Vania Baldi

Intergenerational Joint Media Engagement - Pre-testing Interviews, Activities and Tablet's Applications.

This paper presents the results of a preliminary study, in which grandchildren/children and grandparents/middle aged to older adults were observed while interacting with each other and with an App, on a tablet, to develop a proposed activity. Before and after these Joint Media Engagement (JME) sessions, participants were also interviewed, in order to collect data and to assess the perceived impact of the JME sessions in the quality of the intergenerational relationship, on the attitude towards each other and on children and older adults’ digital literacy. The main goals of this preliminary study were to validate data collection instruments and techniques, namely the JME sessions activities, Apps and protocols and the pre- and post-JME session interviews’ scripts. This preliminary study is part of a research that aims to understand the interactions and communication processes taking place during JME sessions involving grandparents/older adults (over 55 years old) and grandchildren/children (5 to 10 years old) in collaborative usage of tablets and tablets’ Apps, in order to develop guidelines for designing mobile contents and Apps to support and promote intergenerational interactions.

Technologies for intergenerational family communication

Many families have begun to make use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and social media, incorporating their functionalities in their daily lives in order to keep in touch with each other. An exploratory investigation on how technology and social media are used to support intergenerational family communication was carried out, in order to understand, not only the technologies and media adopted, but also how and for what they are used by each family member. After the selection of families through pre-established criteria, semi-structured interviews were conducted to each of its members. It was possible to conclude that, despite the media differences and asymmetry in their use between generations, the members of the families under study use technologies and digital media at their disposal to maintain contact with each other. This paper proposes a social network for intergenerational family communication, based on a set of characteristics and functionalities identified as fundamental for any technology platform focused on family communication.

The Potential Role of Digital Technologies in the Context of Forced Displacement

In light of the European migrant crisis and considering the growing use of new technologies by humanitarian agencies in their operations, it is important to reflect on the possible social and technological convergence of these phenomena in an attempt to minimize the damages and respond to the needs of refugees. This research focuses on the adoption of new technologies in humanitarian aid, with emphasis on the use of smartphones by refugees who escape the various wars occurring in countries such as Syria or sub-Saharan areas and that are trying to successfully adjust to their host country.

O papel do consumo dos media pelos jovens portugueses na emergência de uma consciência europeia

Qual o papel dos media na construcao da consciencia europeia dos jovens portugueses? Os jovens de hoje estao permanentemente imersos em dinâmicas de consumos culturais ambivalentes: suspensos entre as experiencias da apropriacao, da partilha e do simples entretenimento mediatico. Estao colocados, portanto, numa aparente situacao privilegiada de acesso aos variados conteudos culturais e ao estabelecimento de relacionamentos transfronteiricos. Em potencia a vivencia neste contexto mediatico deveria incrementar o conhecimento que os jovens europeus, (e os jovens portugueses em particular) detem uns dos outros e ser uma oportunidade para o desenvolvimento do respeito, do reconhecimento e curiosidade mutuo, do pluralismo, da liberdade e da cooperacao. Existira um uso especificamente europeu da linguagem transversal dos media, capaz de tornar os jovens europeus mais proximos apesar da pluralidade linguistica e sociocultural de cada pais, de modo particular os jovens portugueses?