Presentation given by Sheila Webber at the Global Media and Information Literacy week Feature Conference, 29th October 2021

1. Older people as active,
creative agents in the
Media and Information
Literate city
Sheila Webber
Information School, University of Sheffield, UK
Global MIL Week, October 2021
Centre
for
Ageing
Better,
2021

2. Older people ...
• Different definitions in terms of age group (over 50? 55? 65? 70? ...)
• Diverse in terms of previous experience, of status, of current
situation and of opportunity even within one age-band, in one country
• Remembering that most older people are not in positions of power,
and may not have already fulfilled their potential
• Ageism “the stereotyping of, prejudice or discrimination against
individuals or groups based on their age” European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights. (2018, p. 11)

3. The #AFMIL city
model
Age-Friendly Media and
Information Literate City
(Webber & Johnston,
2019)

4. 3 perspectives on MIL & older people
• Older people as portrayed by media and experts:
avoiding stereotyping & disinformation
• Older people as consumers of information and
media: taking account of their preferences, practices
and life experiences
• Older people as MIL creators, innovators and critics:
older people can create new media practices too!
Sheila Webber, 2021
Centre for Ageing Better, 2020

5. Older people as portrayed by media and experts in relation
to MIL: avoiding stereotyping & disinformation
• Current problems include
– Emphasis on frailty, need, deficit, hesitancy in relation to technology
– Alternative views tend to focus on the super-active
– Demonising in relation to climate and environmental change, ignoring the
context of people’s lives
– Portrayed as spreading misinformation
– Ageism as a general background issue (see European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights, 2018, p.9)
• Needs include
– Addressing the general issue of ageism
– Agencies making more effort to create and promote resources of diverse non-
ageist images (including the old teaching the young about tech!)
Sheila Webber, 2021
Army
Medicine.
(2014)

6. Older people as consumers of information and media:
taking account of their preferences, practices and life
experiences
• Current problems include
– Assumptions that young people’s behaviours with digital media are the correct behaviours
– MIL focus on media, without regard to other important sources of information (including
people, the environment, memories)
– Assumptions about older people embedded in media programming, advertising algorithms
etc.
• Needs include
– Exploring older people’s media and information practices in a more positive way:
identifying new practices created by older as well as young people
– Challenging algorithms that assume I must now be most interested in retirement homes
and funeral plans
Sheila Webber, 2021

7. Older people as MIL creators, innovators and critics
The most neglected MIL role for older people
• Current problems include
– Support & training for older people is instrumental - catching
up with digital skills; Learning how to connect via devices;
Dealing with health problems
– Creative, innovative, critical capacity of older people
addressed in a much more limited way
Sheila Webber, 2021

8. “When Life becomes craft”
“it refers to the observation that as people age they become increasingly
involved with one craft in particular, and the subject of that craft is
themselves. They are themselves the cake that they are baking, based
on their own gradually refined recipe” (Garvey & Miller, 2021, p208.)
Garvey, P. and Miller, D. 2021.
Ageing with Smartphones in
Ireland: When life becomes craft.
London: UCL Press

9. Needs include
• Opportunities for older people developing as well
as practising critical skills
• Opportunities for older people to develop creative
MIL experiences, using their skills and experiences
• Involving stakeholders including the older people themselves in
initiatives aimed at
• fighting misinformation
• promoting action about climate change
• rethinking the city into sustainability

10. “Every citizen is a
creator of
information/knowledge
and has a message”
(UNESCO, 2016).

11. Sheila Webber
Information School
University of Sheffield
s.webber@shef.ac.uk
Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/