•Policy should account for barriers to digital technology use in older adults.•Impacts of digital technology at the micro and macro levels relate to inclusion.•Behaviours of digital technology use ...synthesise across societies and communities.•Older adults use digital technology to facilitate and include themselves and others.•Digital technology empowers and protects older adults from the digital divide.
As more and more of the business of society is transferred and conducted online, older adults frequently find themselves without the skills to participate effectively. This is frequently confounded by limited physical mobility and a decrease in their social network and contact. This paper examines the lived reality of that process and how digital technology could be used to enhance the life activity of older adults and their wellbeing by increasing their social network. Seventeen older adults (10 female, 7 male Mage=71.67, SDage=10.05) participated in two focus groups that each lasted approximately 90min. Interpretative phenomenological analysis yielded two main themes: digital technology serving as a tool to disempower and empower. Findings support evidence of a digital divide and how that divide is evolving from the ideographic perspective of digitally-engaged older adults and for society. Discussions also surround barriers to digital technology use for older adults, the codification of digital technology use within society, and how older adults use digital technology in a facilitative and inclusive way to empower themselves and protect them from the negative effects of the digital divide.
Citizen science offers significant innovation potential in science, society and policy. To foster environmental and conservation goals, citizen science can (i) generate new knowledge, (ii) enhance ...awareness raising and facilitate in-depth learning as well as (iii) enable civic participation. Here, we investigate how these aims are realised in citizen science projects and assess needs and challenges for advancing citizen science and stimulating future initiatives. To this end, we conducted a quantitative, web-based survey with 143 experts from the environmental and educational sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our findings show that citizen science project managers pursue goals related to all three areas of potential impact. Interestingly, enabling civic participation was considered slightly less important in relation to generating new knowledge and creating learning opportunities. Different areas of necessary action emerge from our analysis. To fully realize the potential of citizen science for generating knowledge, priority should be given to enhance capacities to more effectively share research results with the scientific community through publication, also in scientific journals. Systematic evaluation is needed to gain a better understanding of citizen science learning outcomes, for which criteria need to be developed. Fostering project formats that allow participants to get involved in the whole research process – from posing the study question to implementing results – could enhance the transformative aspect of citizen science at a societal level. Important structural aspects that need to be addressed include adjustments in funding schemes, facilitation of communication between citizens and academia-based scientists, and offers for training, guidance and networking.
•Citizen science can foster environmental goals in three ways.•We surveyed 143 experts from the environmental and educational sectors.•Capacities for peer-reviewed publishing of citizen science findings need enhancement.•Structures for networking and guidance are highly relevant for citizen science.•Systematic evaluation is needed to assess citizen science learning outcomes.
Recently, scholars tested how digital media use for informational purposes similarly contributes to foster democratic processes and the creation of social capital. Nevertheless, in the context of ...today's socially‐networked‐society and the rise of social media applications (i.e., Facebook) new perspectives need to be considered. Based on U.S. national data, results show that after controlling for demographic variables, traditional media use offline and online, political constructs (knowledge and efficacy), and frequency and size of political discussion networks, seeking information via social network sites is a positive and significant predictor of people's social capital and civic and political participatory behaviors, online and offline.
Hacktivists oftentimes challenge or subvert existing power relations or structures and attempt to promote reform. How the public perceives occurrences of hacktivism can influence the direction and ...impact of operations, including their potential success. Public support can encompass person power, computational ability, resources and solidarity, among other things. This study examines socio-legal contexts in which an individual is embedded and personal perceptions as predictors for support for hacktivism. Using representative survey data from 23 countries (n = 23,140), the study finds that more effective civic participation mechanisms and more positive views toward alternative actors and hacktivists’ utilitarianism motives were associated with heightened support. In contrast, greater trust in legal and state authorities promoted opposition. Effective justice was not associated with more support but was with less opposition for hacktivism. Implications for campaigns, social movements, and desistance of activity are discussed.
Even though social media platforms have created opportunities for more efficient and convenient civic participation, they are unlikely to bring about social change if the online actions do not ...propagate to offline civic participation. This article begins by reviewing the meta-analytic evidence on the relation between social media use and offline civic participation. Following this discussion, we present a theoretical framework that incorporates the attitudinal, motivational, and relational processes that may mediate the effect of social media use on offline civic participation. The framework highlights how social media algorithms may shape attitudes on important societal issues, promote generalized action goals among habitual users, and build social capital. We further discuss factors that may strengthen or undermine each of these processes, suggest ways to design and implement algorithms that may promote offline civic participation, and propose questions for future research.
