#LILAC preview: Digital Literacy through arts and culture activities: supporting older adults

My next post sharing a preview of colleagues' LILAC conference presentations is from Dr Pamela McKinney, about a session which be on day 2 of the conference (31st March), Digital Literacy through arts and culture activities: supporting older adults. The abstract is here. Pam writes: 

This presentation will report on the findings from a small-scale pilot study that took place in Leeds in 2025 to understand how creativity can foster digital literacy and digital inclusion oin older adults. The project was led by my colleague Dr Sharon Wagg, and funded by the Arts Council. 
The project team, including PhD student Laura Woods and our collaborators, 100% Digital Leeds collected data from organisations in Leeds about their approaches to supporting digital inclusion in older adults that focused on arts, culture and creativity. We discovered a really broad spread of activities, including: 
- Digital art and multimedia creation e.g. digital collage, zine-making, animations, digital Christmas cards, digital embroidery 
- Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality e.g history experiences on VR headsets 
- Engagement with local history e.g. using the Leodis image archive for research 
- Digital photography e.g. to record experiences on an excursion, or to align wth other interests e.g. gardening, walking 
- Creative writing, storytelling, folklore and oral history 
- Online and hybrid arts and culture activities e.g. dance and cooking. 
- Digital music making 
We found that a caring orientation, which focused on fun and play, was really effective for supporting digital inclusion “by stealth”. Older people told us that the support they received these organisations helped them engage more with digital tools and services in other areas of their lives. The project website has links to our report, infographic and podcast, and the toolkit developed by 100% Digital Leeds
Photo of an older man with camera, "Photography", from the Centre for Ageing Better age-positive image library

Challenging ageism: A guide to talking about ageing and older age #nomorewrinklyhands

A useful guide for avoiding ageism when writing, using images etc. was published by the Centre for Ageing Better a month ago:
Centre for Ageing Better. (2021). Challenging ageism: A guide to talking about ageing and older age. The press release is here and this is the guide https://ageing-better.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-01/Challenging-ageism-guide-talking-ageing-older-age.pdf
The hashtag in my title refers to the lazy use of "folded wrinkled hands" images to accompany stories about older people (which is mentioned as a "do not do" in the guide). At the end of the guide it has some actions (including challenging 'internalised ageism such as describing yourself as “past it” or “having a senior moment”') and they link to their useful image databank (which I have drawn on here)

Credit: Mark Eptein.(n.d.) Mr G. Published by Centre for Ageing Better under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) license https://ageingbetter.resourcespace.com/?r=8429&k=0121ccbd00

New collection of Age-friendly images #AFMIL @Ageing_Better

The Centre for Ageing Better has created a small library of freely-usable (under CC) photos which show more realistic and positive images of older people. Avoiding ageist stereotyping in images of older people is one of the aspects of Age-Friendly Media and Information Literacy #AFMIL that Bill Johnston and I have identified. As the Centre for Ageing Better notes "images of wrinkly hands clasped together in consternation is an all too common sight" and they also urge people to avoid images that emphasise frailty "sad eyes, beige sofas etc.". (This is what you get, for example, if you search "elderly" on Unsplash .... https://unsplash.com/s/photos/elderly.) 

This is a good project that hopefully will be added to (e.g. I'd find it useful to have more pictures of older people using online devices). There is information at https://www.ageing-better.org.uk/news/age-positive-image-library-launched, the library is at https://ageingbetter.resourcespace.com/pages/search.php and they have a short guide to creating age-positive images https://www.ageing-better.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-01/Age-positive-image-library.pdf 

Thanks to Pam McKinney for drawing this to my attention

Photo by P. Kindersley used under a CCO attribution no-derivatives license downloaded from the Centre for Ageing Better library at https://ageingbetter.resourcespace.com/?r=8373&k=963f01d79b

The Age-Friendly Media and Information Literate #AFMIL City: older people as creative and critical

The latest issue of the Journal of Information Literacy includes an article by me and Bill Johnston (open access). As well as drawing on our long-standing interest in IL, it also developed out of Bill's engagement with the older people's movement in Scotland, and our interest in Media and Information Literacy for all in society. We are reacting against the negative and patronising way in which older people are often portrayed as users of social media and online information. The abstract is as follows, and the diagram is the one we present in the paper
"This paper proposes a model for developing an Age-Friendly Media and Information Literate (#AFMIL) city. It starts by addressing general issues concerning ageing and ageism. Key features of UNESCO’s framework for a media and information literate city are described. The authors proceed to identify relevant international handbooks, guidelines and initiatives concerning age-friendly environments, cities for human rights, smart cities, creative cities and informational cities. Drawing on these documents, the authors outline a model for developing an #AFMIL city, centred on older people enacting three roles: their role as consumers of media and information; older people as represented in the media; and older people in their role as creators, critics and innovators. They highlight the role of librarians in this development."
Webber, S., & Johnston, B. (2019). The Age-Friendly Media and Information Literate (#AFMIL) City: Combining policies and strategies for ageing populations in media and information rich societies. Journal Of Information Literacy, 13(2), 276-291. https://doi.org/10.11645/13.2.2672

#AFMIL The Age-Friendly Media and Information Literate City: Combining policies and strategies for ageing populations in media and information rich societies #GlobalMILweek

This is the presentation that Bill Johnston and I gave at the Global Media and Information Literacy week conference in Kaunas, Lithuania last week. The presentation was only allowed to be 10 minutes, so I also include here the extended abstract, which was written when we though we were going to have more time than that! We are launching the concept of #AFMIL: Age-Friendly media and Information Literate cities.

