The dimensions of mobilities: The spatial relationships between corporeal and digital mobilities

Abstract The aim of this article is to study how the corporeal and digital mobilities are spatially organised in relation to each other in everyday life. The dimensions of mobilities are modelled by using survey data (N = 612) collected from Finland in 2011, Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA). The results show that the combined use of corporeal and digital means of mobility affect the spatial organisation of mobilities only little. The results indicate that young people and students are more likely to benefit from their mobility in networking activities as they are equipped with a larger variety of mobility means than older people and pensioners. L…

Towards a More Balanced Approach to Digital Families

The book concludes with the claim that the modes and frequency of intra-family digital communication cannot be studied separately from the social functions that the different technologies have in extended families. In digital communication, when problems related to the use of new technology arise, a caring relationship emerges between a carer, attentive to the expressed care needs of the cared-for, and the latter, expected to provide some response in exchange for the help received. Finally, avenues for future research to are outlined, with the future of the digital family briefly considered.

Do the mobile-rich get richer? Internet use, travelling and social differentiations in Finland

This article investigates the daily travelling practices that are related to mobile-only, fixed-only and combined mobile/fixed use of the Internet, and the social differentiations that are related to these three ways of accessing the Internet. Survey data ( N = 612) collected from Finland in 2011 are analysed. The article shows that mobile-only Internet use is not associated with particularly diverse or frequent daily travelling practices, whereas combined mobile/fixed use is. Mobile-only Internet users are, in fact, in a relatively disadvantaged position – compared with other users, they are more typically unemployed and their household income is lower. The mobility of Internet access as …

Bodily dimensions of reading and writing practices on paper and digitally

The bodily aspects of reading/writing practices are investigated in Finland.The paper is considered more adaptive to varied reading purposes than the screen.Handwriting is described as a more flexible and relaxed practice than typing.Skills determine less than materials and images the practices of reading/writing.Digital interfaces determine the ways we read and write less than suggested. This article investigates the different shapes in which reading and writing practices occur when paper/pen are compared with keyboard/screen. The focus is on the bodily aspects of these practices. Reading and writing are viewed as techniques of the body, which over the years have become increasingly mediat…

Beyond Social and Family Generations

Here the theoretical foundations on which the arguments in the book are built are developed. The chapter begins by introducing the concept of generation as both a cohort-based and a family-based construction. A discussion then follows of how various forms of intergenerational solidarity and conflict shape the relationships between family generations. Particular attention is paid to the need for an approach that goes beyond any strict generational division and is more sensitive to the ways in which individual lives are interconnected through the use of digital technologies. To assist in this task, a post-Mannheimian approach to generational identity is outlined.

Mobilities in Finland's Information Society Strategies from 1995 to 2010

Abstract The article explores Finland’s national information society strategies and uses the Finnish case as an example to identify the limitation of the so-called ‘methodological nationalism’ and to explicate the advantages of the mobility paradigm. The research material consists of the Finnish national strategies published between 1995 and 2010. The article identifies two trends from the studied strategies; a further intermingling of physical movement of objects and virtual mobility, and a tendency to reduce corporeal mobility. The study also shows that most mobility-related challenges require international cooperation and multinational solutions, although state-centred thinking was preva…

Women's Emotions Towards the Mobile Phone

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether women's emotions associate differently with the mobile phone depending on the type of family in which they live. James A. Russell's circumplex model of affect which explores four main emotional dimensions, excitement, distress, depression and contentment, was applied. The article is based on the female sub-sample (N = 3,704) of nationally representative survey data collected from Italy, France, the UK, Germany and Spain (N = 7,255) in 2009. The results show that it is women living in blended families who seem to associate more distress and less feelings of contentment with the mobile phone than women living in other types of family. peerRe…

Book Review_ Public Access ICT Across Cultures: Diversifying Participation in the Network Society

Mobilities in Finland's Information Society Strategies from 1995 to 2010

The article explores Finland’s national information society strategies and uses the Finnish case as an example to identify the limitation of the so-called ‘methodological nationalism’ and to explicate the advantages of the mobility paradigm. The research material consists of the Finnish national strategies published between 1995 and 2010. The article identifies two trends from the studied strategies; a further intermingling of physical movement of objects and virtual mobility, and a tendency to reduce corporeal mobility. The study also shows that most mobility-related challenges require international cooperation and multinational solutions, although state-centred thinking was prevalent in t…

Technologies of Re-familization

In this chapter, the notion of re-familization is introduced, to allow for a better grasp of the cohesive impact of digital technologies in the context of extended and geographically distributed families. In the field of social policy, the notion of re-familization implies a reversal of the politics of de-familization that once was the hallmark of the golden-era welfare state. The argument is made that family-initiated uses of digital media and communication technology in response to (older) family members’ daily help and care needs resonate well with the idea behind re-familization. In conclusion, the chapter presents several ways in which re-familization manifests itself in the everyday l…

A different glimpse into mobilities: On the interrelations between daily spatial mobility and social mobility

We explore the link between daily spatial mobility and social mobility, taking changes in the contemporary labor market and family as examples. We propose a new theoretical approach to mobility that is defined as a productive force of social labor. Analyzing the relationship between daily spatial mobility and social mobility, we show that spatial mobility has become a strategy of compensation for the lack of social mobility. Explanations for the increase in daily spatial mobility are also provided. Lastly, we reveal how spatial mobility has the capacity to produce major social change, taking the family as an example. peerReviewed

Experiencing Broadband Society

Julian Gebhardt, Greif Hajo, Raycheva Lilia, Claire Lobet-Maris & Lasen Amparo (eds), Experiencing Broadband Society (Frankfurt am Main and Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010), 206 pp., ISBN 978-3-631-58406-...

