No abstract

Technology has been considered an important means to deliver services in a cost-effective manner in societies that are aging and implementing austerity policies. In this article, we analyze older adults' use of assistive technology, the picturephone, in home care by combining actor-network theory (ANT) and Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA). We also apply Foucault's concepts of technologies of the self, regimen, and resistance. Our research materials consist of interviews with eight Northern Finnish older adults and observation data. According to our results, technological translation takes place when users associate picturephone technology with the discourses on health and safety, connectedness, and/or learning. When the technology discourse collides with or deviates from these discourses, it disrupts the technological translation, and older adults do not include the picturephone technology in their regimen, their daily life. In Finland, care policy favors technology and pursues its adoption in older adults' care. In our case, private companies, care workers, technology advisers, family members, and older adults are recruited to join this effort. Older adults' position in their social-material networks varies strongly in the different phases of the translation, and their technologies of the self have a significant effect on its outcome. This should be considered when designing and utilizing ICT technologies in elderly care.

Aktiivisen ikääntymisen politiikkaa on pidetty ratkaisuna ikääntymisen haasteisiin. Tarkastelen artikkelissani, miten aktiivisen ikääntymisen diskurssi näkyy Helsingin Sanomien pääkirjoitusaukeaman teksteissä vuosina 2000–2015.Foucault´laisella diskurssianalyysilla tutkin, millaisten aladiskurssien kautta diskurssi rakentuu ja mil­laisia subjektipositioita on varattu ikääntyneille. Tulosten mukaan työuran pidentäminen näkyy aineistossa vahvasti ja ikääntyneet nähdään resurssina. Yhteiskunnalta odotetaan kuitenkin varautumista väestön ikääntymiseen, esimerkiksi hoivakustan­nuksiin ja ikäystävällisen ympäristön tarpeeseen. Toisaalta ikääntyneiden poliittiseen aktiivisuuteen suhtaudutaan ristiriitaisesti. The discourse of active ageing in the editorial pages of Helsingin Sanomat during the years 2000-2015 Active ageing has been considered as a solution to the challenges of ageing. In this article, I study the representation of the discourse of active ageing in the editorial pages of Helsingin Sanomat during the years 2000–2015. With the help of Foucauldian discourse analysis, I study the subdiscourses through which the discourse is constructed, and the subject positions of the older adults. According to the results, longer careers are emphasized, and older adults are seen as a resource. However, society is expected to prepare for ageing, for example with the help of an age-friendly environment and preparing for the costs of care. On the other hand, the political activity of older adults is seen in a contradictory way.