#AFMIL The Age-Friendly Media and Information Literate City: Combining policies and strategies for ageing populations in media and information rich societies from Sheila Webber

Abstract: This paper examines the intersection between the Media and Information Literate (MIL) city and the Age-friendly city and considers the alignments between the two concepts. We contend that a MIL city develops and enables the MIL of its citizens and (through its policies, procedures and representatives) itself engages with its citizens in a media and information literate manner. A MIL city should collect, communicate and manage the information needed by its citizens, at all stages of their lifecourse, applying ethical and transparent information policies. However, earlier research by the authors identified that government’s information illiteracy is a problem (Webber and Johnston, 2002). Recent research has shown, e.g., that information needs of older people and their carers are not met by local government even when legislation seems to require it (Baxter et al; 2017; Think Local Act Personal, 2017).
Demographic ageing is a key challenge for societies and numerous issues arise: risk of intergenerational inequality; negative portrayal of older people in the media; need for urban renewal for anticipated population changes; specific adjustments in health, care and housing to accommodate older people; need for opposition to ageist behaviour (Johnston, 2016). Age-friendly Cities are one of the international responses to these issues. The World Health Organization (2017 p.3) identifies that “Age-friendly cities and communities foster healthy and active ageing and thus enable well-being throughout life. They help people to remain independent for as long as possible, and provide care and protection when they are needed, respecting older people’s autonomy and dignity.”
“Communication and information” is one of eight policy domains identified in the WHO (2017) Handbook for age-friendly environments. Some recommendations intersect with objectives familiar from “smart city” initiatives (e.g. digital connectivity for good access to assistive technologies in the home; smartphone apps tailored to needs of older people; closing the digital divide). However, the Handbook also identifies that age-friendly communication and information involves using word-of-mouth, traditional media, public meetings and neighbourhood centres. It means improving the accessibility of all forms of communication (from websites to signage).
An Age-friendly MIL (AFMIL) city values its older citizens. It pays attention to older people’s MIL development through specific policies and service programmes and enables them to contribute their own experience and stories using their MIL skills, recognising that “Every citizen is a creator of information/knowledge and has a message” (UNESCO, 2016). An AFMIL city identifies and satisfies citizens’ differing preferences for media and information channels. This includes recognising that older citizens are not one homogenous group and should not be stereotyped as deficient in their capacity to engage with MIL. Some older citizens may be adept users of virtual worlds, social media and the internet of things, demanding optimum broadband connectivity. Others may prefer to get their information from trusted human sources. AFMIL cities also need to be understood in terms of the varied contexts of power and authority in different national settings.
In this paper the authors draw together elements from frameworks for age-friendly, “smart” and MIL environments, and from research into information needs of older people, (such as those cited above) to present an encompassing analysis to generate new practices. They will also give some examples of cities pursuing age friendly developments, which could act as sites for MIL initiatives.
In the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “As we get older, our rights do not change. As we get older, we are no less human and should not become invisible” (HelpAge International, 2016, p.3).
References
Baxter, K. et al (2017). Older self-funders and their information needs. Social Policy Research Unit, University of York. http://www.sscr.nihr.ac.uk/PDF/Findings/RF62.pdf
HelpAge International. (2016). Global Age Watch Index 2015 Insight report. http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/
Johnston, B. (2016). Ageing and information: The Scottish older people’s movement. Library and Information Research, 40(123), 4-13. https://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/index.php/lir/article/view/742
Think Local Act Personal. (2017) Survey Results Exploring the impact of the Care Act on the lives of people with care and support needs. https://www.basw.co.uk/resource/?id=6593
UNESCO. (2016). Five laws of MIL. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/media-literacy/five-laws-of-mil/
Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2002). Information literacy: the social action agenda. In: D. Booker. (Ed.) Information Literacy: The Social Action Agenda: Proceedings of the 5th National Information Literacy Conference. Adelaide: UNISA Library. 68-80.
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. (2017). Age-friendly environments in Europe: A handbook of domains for policy action. Copenhagen: WHO. http://www.euro.who.int/en/publications/abstracts/age-friendly-environments-in-europe.-a-handbook-of-domains-for-policy-action-2017