The advanced use of mobile phones in five European countries

The paper explores the advanced users of mobile phones in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the UK (EU5 countries) and aims to clarify the social meaning of advanced use. The mobile phone is seen as a strategic tool of social labour, whose capabilities are exploited to a different extent in the five studied countries. The analysis is based on a cross-national survey data collected in 2009 (N = 7,255). First, the results show that there are substantial differences in the advanced use of mobile phone and its predictors in Europe. Generally, only about one third of the studied mobile features are exploited. British and French people are the most advanced users, followed by German, Spanish and …

Sosiaalihuollon asiakasturvallisuus ja sähköinen asiointi

What Is a ‘Digital Family’?

This chapter introduces the concept of the digital family. Digital families are one form of distributed extended families, consisting of related individuals living in one or more households who utilize at least basic level information and communication technologies and social media applications to stay connected and maintain a sense of unity. The strengths and limitations of the notion are discussed, assessing its usefulness vis-a-vis neighbouring concepts. The chapter ends with the discussion of the perception of family in the three countries studied, Finland, Italy and Slovenia, and of the differences found between them.

Exploring heterogeneous ICT use among older adults: The warm experts’ perspective

In this article, we (1) examine the various forms of support required by older users (75+) of digital technology and (2) provide a concrete, everyday life rationale for why warm experts play such a pivotal role in the processes of adopting and using ICT. Although warm experts are usually not older adults themselves, they provide an important mediating view on the technology use among older people that has not been rigorously addressed in previous studies. Thus, in our analysis we examine the younger family members’ views on acting as warm experts to their older family members. The research data consist of 22 extended group interviews (EGI) and observation carried out in Finland. Based on ou…

Digiosallisuus Suomessa : Digiosallisuus Suomessa -hankkeen loppuraportti

Digiosallisuus Suomessa -hankkeessa laadittiin aluksi digiosallisuuden käsiteanalyysi eri tieteen- ja hallinnonalojen näkökulmasta. Käsiteanalyysi ja sen pohjalta muodostettu digiosallisuuden määritelmä osa-alueineen on julkaistu erillisenä väliraporttina (Hänninen ym. 2021b). Siinä tunnistettiin digiosallisuuden kuusi osa-aluetta: infrastruktuuri ja teknologiset välineet; saavutettavuus; turvallisuus ja luotettavuus; taidot, osaaminen ja digituki; käytettävyys; käyttäminen ja hyödyt. Tähän pohjautuen loppuraporttiin on koottu ehdotus digiosallisuuden mittaristoksi seurannan ja arvioinnin mahdollistamiseksi, digiosallisuuden kansallinen tilannekuva ja digiosallisuutta edistäviä hyviä käytän…

Internet use and informal help for surrounding communities in Finland

This chapter investigates whether Internet use and involvement in social networking sites are related to the unpaid help that is provided to members of the surrounding communities. Three different forms of unpaid help are studied: assistance in care, housework and technology use. Previous literature dealing with the impacts of ICT use on the social cohesion of communities and the sense of togetherness is discussed to provide a solid basis for the research. As for the empirical part of the study, the chapter analyses the Finnish Time Use Survey collected between 2009 and 2010. The results show that it is not Internet use per se that is associated with the provision of informal help to the ot…

Who Can See My Stuff? : Online Self-Disclosure and Gender Differences on Facebook

This study investigates the gendered privacy practices and concerns on Facebook, by leaning on the idea of privacy management as a form of digital labour. We analyse if young Facebook users are more concerned about the privacy against other users than against Facebook as a company or against third-party partners. We also analyse if privacy concerns and visibility rules are differentiated by gender. Using a structured online survey, we collected responses from a sample of 813 Italian university students (aged 18-34). Our results show that the respondents have just slightly more privacy concerns against other users than against Facebook, and much less against third-party partners. Unlike a ma…

Care Workers’ Readiness for Robotization : Identifying Psychological and Socio-Demographic Determinants

Successful implementation of robots in welfare services requires that the staff approves of them as a part of daily work tasks. In this study, we identified psychological and socio-demographic determinants associated with readiness for robotization among professional Finnish care-workers. National survey data were collected from professional care workers (n = 3800) between October and November 2016. Random samples were drawn from the member registers of two Finnish trade unions. The data were analyzed with regression models for respondents with and without firsthand experience with robots. The models explained 34–39% of the variance in the readiness for robotization. The readiness was posit…

Mobile Communication: Media Effects

This entry introduces the reader to various media effects of mobile communication devices. The special focus is on mobile phones. The entry begins with a presentation of media effects on communication practices, on users, as well as on interlocutors and bystanders. It continues by analyzing the reverse effects of users on the redesign of mobile media. Lastly, the issues of how mobile communication is connected to social and geographical surroundings and how the use of mobile communication devices is related to the social structures of society are addressed. The entry concludes with a discussion of the media effects of mobile communication in the future. Keywords: digital media; mobile commu…

Digital skills and application use among Finnish home care workers in the eldercare sector

This chapter explores the role digital skills, interest in technology, and social support have in home care workers’ use of digital applications at work. The empirical research is based on the 2019 University of Jyväskylä survey study on eldercare work (N = 6,903), drawn from the members of four majors trade unions in Finland. In this chapter, a sub-sample of home care workers (n = 1,398) is used in the analyses. Structural equation models are used to estimate the direct and indirect effects of available technology support, digital skills, and interest in technology on the actual use of various digital applications at work. According to the results, technology support has no direct effect o…

Digitalisaation harmaat sävyt

Book review: Proenza, F. J. (Ed.). (2015). Public Access ICT Across Cultures: Diversifying Participation in the Network Society

Individual and shared digital repertoires – older adults managing digital services

The rise of public and other non-recreational digital services is based on the idea of catering to the daily needs of the citizens cost-efficiently and with ease. Previous research has approached t...