The Internet has transformed access to the news with most citizens in western democracies having access at their fingertips. This study examines how youth consume news online highlighting news ...consumption through social networking sites and other online sources. This study uses two-wave longitudinal survey data of young people to examine how online news affects civic awareness and engagement in civic and political life. The findings suggest that online news will have minimal direct effect on civic and political engagement. Instead, the effects of online news are indirect. Online news increases civic awareness, which indirectly affects engagement. The indirect effects of online news are more pronounced for voting and boycotting, compared with signing petitions. Online news may be able to address participation inequalities between younger and older citizens by building civic awareness among youth and indirectly affecting participation in civic and political life.
A participação cívica de jovens com origem imigrante é uma área de estudo que carece de atenção académica em Portugal. Este artigo pretende analisar as várias formas de envolvimento e participação de ...jovens afrodescendentes, e de origem ucraniana e romena em associações de imigrantes em Portugal. O trabalho empírico centrou-se num conjunto de nove associações de imigrantes. Através de um estudo de caso múltiplo realizámos entrevistas semiestruturadas a coordenadores e a jovens com idades compreendidas entre os 15 e os 24 anos que participam nesses contextos. Os resultados deste artigo indicam que as associações de imigrantes são vividas como contextos de socialização, de lazer, de participação, de educação e de expressão de pertenças culturais.
Improper waste disposal and low rates of household waste diversion through material and organic waste recycling are a global concern. Understanding community perspectives on solid waste management ...services, outreach activities, and regulatory measures, and the barriers to sustainable practices, is crucial for designing effective waste management programmes. Longitudinal content analysis of archival data, such as newspapers, is a cost-effective, yet underutilised, research method to identify the viewpoints of diverse civic groups and examine the developments and challenges associated with the waste management sector. This paper investigates divergent stakeholders’ perspectives and priorities using the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) to examine the micro-system (intrapersonal and interpersonal), meso- and exo-system (community and institutional), and macro-system (policy level) factors that influence sustainable SWM practices. Using specific keywords, the authors searched online archives of a national newspaper in Fiji with a weekday circulation of over 20,000. Data from 482 newspaper articles, dated 2009–2020, were reviewed and dual-coded by two researchers using QDA Miner Lite. Findings indicate that poor waste management behaviour is linked to all factors within the Socio-Ecological system. While micro-level factors such as negligence, personal responsibility, lack of civic pride, and lack of awareness are causes of anti-environmental behaviour, structural factors such as inadequate waste collection services and recycling infrastructure contribute to low recycling rates. Civic education has been highlighted as a solution to encouraging pro-environmental behaviour (PEB), but there is a need to identify the type of educational tools and the frequency and impact of education workshops. This paper further discusses about the implications of community-based strategies and regulatory measures.
•Civic and multi-stakeholder input strengthens the design of waste management initiatives.•A socio-ecological analysis highlights multidimensional challenges to waste management.•Community-based strategies, such as clean-ups, are popular in island nations.•Anti-litter laws require enforcement through community-based strategies.•Non-passive education tools can increase environmental awareness and engagement.
Studies on older adults' civic engagement have been dominated by a win-win narrative, which assumes that the activity is beneficial both for the individuals involved and for communities. However, ...civic engagement may also be a source of negative experiences. The aim of this study was to understand these experiences in greater depth through an analysis of older Spanish activists' narratives of negative episodes of political participation. We also aimed to contribute to the methodological literature on narrative research by highlighting the strengths of analysing not just the content but also the structure of older people's stories. Life story interviews were carried out with 40 members of Spanish political organisations aged between 65 and 86 years old. As part of the interview, they were invited to narrate a negative event related to their stories of political participation. Answers were analysed both for their content (using thematic analysis) and for their structure (using Christopher Booker's plot typology). Participants recounted many negative experiences of political participation, which challenged the win-win master cultural narrative around civic engagement. These stories, which often reflected Booker's plots of ‘tragedy’, ‘overcoming the monster’, ‘the quest’, and ‘redemption’, recorded political defeats, conflicts with other members in the organisation, feelings of loneliness associated with engagement, and undesired consequences for relatives and friends. The results highlight the importance of providing a more nuanced understanding of what it means to be politically engaged in later life. This understanding would integrate the positive aspects assumed by the master win-win narrative with others that clearly challenge its assumptions.
•Studies on older adults' civic engagement have been dominated by a win-win narrative.•We analyse older activists' narratives of negative episodes of participation.•Personal narratives were analysed both for their content and for their structure.•Results show that political activism can be a source of negative experiences.
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