"Tell it like it really is": A case of online content creation and sharing among older adult bloggers

Robin Brewer; Anne Marie Piper

doi:10.1145/2858036.2858379

"Tell it like it really is": A case of online content creation and sharing among older adult bloggers

Robin Brewer, Anne Marie Piper

Communication Studies

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

103 Scopus citations

Abstract

While the majority of older adults are now active online, they are often perceived as passive consumers of online information rather than active creators of content. As a counter to this view, we examine the practices of older adult bloggers (N=20) through in-depth interviews. We study this group of older adults as a unique case of content creation and sharing. We find that the practice of creating and sharing through blogging meets several important psychological and social needs for older adults. Specifically, blogging supports the development of identity in older adulthood; fosters selfexpression that supports older adults' values; provides meaningful engagement during retirement; and enables a sense of community and social interaction that is important for wellbeing in late-life. We argue for a focus on designing for late-life development and detail opportunities for online systems to better support the dynamic experience of growing older through online content creation and sharing.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	CHI 2016 - Proceedings, 34th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	5529-5542
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450333627
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858379
State	Published - May 7 2016
Event	34th Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2016 - San Jose, United States Duration: May 7 2016 → May 12 2016

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Other

Other	34th Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2016
Country/Territory	United States
City	San Jose
Period	5/7/16 → 5/12/16

Funding

We thank our study participants and Karina Sirota for her help transcribing interviews. This work was supported by NSF grant IIS-1533340.

Keywords

Blogging
Creative expression
Identity
Older adults

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Access to Document

10.1145/2858036.2858379

Cite this

Brewer, R., & Piper, A. M. (2016). "Tell it like it really is": A case of online content creation and sharing among older adult bloggers. In CHI 2016 - Proceedings, 34th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 5529-5542). (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858379

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abstract = "While the majority of older adults are now active online, they are often perceived as passive consumers of online information rather than active creators of content. As a counter to this view, we examine the practices of older adult bloggers (N=20) through in-depth interviews. We study this group of older adults as a unique case of content creation and sharing. We find that the practice of creating and sharing through blogging meets several important psychological and social needs for older adults. Specifically, blogging supports the development of identity in older adulthood; fosters selfexpression that supports older adults' values; provides meaningful engagement during retirement; and enables a sense of community and social interaction that is important for wellbeing in late-life. We argue for a focus on designing for late-life development and detail opportunities for online systems to better support the dynamic experience of growing older through online content creation and sharing.",

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author = "Robin Brewer and Piper, {Anne Marie}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank our study participants and Karina Sirota for her help transcribing interviews. This work was supported by NSF grant IIS-1533340.; 34th Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2016 ; Conference date: 07-05-2016 Through 12-05-2016",

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doi = "10.1145/2858036.2858379",

language = "English (US)",

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Brewer, R & Piper, AM 2016, "Tell it like it really is": A case of online content creation and sharing among older adult bloggers. in CHI 2016 - Proceedings, 34th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 5529-5542, 34th Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2016, San Jose, United States, 5/7/16. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858379

"Tell it like it really is": A case of online content creation and sharing among older adult bloggers. / Brewer, Robin; Piper, Anne Marie.
CHI 2016 - Proceedings, 34th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, 2016. p. 5529-5542 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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"Tell it like it really is": A case of online content creation and sharing among older adult bloggers

Abstract

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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