Heterogeneity of traditional and digital media use among older adults : A six-country comparison

The concept of aged heterogeneity has been associated with older adults' ability to adapt to the digital age without a systematic empirical analysis. We analyse retired adults' (aged 62 or more) use of traditional media and their digital equivalents in six countries. First, we ask whether heterogeneity in traditional and digital media use increases with age. Second, we study to what extent gender is related to this heterogeneity, and third, the country differences in the heterogeneity of media use in later life. We analyse the 2018 data (N = 5865) of the ‘Older audiences in the digital media environment’ survey using zero-inflated negative binomial models. The results provide partial suppor…

Transformative technologies, spatial changes : essays on mobile phones and the Internet

Sakari Taipale tarkastelee väitöskirjassaan sitä, kuinka matkapuhelimen ja internetin käyttö vaikuttaa sosiaalisten tilojen muodostumiseen.Uudet informaatio- ja kommunikaatioteknologiat ovat monipuolistaneet sosiaalisen vuorovaikutuksen muotoja. Matkapuhelimen ja internetin avulla sosiaalisia tiloja, erilaisia toimijoiden yhteenliittymiä, voidaan luoda tietoverkoissa ilman toisten ihmisten fyysistä läsnäoloa. Tämän seurauksena sosiaalisen tilan kahden keskeisen osatekijän, rajojen ja tarkoituksen, välinen suhde on muuttunut. Rajat näyttävät menettäneen suhteellista merkitystään sosiaalisen tilan koossapysyvyyden kannalta, kun taas tilan tarkoituksen merkitys on vahvistunut.- Verkkoympäristö…

Mobility of Cultures and Knowledge Management in Contemporary Europe

In the aftermath of the fall of the Iron Curtain, the European Union (EU) has included more and more new member states from Central and Eastern parts of the European continent. This enlargement process has increased the cultural diversity of the European community as new languages and minority groups have been subsumed into the EU. It is the purpose of this article to discuss the challenges that result from the EU's enlargement, together with the added intra-European mobility of cultures, that affect the national knowledge infrastructures. Based on recent social scientific scholarship on mobility and cultures, this article proposes that knowledge management in contemporary Europe is not onl…

Positive Turn in Elder-Care Workers' Views Toward Telecare Robots.

AbstractRobots have been slowly but steadily introduced to welfare sectors. Our previous observations based on a large-scale survey study on Finnish elder-care workers in 2016 showed that while robots were perceived to be useful in certain telecare tasks, using robots may also prove to be incompatible with the care workers’ personal values. The current study presents the second wave of the survey data from 2020, with the same respondents (N = 190), and shows how these views have changed for the positive, including higher expectations of telecare robotization and decreased concerns over care robots’ compatibility with personal values. In a longitudinal analysis (Phase 1), the positive change…

Print and online newspapers as material artefacts

Traditional newspaper journalism is in a state of crisis and there have been several attempts to overcome this. Many discourses have reiterated the triumphal march of a digital revolution in newspaper journalism and anticipated the end of the print newspaper. This moment calls for an in-depth analysis of reader habits of news consumption and use in order to understand the audiences for journalistic output and their relationship with the journalistic objects. In this study, we adopt a multi-method approach, integrating (1) qualitative content analysis of student essays dealing with the physicality of printed and online newspapers, (2) ethnographic observation of the use practices of readers…

Intergenerational solidarity and ICT usage : empirical insights from Finnish and Slovenian families

The promotion of students’ engagement with school is an internationally acknowledged challenge in education. There is a need to examine the structure of the concept of student engagement and to discover the best practices for fostering it across societies. That is why the cross-cultural invariance testing of students’ engagement measures is highly needed. This study aimed, first, to find the reduced set of theoretically valid items to represent students’ affective and cognitive engagement forming the Brief-SEI (brief version of the Student Engagement Instrument; SEI; Appleton, Christenson, Kim, & Reschly, 2006). The second aim was to test the measurement invariance of the Brief-SEI across t…

Adoption of new forms of television and emotion in five European countires

Tietotyö, pitkät työajat ja elämäntyylit

Revealing Hidden Curvilinear Relations Between Work Engagement and Its Predictors: Demonstrating the Added Value of Generalized Additive Model (GAM)

Previous studies measuring different aspects of the quality of life have, as a rule, presumed linear relationships between a dependent variable and its predictors. This article utilizes non-parametric statistical methodology to explore curvilinear relations between work engagement and its main predictors: job demands, job control and social support. Firstly, the study examines what additional information non-linear modeling can reveal regarding the relationship between work engagement and the three predictors in question. Secondly, the article compares the explanatory power of non-linear and linear modeling with regard to work engagement. The generalized additive model (GAM), that makes pos…

Digiosallisuuden käsite ja keskeiset osa-alueet : Digiosallisuus Suomessa -hankkeen väliraportti

