, leading to concerns that older adults (those age 65 and older) will be disenfranchised by the grey digital divide. However, those familiar with the elder population have long noted a diversity of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use. While some older adults reject digital technologies, others embrace them with an enthusiasm that mirrors some of the youngest members of our society. Gerontechnology: Understanding Older Adult Information and Communication Technology Use explores, theorizes, and explains this diversity in older adult technology use. Illustrated through interpretive interactionist case studies of 17 older adults and data from their friends, family, and co-workers, the book incorporates perspectives from Gerontology, Communication, and Information Studies in its creation of the ICT User Typology. This typology not only describes the diversity in ICT use, but categorizes older adults' motivations in domesticating technologies into their everyday lives. Focusing not only on technology adoption, it explores the challenges and joys elder users face, and the meanings these technologies come to develop for older adults. Useful for the researcher interested in older adult technology use, domestication studies, and technology adoption; Gerontechnology also provides valuable guidance to those practitioners and service providers who want to understand how older adults use and view technology. Practical implications for designers and advertisers seeking to engage the growing senior market are included.

Subjects

• Computers and older people
• Technology and older people
• Gerontechnology
• Older people
• Computers and older people > Case studies
• Case studies
• Technology and older people > Case studies

Genre/Form

Case studies.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-200) and index.

Contents

Understanding older adult technology use: an introduction to the ICT User Typology -- Enthusiasts: the technological evangelists -- Practicalists: the technological tool users -- Socializers: the technological social butterflies -- Traditionalists: the keepers of technological tradition -- Guardians: the technological resistance fighters -- Understanding the ICT User Typology and the user types -- User types and the life course: toward understanding the universality of user types -- The ICT User Typology in context: a theoretical perspective -- Breaking the digital divide -- Discovery of the ICT User Typology -- Glossary

Call Number

JFE 20-4602

ISBN

• 9781787432925
• 1787432920

OCLC

1056691644

Author

Birkland, Johanna L. H., author. Author

Title

Gerontechnology : understanding older adult information and communication technology use / by Johanna L.H. Birkland.

Publisher

Bingley, UK : Emerald Publishing Limited, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Creator/Contributor Characteristics

Gender group: Women

Occupational/field of activity group: University and college faculty members

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-200) and index.

Local Note

AUTH: BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE.

Research Call Number

JFE 20-4602