Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol

My Interests, My Activities: Learning from an Intergenerational Comparison of Smartwatch Use

We analyze smartwatch use from an intergenerational perspective to garner non-stereotypical reflections on ageing. The research questions are: (1) How do personal interests shape, and how are they shaped by, first-time use of a smartwatch? (2) To what extent do tracked data help in interpreting the relationship between the user and the device? We analyze two older and two middle-aged adults involved in a one-year case study, and combine log data and reported activities for richer empirical evidence. The older adults showed higher levels of smartwatch activity than the middle-aged. The key services they used were notifications and the pedometer. We found that smartwatch uses and forms of appropriation are as diverse as the four participants are and that the ways in which such watches are adopted are shaped by personal circumstances and interests. The tracked data helped to illustrate smartwatch uses, providing acceptably accurate pictures of activities. However, the low number of participants in the case study magnified the data’s limitations, which illustrate issues to be taken into account when working with tracked data – or big data in general.

Older people and the use of ICTs to communicate with children and grandchildren

Abstract In this research we explore older people’s incentives to use Internet services to communicate with their children and grandchildren, and the factors that make older individuals stop using (or even reject) Internet-mediated communications. We apply the uses and gratifications theory, and the gratification niche of medium concept to understand the way people return to less sophisticated tools of communication once the marginal utility is lost. Our analysis is based on empirical evidence the two authors gathered in a set of case studies. We conducted semi-structured interviews with people aged 60 and over in Barcelona, Romania (Bucharest and rural areas), Toronto, Los Angeles, Montevideo, and Lima. The results show that communicating with children and grandchildren when families get separated is an important motivator that “pushes” the elderly to learn more about the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). We emphasize the fact that once motivation is lost (i.e. when family members are back home) the interest in using a particular technology to communicate is diminished, therefore older people might stop using it. We argue for a more dynamic model of technology appropriation for this age group that includes successive stages: ignoring, appropriation, rejection, and re-appropriation.

Why Age Is Not that Important? An Ageing Perspective on Computer Anxiety

We analyze the influence of age on mobile computer anxiety in a sample of 158 individuals 55+ by means of path analysis modeling. Taking as the endogenous variable a mobile computer anxiety scale MCAS, Wang 2007, models include demographic and socioeconomic variables and a computer experience scale --- based on the familiarity and frequency of use of different information and communication technologies. Results confirm a positive influence of age on mobile computer anxiety which is mediated by both socio-economic variables and computer experience. The influence of age on mobile computer anxiety is comparatively low. Age is not the relevant dimension to explain computer anxiety, as socio-economic background and computer experience have higher explanatory capacity. This result may explain the inconsistent results regarding the direct relationship between age and computer anxiety available in the literature.

Deliberate missed calls: A meaningful communication practice for seniors?

In this article I discuss the phenomenon of deliberated missed calls and their intentional use by senior mobile phone users in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Deliberate missed calls (DMC) are made with the intention that the receiver is not to answer them. Although this multiregional and multicultural practice is described in different countries, no specific study has been carried out on its use by the older population. To address this absence, this article explores the significance of using deliberate missed calls among seniors. There are three main conclusions. First, personal abilities and external support shape the way seniors use DMC. Second, seniors may abandon, or at least redefine, the use of deliberate missed calls if they change to a flat-rate contract. Finally, the focus on an already old innovation such as DMC allows us to observe the importance of accounting for the heterogeneity of older people if we are to properly analyze their mobile communication practices.

Generational Comparison of Simultaneous Internet Activities Using Smartphones and Computers

Computers and smartphones are multipurpose devices with overlapping capacities. Thus, users end up interacting with the same information through different devices, sometimes simultaneously (or within a short timeframe). As our artifact ecologies grow, it is clear that the use of multipurpose devices cannot be understood in isolation, and diverse uses are widely influenced by personal interests. However, personal interests change over a lifetime. Tracking the online smartphone and computer activities of 178 Spanish users aged 17 to 76, we make an intergenerational comparison of simultaneous activities on both devices. We demonstrate that simultaneous activities are common to people of all ages, tending to happen more during working hours. While age stereotypes say that older people are less active users of technologies, some are also engaged in simultaneous smartphone–computer use, evidence that they are making the most of the devices available to them.