Digiosallisuus Suomessa -hankkeen tavoitteena on luoda kattava kokonaiskuva digiosallisuuden kansallisesta tilanteesta, hyvistä käytänteistä ja eri tahojen rooleista sekä mittaristo, jota voidaan hyödyntää digiosallisuuden arvioinnissa. Hankkeen väliraportissa on tuotettu kokoava selvitys digiosallisuuden käsitteestä ja määritelmistä eri tieteen- ja hallinnonalojen näkökulmasta. Väliraportissa käydään läpi digiosallisuutta avaavia lähikäsitteitä sekä digiosallisuuden keskeisimpiä osa-alueita. Olennaiseksi jäsennykseksi väliraportissa nousee yksilöiden ja erilaisten käyttäjäryhmien kokemus digiosallisuudesta sekä eri hallinnonalojen ja muiden toimijoiden, kuten kolmannen sektorin ja yrityste…

Theorizing cultural work: labour, continuity and change in the cultural and creative industries

Theorizing Cultural Work, edited by Mark Banks, Rosalind Gill, and Stephanie Taylor, deals with contemporary cultural work and creative industries by elaborating the specificities of the present th...

More years, more technologies : aging in the digital era

This special issue presents research on the role of digital health and communication technologies in later life. Drawing from the observation that people’s longer lives are affected by digital technologies to varying extents and recognizing the vast supply of traditional and digital technologies targeted at older users, we maintain that the principle of aged heterogeneity also manifests itself with respect to the adoption and use of digital technologies. Basing on the findings presented in the articles of the issue, we conclude n this introduction to the issue that the concept of aged heterogeneity and the particularities of old age as a stage of life are still insufficiently incorporated i…

Introduction: Situating the Human in Social Robots

Traditionally the social has been considered as a characteristic of human beings, not of inanimate machines. At the same time, each technological device can be considered social born out of a complex process of invention, implementation, distribution and domestication by users (Hirsch and Silverstone 2004; Lasen 2013). Since recent technical developments have made possible rather detailed technical mimicking of human beings and their social features, and incorporating them in silicon chips, there is a pronounced need to understand to what extent the humanness can be implanted in social robots. This is also an occasion to think over and discuss what the human is when considered in this conte…

Ageing and consumption in Finland : the effect of age and life course stage on ecological, economical and self-indulgent consumption among late middle-agers and young adults between 1999 and 2014

Previous studies on ageing consumers have mainly focused on chronological age and generational values or studied ageing and consumption with cross-sectional data. Few quantitative studies exist that examine the effect of age together with life course on consumption using longitudinal data. To bridge this gap, the article examines ageing and attitudes towards consumption in Finland, focusing particularly on late middle-agers (46–60 year-olds) in comparison with young adults (18–30 year-olds) between 1999 and 2014. The article explores three consumption patterns based on attitudinal statements: ecological, economical and self-indulgent consumption. Through analysis of a nationally representat…

Robotization of Mobile Communication

The aim of this chapter is to systematize the discussion regarding robotization of mobile communication. The chapter begins by clarifying the fundamental role of both robot hardware and robot software in this process. This is followed by a critical overview of existing research, which is classified into three categories. First, robotization is understood as the hybridization of the human body with existing ordinary mobile devices. Second, the incorporation of new robotic software, such as algorithms, artificial intelligence, and virtual assistants, into mobile devices is seen to robotize them from inside. Third, the convergence of smart communication devices, typically as user interfaces wi…

Technological Drivers and Sociocultural Change

In this chapter, the suggestion is made that the relevance and timeliness of the concept of digital family is owing to certain advances in personal communication technologies that, together with wider social changes in the developed world, facilitate people’s participation in a digital society. First, we take a look at recent technological advancements in personal communication technology and social media applications, after which we examine more in-depth some of the major sociocultural transformations to have paved way for the emergence and rise of the digital family.

Book Review: Jane Vincent and Leopoldina Fortunati, eds, Electronic Emotion: The Mediation of Emotion via Information and Communication Technologies. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009. 237 pp. ISBN 978-3-03911-866, $51.95 (pbk)

Design of mobile phones for older adults : An empirical analysis of design guidelines and checklists for feature phones and smartphones

Design guidelines and checklists are suggested as a useful tool in the development and evaluation of interface design of mobile phones for older adults. Given the intense evolution of mobile phone design, understanding how the design guidelines and checklists have taken into account the advances in mobile phone usability for older adults is important for their correct application and future development. Thus, this study explores the usability dimensions of mobile phone design for older adults and the related changes in terms of time and the type of device (feature phones vs. smartphones) based on an expert coding of the eight mobile phone design guidelines and checklists for older adults pu…

Implementing sentiment analysis to an open-ended questionnaire: Case study of digitalization in elderly care during COVID-19

[EN] The rise of digital technology has enabled us to utilize even more integrated systems for social and health care, but these systems are often complex and time-consuming to learn for the end users without relevant training or experience. We aim to perform Named Entity Recognition based sentiment analysis using the answers of eldercare workers that have taken a survey about the effects of digitalization on their work. The collection of the panel survey data was carried out in two waves: in 2019 and 2021. For the sentiment analysis we compare these two waves to determine the effects of COVID-19 on the work of eldercare workers. The research questions we ask are the following: “Has technol…

Individual and shared digital repertoires : older adults managing digital services

