[Commlist] CfP "Ageing and Digital Communication" - Essachess. Journal for Communication Studies

Call for Papers, special issue "Ageing and Digital Communication" -
Essachess. Journal for Communication Studies, scheduled for December 2020.

Abstract deadline (extended): January 18, 2020.

Guest editors
Dr. Loredana IVAN, Associate Professor, European Network of Ageing
Studies Chair
Dr. Alina DUDUCIUC, Health Communication TWG-ECREA
National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania)

Important Deadlines
- January 18, 2020 (extended): submission of the proposal in the form of 
an abstract
of maximum 2 pages. The proposal must include a list of recent
references and 5 keywords;
– February 2, 2020: acceptance of the proposal;
-  June 15, 2020: full paper submission;
-  October 15, 2020: full paper acceptance.

Full papers should be between 6,000-8,000 words in length. Papers can be
submitted in English or French. The abstracts should be in English and
French (150-200 words) followed by 5 keywords. Please provide the full
names, affiliations, and e-mail addresses of all authors, indicating the
contact author. Papers, and any queries, should be sent to:
(essachess /at/ gmail.com)

Call
Demographically, the world is about to enter a new era. As the ageing
population is a well documented phenomenon and the older adults are
relatively affluent worldwide, ageing has become a major topic of the
contemporary academic and public discourses. Once understood only as a
disengagement from the active life or as a biological status, ageing is
to gain new social meanings. In the meantime, another ubiquitous
phenomenon impacts nowadays social interactions and everyday life: the
emerging of digital communication. Over the past decade, digitization
has made considerable progress and the new ICTs are being rapidly
diffused on the large segments of the population.

Related to ageing and digital communication, at least two research
directions have been addressed on the communication science research
agenda, specifically (1) /How the widespread of new technologies are
changing the norms and practices of the later life/? And (2) /How social
actors, groups, institutions and mainstream media provide, spread or
constrain ways of growing older via digital devices/? These questions
shaped novel and interdisciplinary approaches at the convergence of the
sociology of ageing, communication and media studies, psychology,
gerontology and human computer interaction.

In the case of using new digital devices, on the one hand older people
have been stereotyped according with their age, as a minority with
limited agency and increased dependency, as frail and underrepresented
compared with their younger counterparts. On the other hand, the
constant growth of the /digital seniors/ has brought into attention the
concept of autonomy, self-efficacy and power of /doing/ and /portraying/
ageing. In these contexts, a more inclusive and diverse representations
of ageing are considered desirable by the seniors’ media users, but the
attempt to delivery such an age-friendly media content and image remains
scarce.

As it is seen, the reflection on these two interconnected spectres – the
demographic turn (ageing) and the unprecedented speed of digitalization
(digital communication) – gave rise to a controversial debate on the
meanings, portrayals and experience of ageing along with the perceived
advantages and disadvantages of using digital devices at old age. The
ongoing debates on ageing and communication reflect the diversity of the
experience of ageing /in/ and /within/ the new internet-based
technologies, whereas it empowers and disempowers older adults to
function in society and to lead a healthy and fulfilling life.

This special issue aims to bring together contributions that explore
both the challenges and opportunities of using digital communication
later in life, and seek to better understand the role of new
technologies in shaping the diverse portrayals and meanings of ageing in
the network society. We invite you to submit original manuscripts of
diverse types: original research, systematic reviews, and theoretical
papers, which address the relationship between ageing and digital
communication.


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