Playing with persona:Highlighting older adults’ lived experience with the digital media

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns (2020-2021), almost all facets of life were rendered digital – health, work, schooling, and logistics. In this phenomenon, not only did digital access become synonymous with social inclusion but inequalities were also amplified – particularly in the case of older adults (65 years and over). Contemporary older adults represent one of the most diverse spectrums of digital media users – spanning from technologically savvy to non-users. As the first generation of older adults to age in and through data in a data-saturated world, their understandings and experiences can teach us much about the possibilities and limitations of new media. Understanding these practices through cultural probes – like drawing, photos and writing prompts – can enable playful behaviours that not only elicit new thoughts and actions but also allow insight into some of the tacit lived experience that can support opportunities for technological use. In this paper, we ask: How can we playfully co-design through personas to enhance understandings of older adults’ lived experience of digital media? In this paper, we focus on the six co-design workshops in which we deployed personas as representations of digital experience to challenge, explore, provoke and help build nuanced tools for implementation. Through personas, speculative fiction and lived experience collide, offering some fascinating ways to rethink the digital-social dimension for older adults now and into the future

Explaining cross-cultural service interactions in tourism with Shenkar’s Cultural Friction

In this paper, we commence a new dialogue on cross-cultural research in tourism. Using Shenkar’s (2001) metaphor of cultural friction as the analytical framework, we examine crosscultural service interactions between guests and service-providers in a luxury hotel. Cultural friction departs from, and extends, the notion of ‘cultural distance’, as it recognises asymmetry in social-economic conditions and considers the goals and the influence of control and power between the interacting parties. We use the Critical Incident Technique and Narrative Inquiry as the data collection technique and analytical approach respectively. The findings reveal that guests and service-providers use a number of strategies to exert power and gain control during their interactions, including subjective essentialism and stereotyping, to achieve their goals. The implications for tourism and hospitality management include providing cross-cultural sensitivity training to service-providers, ensuring a cultural-diverse employee composition, and to foster cross-cultural understanding amongst employees. We further suggest to develop strategies to facilitate effective cross-cultural service interactions based on evidence about cultural norms, expectations and behaviours from specific cultural groups. Further research is recommended to connect specific interactions between the interacting parties to examine whether the various strategies used leads to effective cross-cultural communication

Helpful or harmful? Exploring the impact of social media usage on intimate relationships

Internet access in Australia is increasing with the most popular online activity reported by Australians being social media use. The literature is divided as to whether social media use is helpful or harmful to intimate relationships. Recent research from an Australian family counselling provider indicates that social media use is resulting in negative intimate relationship outcomes, echoing recent American research findings. However, other researchers note that social media use can have positive outcomes for intimate relationships and individuals. These different findings prompted this research which focuses on the impact of social media usage on intimate relationships using Facebook as a case study. A survey of 518 Australians examining Facebook usage, relationship satisfaction and household income was undertaken. The results suggest that relationship satisfaction varies based on types of social media usage when controlled for household income. For most respondents, social media usage did not have a negative impact on their relationship. However, results indicated that where their partner was a ‘friend’ on social media, they were less likely to report concerns relating to social media usage impacting their relationship. It was also found that those living alone or with children on low incomes were more likely to be dissatisfied with their relationships and rely on social media to connect with others. Finally, four types of Facebook usage were identified and mapped against intensity of usage and relationship satisfaction, indicating that the way in which social media is used impacts relationship satisfaction. These findings indicate that social media use is helpful for some intimate relationships and harmful for others based on individual usage and their interaction with their partner via the platform