The rise of public and other non-recreational digital services is based on the idea of catering to the daily needs of the citizens cost-efficiently and with ease. Previous research has approached the use of digital services mainly from the perspective of an individual, while the significance of shared practices of use has attracted only a little attention. In this article, we (1) examine the incentives and limitations associated with the use of non-recreational digital services, which either encourage or discourage older adults to use them. Based on the first question, we then ask (2) how older adults in this study manage those non-recreational digital services they have chosen to use. Our …

Organization of the social sphere and typology of the residential setting: How the adoption of the mobile phone affects sociability in rural and urban locations

Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the role that the possession of the mobile phone plays in the organization of the relational sphere at a social level, in different geographical settings. The research questions were: is the possession of a mobile phone more connected to urban or to rural life, and does the possession of a mobile phone influence differently the organization of the social sphere in rural and urban settings? Data on the possession of mobile phones, the frequency of forms of communicative sociability, and various socio-demographic variables were collected by means of a phone survey in 2009. The sample is representative of the population in the five most populous…

The Global Social Policy Reader - Edited by Nicola Yeates and Chris Holden

Digital generations, but not as we know them

The aim of this article is to see whether or not adolescents were the real leaders of the digital ‘revolution’ in the 1990s and whether they have sustained or even improved their position in the 2000s. The analysis is based on two surveys carried out in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain in 1996 ( N = 6609) and in 2009 ( N = 7255). The results show that the adolescents belonging to the first digital generation in 1996 were the most equipped with new technologies, although not the most intensive users. In 2009, the adolescents lost their position as the leading adopters and lagged behind youth and young adults regarding the use of new technologies and computer skills.

Work engagement in eight European countries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the level and predictors of work engagement among service sector employees in eight European countries.Design/methodology/approachThe work seeks to discover if job demands and resources, i.e. job autonomy and social support, affect work engagement in differing ways in different countries when socio‐demographical variables and work‐related factors are controlled. The study is based on a statistical analysis of survey data from Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK in 2007 (n=7,867). The data represent four economic sectors: retail trade, finance and banking, telecoms and public hospitals.FindingsThe re…

Into the world of e-waste: mobility among e-scrappers in Nigeria

AbstractIn the management of e-waste, mobility of e-scrappers plays a pivotal role, especially in e-waste acquisition and sales of extracted materials. This research examines the relationship between e-scrappers and the locations of their work by analysing the influence of environmental and social factors on their mobility behaviour in Nigeria. A qualitative analysis of video material collected from 29 male e-scrappers in Nigeria between 2014 and 2015 reveals that e-waste has inherent properties that intermittently mobilise e-scrappers to search for recyclable and valuable electronic trash. Applying the new mobilities paradigm and the new materialism theory, we present that e-scrappers’ mob…

Refamilisation in the broadband society – the effects of ICTs on family solidarity in Finland

In this article we explore the effects that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) have on family relations in Finland. The idea of ‘new connectivities’ works as a starting point for the study directing attention to ICT-mediated forms of being together with distant family members. The research data consists of 22 student reports encompassing a total of 133 informants from extended Finnish families. Extended group interview (EGI) technique was developed and used for data collection in order to grasp the underlying social practices and values behind the use of ICTs in extended families. The results show that new ICTs, especially mobile social media, enhance family solidarity am…

Enhancing Older Adults’ Digital Inclusion Through Social Support : A Qualitative Interview Study

AbstractA lack of social support can hinder older adults’ digital inclusion. This chapter examines the connection between social and digital inclusion by focusing on the process of acquiring social support for digital technology use among older adults in Finland. Building on the concept of warm expert, the chapter shows that acquiring support for digital technology use is a reciprocal process that both enhances and requires digital inclusion. A qualitative analysis of 22 participant-induced elicitation interviews was conducted with older adults aged between 57 and 89. The chapter shows that social support reinforces digital inclusion by (a) ensuring older adults’ access to technology, (b) c…

Capturing methodological trends in mobile communication studies

This study investigates methodological trends in mobile communication studies. The articles published over the past 20 years in five journals (Communication Research, Journal of Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, New Media & Society, and Information, Communication & Society) are analysed. The results show that the quantitative and qualitative studies have increased while theoretical accounts have remained few. The quantitative approach is the most applied. The studied articles reflect a structural problem of science communication that stems from the lack of cumulativity of scientific results and cross-national analyses and from the standard length of articles that po…

Mobile phone use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic : a panel study of older adults in seven countries

The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in older adults’ mobile phone use from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. The media displacement and digital divide approaches served as the theoretical frameworks of the study. The data were drawn from the 2018 and 2020 waves of the Aging + Communication + Technology cross-national longitudinal panel study. The sample consisted of older Internet users, aged 62 to 96 (in 2018), from Austria, Canada, Finland, Israel, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain, who participated in both waves (N = 4,398). Latent class analysis and latent transition analysis with multinomial regression models were the main methods applied to the data. With rega…

Luottamus teknologiaan on koetuksella

Laitteiden ja sovellusten toimimattomuus vaikeuttaa vanhustyön tekemistä enemmän kuin palkansaajilla keskimäärin. Luottamuksen rakentaminen teknologiaan vaatii aikaa, kärsivällisyyttä ja kehitystyötä. nonPeerReviewed

The relationship between Internet use, online and printed newspaper reading in Finland: investigating the direct and moderating effects of gender

This article explores how the time spent on the Internet is associated with printed and online newspaper reading. The direct and moderating effects of gender are especially investigated. The survey data ( N = 612) collected from Finland in 2011 are analysed by using hierarchical regression modelling. The results of the study show that Internet use has a displacement effect on printed newspaper reading but only among male respondents. In contrast, results show that more women spend time on the Internet the more frequently they also read printed newspapers. This finding is in line with the so-called efficacy hypothesis. No similar moderating effect of gender was found when exploring online n…

Mobile communication and the family: Asian experiences in technology domestication

Amidst a record influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa into Europe, it is puzzling to notice that many are making their journeys with almost nothing but a smartphone. Families are left ...

