I gave a talk yesterday to the Local Government Group / The Young Foundation’s Ageing Well Learning Lab at the Design Council. I was asked to talk about Realising Technology’s Potential. My brief was to be provocative. Much of the … Continue reading
Last week I gave a talk to the board of Helpage International, a large, very global ageing charity. I had a ‘simple’ brief. Talk to a very varied board – with members from Sri Lanka, USA, Latin America, India, Sri … Continue reading
Here's a talk on innovation in healthcare that I gave this afternoon at Imperial Business School to Professor James Barlow's students. I hope they found it useful. Innovation in Healthcare I've been interacting with James for a few years now. He's … Continue reading
ILC-UK, a London based think tank that focus exclusively on ageing related matters, launched a report today on older drivers. Specifically, it addresses how ideas from the ‘nudge’ agenda can be applied to the self-regulation of older drivers. The … Continue reading
I’ve been banging on for ages about the massive rise in the use of Facebook by older people. I’ve been posing as an advertisier and tracking the audience reach Facebook claims to provide to over 65s for over three years … Continue reading
Image Courtesy of Michele Gauler's Digital Remains project Three recent things, and something I cam across a few years back collide in what seems like an emergent interest in what happens to our digital lives, profiles and data when we die. … Continue reading
As the world gets older, faster, and suffers from growing (nay, epidemic) levels of chronic disease and its health and social care systems shudder under the strain people are getting interested in the role that technology might play in lending … Continue reading
I heard some time ago that the works of Iris Murdoch, a literary figure famous not just for her works but also her descent in the hell of Alzheimer's disease, trace the decline of her mind at an early stage, … Continue reading
Hospitals are not banks and so turning up at hospital for a routine operation with a shoebox of cash is probably not best advised. Then again, banks have not exactly covered themselves in glory over the last few years and … Continue reading
Photo Cred I was reminded this morning of a paper from EPIC 2008 – the conference theme was visibility – on twitter and jaiku use, largely amongst self-employed consultant types. The paper is titled The Translucence of Twitter by Ingrid Erickson who's … Continue reading
All Rights Reserved (Picture cred – it's a wonderful photo isn't it?) The debate about the adoption and use of technology by older people seems a little out of touch with reality. Either, we're told – older people (and … Continue reading
Picture cred I've been looking at ageing now for over four years and rarely do I come across such eloquent summaries of the issues that face us as ageing societies which are fixated with youth and the often 'savourless achievement' … Continue reading
One doesn't often find reviews of films in the British Medical Journal, and certainly not of those from the Pixar/Disney stable. But geriatric consultant Prof Des O'Neil has written a fantastic review of this film which, he argues, represents … Continue reading
We recently ran a small workshop, or gathering, to discuss 're-inventing retirement'. One of the attendees mentioned a poem that Brendan Kennelly had written on the subject of retirement as a new beginning. It's worth quoting at length…. Begin again to … Continue reading
I've got a book review forthcoming in Ageing and Society – people interested in Ireland, ageing and multi-method social research might be interested in it. Carmel Gallagher, The Community Life of Older People in Ireland, Peter Lang AG, Bern, Switzerland, … Continue reading
I was given this postcard yesterday by some lovely people from Nas na Riogh Housing Association who are doing some great work in a Naas, county town of Co. Kildare. The donor of the card had picked it up on a holiday … Continue reading
I'm not able to attend Include 2009, which starts today in London at the Royal College of Art, but the paper I wrote with Nina Warburton from The Alloy is included and she's presenting it on behalf of us both. … Continue reading
I've got a piece just out in the latest edition of User Experience Magazine (Volume 8, Issue 1, 2009) entitled "Web 2.0 for an Older Population: Exploring the Limits". The article grew out of my sense that whilst everything Web 2.0 is … Continue reading
Via Nicolas Nova's blog, pasta and vinegar, a picture (flickr url) of a supermarket trolley with built in magnifying glass to assist shoppers who have trouble reading labels etc. This seems particularly useful as looking at ingredient lists and nutrition … Continue reading
It is always nice to see something come to fruition. This is especially true of a Ph.D thesis, the production of which I often liken, in terms of its experience quotient, to the excretion of a concrete cabbage. So I … Continue reading