Smartphones, apps and older people's interests: from a generational perspective

It is well-documented that ICT are designed mostly with young users in mind. In addition, most studies about smartphone use do not include older people or even consider age differences. Consequently, little is known about how to design smartphone apps taking older peoples interests into account. We have used a mixed-method approach with an intergenerational perspective to approach this topic. First, we track the smartphone activities of 238 panelists. Second, we conduct an online survey (382 respondents). Third, we document the experiences of a group of older people in a smartphone learning club. We have found specific media consumption and communication patterns among older individuals: for example, at home they are more prone to jumping between devices for ergonomic reasons, thus, cross-device interactions are key for this group. We discuss the relevance of intergenerational studies in counterbalancing the spread of age stereotypes and identifying alternative adoption trends.

Innovative milieu, micro firms and local development in Barcelona

An entrepreneurial environment is conformed by factors that play a favourable role in the development of entrepreneurship. Economic literature on innovative milieus identifies those elements that are decisive in improving the competitive performance of companies. We analysed whether Barcelona Activas specific environment promotes the development of an innovative milieu, which favours entrepreneurial attitudes. The results show how the combination of incubation experience, development of ICT-based innovations and cooperation considerably improve the success probability of new firms. Moreover, participation in institutional activities that strengthen commercial and social networks also improves their chances. The local agency seems to be particularly suitable for entrepreneurs with labour experience and it plays a complementary role in the framework of the wide range of university spin-off centres in the metropolitan region.

Local content production and the political economy of the mobile app industries in Argentina and Bolivia

Mobile broadband is playing an increasingly important role in the developing world. However, mobile platform providers and app publishers are dominated by multinational companies headquartered in the West. Where international agendas commit to promote local content production and a culturally diverse information society, there is minimal research on the orientation of commercial app production in developing regions. This article examines the targets and activities of mobile app developers in two Latin American economies – Argentina and Bolivia – analysing the political, social and economic conditions that connect or disconnect app developers and the interests of local users. Findings suggest that app distribution platforms do not favour local markets and that app developers largely focus on custom-design projects for commercial firms.

Long-Term Appropriation of Smartwatches Among a Group of Older People

In this paper, we analyze long-term appropriation of smartwatches among a group of older people. For the purpose of the study, we provided five older individuals (aged 71 to 80; three women, two men) with Android smartwatches. We interviewed participants after 2 and 12 months of smartwatch usage and observed its usage in an informal gathering 12 months after the end of the study. Drawing on Morville’s model of user experience (2004), we focus on how the smartwatch was (not) useful, usable, valuable, and desirable for each participant in each stage of the process. Results show the relevance of valuableness and desirability in the (non-)appropriation of smartwatches for those participants. Specifically, participants used the smartwatches to express their sporty, techie and fashion identities.

Maintaining Connections : Octo- and Nonagenarians on Digital ‘Use and Non-use’

Abstract The concepts of user and non-user are frequently deployed within media and communications literature. What do these terms mean if examined regarding age and ageing? In this article we explore and trouble these notions through an analysis of twenty-two conversations with a group of octogenarians and nonagenarians living in a retirement home. Their descriptions of their changing uses of media througout lifetime, and their encounters with mobile phones, computers, newspapers, television, radio and landline phones, are presented as a set of ‘techno-biographies’ that challenge binary divisions of use and non-use, linear notions of media adoption, and add texture to the idea of ‘the fourth age’ as a time of life bereft of decisional power. Speaking with octogenarians and nonagenarians provides insights into media desires, needs and uses, and opens up ‘non-use’ as a complex, variegated activity, rather than a state of complete inaction or disinterest.