Digital Technologies and Generational Identity

Adoption of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App Among Older Internet Users in Finland

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created an unequal need for limiting physical contacts and tracing possible exposures to a novel coronavirus. Smartphone-based contact tracing applications (CTAs) were presented as a vehicle for stopping virus transmission chains and supporting the work of contact tracing teams. In this study, older adults’ adoption of a CTA was studied using socioeconomic background factors, satisfaction with health, and the measure of digital activity as predictors. The data were drawn from a larger questionnaire survey targeted at older internet users. A subsample of older Finnish internet users (N = 723) was analyzed using a logistic regression model. Results showed…

INVESTIGATING OLDER ADULTS’ INTENTION TO USE SMARTPHONES WITH A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING APPROACH

Although the uptake of smartphones amongst older adults has recently taken off, the proportion of feature phone users in this population group is still prevailing. Thus, drawing on the senior technology acceptance model (STAM) and the diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) this study aimed to investigate what personal and contextual factors affect the adoption of smartphones among older adults. A telephone survey on a nation-wide representative sample of older adults aged 55+ (n = 1581) was conducted, measuring eight STAM and DIT factors (e.g., perceived usefulness, resistance to change, mobile phone anxiety) of behavioral intention to use smartphones. Using confirmatory factor analysis and s…

The Big Meaning of Small Messages: The Use of WhatsApp in Intergenerational Family Communication

This study explores the use of WhatsApp instant messenger in extended families in two countries, Finland and Italy, that represent different family and communication cultures. Qualitative research material was collected in 2014/2015 from families consisting of three or more generations and living either in the same or different households. A directed approach to qualitative content analysis was applied in the analysis of the research data. The results of the study show that WhatsApp is considered to facilitate family interaction across generations. The success of WhatsApp in the family context accounts for two main factors: first, for the possibility to reach the whole family at once; and s…

Health and self-perceived barriers to internet use among older migrants : a population-based study

Background:In older adults, including those with a migrant background, ill health is associated with less internet use. However, it is not known what are the specific self-perceived barriers to internet use among older migrants with different health conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between different health conditions and self-perceived barriers to internet use among older migrants.Methods:We used the Care, Health and Ageing of Russian-speaking Minority in Finland (CHARM) study, which is a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling Russian-speaking adults aged ≥50 years living in Finland (N=1082, 57% men, mean age 63.2 years, standard deviatio…

Robot Shift from Industrial Production to Social Reproduction

This chapter analyses people’s attitudes towards the use of robots in the different domains of life and, specifically, in the domain of social reproduction. The analysis is based on Eurobarometer 382 “Public Attitudes towards Robots” data (N = 26,751), which was carried out among EU citizens aged 15 and over in 27 member states in 2012. The results of the study show that on average European perceptions of robots are positive and permissive. The life domains in which robots have already been used for a long time (e.g. space exploration, manufacturing, military and security business, search and rescue work) turn out to be the most popular areas for the further penetration of robots. The least…

The Affordances of Reading/Writing on Paper and Digitally in Finland

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of digital technologies on reading and writing in Finland. The perceived affordances of reading and writing on paper and digitally are compared by analysing written essays collected from 25 communication students in 2013. Research design is replicated from a study of Fortunati and Vincent that concerns Italian students. Results show that Finnish students perceive more positive than negative affordances regarding reading on paper, while reading on screen attracts fewer virtues. In this respect, results are in line with the Italian study. Unlike in Italy, students in Finland value writing on a keyboard especially because it enables editing th…

Innovators and innovated: Newspapers and the postdigital future beyond the “death of print”

Along with other cultural organizations, newspapers, through waves of digital disruption, have become subject to a dominant narrative of crisis. But newspapers have long participated in change. A constructivist approach, qualified by consideration of media materiality, draws attention to diverse but essential processes of innovation around them. We see a contraflow of migration from digital to print, opening up a shared media space; bonding strategies are bringing multimedia to ink on paper, while bridging via boundary objects such as QR (Quick Response) codes are connecting the two. Among other initiatives, development of automation of news production and experiments with transparency are …

LINKED LIVES: RECEIVING AND GIVING HELP IN TECHNOLOGY USE IN LATER LIFE

This study investigates how older people differ from younger people in terms of giving and receiving help in the use of a computer and a digital television. The analysis focuses on the effects of gender and health status. The data was derived from individual interviews (N=3,306) conducted in connection the Finnish Time Use Survey in 2009 and 2010. We employ logistic regression analysis to examine the relationship of health measures and background factors on giving and receiving help. The results show that people aged 55–64 (OR=3.9) and 65 or more (OR=4.4) received help in the use of these two technologies more often than the youngest age group (10–16). Respondents with a long-term disease (…

Organization of the social sphere and typology of the residential setting in Europe: how sociability affects the adoption of the mobile phone in rural and urban locations

The purpose of this study is to explore the role that the possession of the mobile phone plays in the organization of the relational sphere at a social level, in different geographical settings. The research questions were: is the possession of a mobile phone more connected to urban or to rural life, and does the possession of a mobile phone influence differently the organization of the social sphere in rural and urban settings? Data on the possession of mobile phones, the frequency of forms of communicative sociability, and various socio-demographic variables were collected by means of a phone survey in 2009. The sample is representative of the population in the five most populous and indu…

The diffusion and use of information and communication technologies and the city from 1996 to 2009

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the diffusion and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are associated with the size of the place of residence where people live. The article explores how the relationship between ICTs and place of residence changed between 1996 and 2009. The study presents data from two consecutive telephone surveys collected from Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. Results show an unexpected role of the relatively rural areas as attractor of new technologies. Although the largest cities have remained the locus of telecommunications on the whole, the relationship between ICTs and the place of abode has changed consider…

ICT mobility research in Finland: From immaterial consumption to material sustainability?

Mobilities and the network of personal technologies: Refining the understanding of mobility structure

Our ambition here is to refine the various typologies that compose the mobility structure. We aim to complement the work done by Urry and investigate the role played in the structure of mobility by what we call the “network of personal technologies”. Our new model consists of four different levels: macro-mobilities, micro-mobilities, media mobility and disembodied mobilities. By “macro-mobilities,” we refer to the actions which imply consistent physical displacement, such as travels, tours and commuting. By “micro-mobilities,” we mean small-scale displacements, including bodily movements and emotions. With moving media, we refer both to the new mobility provided by the smartphone to the tra…

What happened to body-to-body sociability?

This article aims to investigate how the body-to-body forms of sociability evolved from 1996 to 2009 simultaneously with the proliferation of ICTs in Europe and why this happened. The article also aims to find out how the socio-demographic profile of Europeans practising these forms developed in the same period of time. The analysis is based on two surveys carried out in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain in 1996 (N = 6609) and 2009 (N = 7255). Results show that although the internal diffusion and frequency of the forms of communicative sociability changed, on the whole the amount of sociability has increased so slightly that it would be more appropriate to speak about rea…

Tuki, ohjaus ja koulutus – ikääntyneet digitalisoituvassa mediayhteiskunnassa

Group‐based instant messaging in Finnish residential elder care work : taming the technology or vice versa?

As new communication technologies become embedded in care work, there is a need to understand how they affect its temporal order. This article analyses group-based mobile instant messaging (IM) in residential elder care work in Finland. The article asks (i) how care workers use group-based messaging for work; and (ii) how they negotiate the rules for its use. Theoretically, the article draws on science and technology studies focusing on ‘taming’ and ‘unleashing’ (Pols, 2017), and temporality (Wajcman, 2008). Analysis is based on a qualitative interview study of care workers and nurses (n = 25) conducted in 2018. The results showed how the time-shifting functionality of IM allows employees t…

Varttuneet kuluttajat, digitalisoituva arki ja kulutusympäristöjen muutos : digi 50+ -hankkeen loppuraportti

Väestön ikääntymisen ja palveluympäristöjen digitalisoitumisen seurauksena varttuneista kuluttajista on tullut yhä tärkeämpi kohderyhmä digitaalisille palveluille ja tuotteille. Ikääntyvien kuluttajien tarpeita, toiveita ja palveluiden käyttötottumuksia ei kuitenkaan usein oteta huomioon yritysten liiketoiminnassa, markkinoinnin suunnittelussa tai palvelumuotoilussa. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan varttuneiden, noin 50–65-vuotiaiden, kuluttajien kokemuksia digitaalisissa palveluympäristöissä. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että varttuneet kuluttajat kohtaavat erityisiä haasteita mutta myös uusia mahdollisuuksia digitaalisten palveluympäristöjen käyttäjinä. Vaikka yli 50- vuotiaat kuluttaja…

Vanhustyön digitalisaatio : työntekijät teknologian kehittäjiksi

Synchronicity matters: defining the characteristics of digital generations

This paper investigates whether or not the proposition that the second digital generation (or so-called digital natives) is more engaged in social use of the Internet than older generations is tenable. By analysing nationally representative questionnaire-based survey data collected from Finland in 2011 (N = 612), the study shows that rather than social use of the Internet in general, it is the synchronicity of online communication that distinguishes user generations. Results show that, in contrast to asynchronous modes of online communication (e.g. social networking sites, blogs and online discussion forums), synchronous modes (e.g. instant messaging and Internet calls) are clearly generati…

The Big Meaning of Small Messages

Here, instant messaging as a mode of everyday communication in digital families is taken up for examination. We look, in particular, into the qualities that make WhatsApp an attractive communication tool for extended families: it allows both one-to-one and one-to-many interactions and provides multiple modalities for intergenerational family communication (voice, text, photos and videos). Empirical evidence and qualitative data collected in Finland and Italy in 2014–2015 are drawn upon and analysed in advancing the argument that the success story of WhatsApp in the family context is related to way it enables reaching the whole family at once and promotes ‘phatic communion’ via small message…

Dealing with a small amount of data : developing Finnish sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis has been more and more prominently visible among all natural language processing tasks. Sentiment analysis entails information extraction of opinions, emotions, and sentiments. In this paper, we aim to develop and test language models for low-resource language Finnish. We use the term “low-resource” to describe a language lacking in available resources for language modeling, especially annotated data. We investigate four models: the state-of-the-art FinBERT [1], and competitive alternative BERT models Finnish ConvBERT [2], Finnish Electra [3], and Finnish RoBERTa [4]. Having a comparative framework of multiple BERT variations is connected to our use of additional methods …

The use of mobile technology for online shopping and entertainment among older adults in Finland

Older adults use mobile devices for online shopping as often as younger adults.Mobile-based entertainment use is most typical for younger male adults.Older female adults use mobile-based entertainment least frequently.Age, household structure and high education predict mobile-based online shopping.Mobile-based entertainment use is best predicted by age and gender. Older adults are becoming an important market segment for all internet-based services, but few studies to date have considered older adults as online shoppers and users of entertainment media. Utilising the concept of life course, this article investigates the use of mobile technologies for online shopping and entertainment among …

Robot acceptance model for care (RAM-care) : A principled approach to the intention to use care robots

Robots are emerging in welfare services, and organizations require information on whether novel technologies are approved among staff. On the basis of technology acceptance theories, this study proposes a model that adds a principled approach to the intention to use care robots. Data of 544 professionals with care robot experience were collected. The use intention was predicted by usefulness, enjoyment, social influence, and attitude. Respondents who found robots useful and accepted by their colleagues were more likely to view robot use as consistent with their personal values. The care robot acceptance model supports consideration of the profession-specific context in robotization. peerRev…

Teknologisten laitteiden ja sovellusten käyttö vanhustyössä : työn piirteiden ja yksilötekijöiden vaikutusten tarkastelua

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan vanhustyössä käytettyjen teknologisten laitteiden ja sovellusten yleisyyttä ja toisaalta niiden käytön riippuvuutta työhön liittyvistä ja yksilöllisistä tekijöistä. Teknologian käyttö tiivistyy kolmeen pääulottuvuuteen: mobiiliin hoivateknologiaan, toimistoteknologiaan ja viihdeteknologiaan. Käyttöä määritti ensi sijassa sektori ja toimipaikan tyyppi, ei niinkään työntekijän yksilölliset piirteet. Viitteitä on myös siitä, että työn teknologisoituminen etenee ylhäältä alaspäin ja on yhteydessä nimenomaan työn rakenteellisiin piirteisiin. New technologies and applications are expected to cut expenditures, ease the workload of employees, and improve the quality of el…

Warm Experts 2.0

This chapter focuses on family roles in digital families, drawing upon, and updating for the present day, the concept of the warm expert. First, the impact of information and communication technologies on family roles is investigated, based on qualitative research material collected from Finland, Italy and Slovenia in 2014 and 2015. After that the analysis looks at how family roles and responsibilities can change over the human life course. Three types of warm experts are identified, with their characteristics described and discussed. Lastly, the argument is made that intimately knowing the other family members is an essential quality of those acting in the role of warm experts, and that wh…

Heterogeneity of traditional and digital media use among older adults: A six-country comparison

Abstract The concept of aged heterogeneity has been associated with older adults' ability to adapt to the digital age without a systematic empirical analysis. We analyse retired adults' (aged 62 or more) use of traditional media and their digital equivalents in six countries. First, we ask whether heterogeneity in traditional and digital media use increases with age. Second, we study to what extent gender is related to this heterogeneity, and third, the country differences in the heterogeneity of media use in later life. We analyse the 2018 data (N = 5865) of the ‘Older audiences in the digital media environment’ survey using zero-inflated negative binomial models. The results provide parti…

The use of e-government services and the Internet: The role of socio-demographic, economic and geographical predictors

This article explores the use of e-government services from the perspective of digital divides. First, it aims to find out which socio-demographic, economic and geographical factors predict the use of e-government services. Second, the article aims to show whether these factors moderate the way in which the time spent on the Internet is associated with the use of e-government services. The article is based on survey data (N=612) collected in Finland in May–June 2011 and is analysed by using a logistic regression modelling. Results show that gender and income moderate the link between the Internet and e-government service use. The more that women use the Internet, the more they use the gover…

Kuinka referee kesytetään? : vertaisarviointiprosessi ja palautteeseen vastaaminen

Vanhustyö ja teknologia. Jyväskylän yliopiston vanhustyön kyselytutkimus 2019 : Katsaus tutkimusaineistoon

Jyväskylän yliopiston vanhustyön kyselytutkimuksessa kerätään tietoa vanhus- ja hoivatyön teknologisoitumista sekä työntekijöistä, työn luonteesta ja työoloista vuosina 2019−2025. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on saada ajantasainen kuva teknologisten laitteiden ja palveluiden käytöstä vanhuspalveluissa ja hoivatyössä sekä selvittää digiteknologioiden käytön merkityksiä ja yhteyksiä työoloihin ja päivittäisiin työrutiineihin sekä hoivasuhteisiin. Kyselytutkimus on osa Ikääntymisen ja hoivan tutkimuksen huippuyksikön (CoE AgeCare) tutkimustoimintaa. Kysely toteutettiin ensimmäisen kerran huhtikuussa 2019, jolloin kyselyyn saatiin 6 903 vastausta. Vastaajista 3 758 liittyi vastaajapaneeliin. Kyselyn…

Eldercare work and technology. 2019 University of Jyväskylä survey study on eldercare work : Overview of survey data

University of Jyväskylä has launched a survey study on eldercare work aimed to obtain information on 1) employees working with services for older people, 2) the nature of the work and working conditions in services for older people and 3) a current view of the use of technology in services for older people. The goal is to examine how the use of digital technologies is linked to working conditions, daily work routines and care relationships and to monitor the nature of care work and its digitalisation during 2019-2025. The first baseline survey was conducted on April 2019 resulting with 6 903 answers and of the respondents, 3,758 joined the respondent panel. The 2019 survey data shows that i…