Digital Technologies & Datafied Ageing – With Dr. Marshall and Dr. Martin

Digital technologies and datafied ageing - Old bodies, risk and the promise of independence

Digital monitoring technologies, such as AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) systems, have played a key role in visualising how digital technologies might facilitate ‘aging in place’, promising to address both growing care costs of aging populations and the desire for ‘independent living’. In this presentation, we provide an overview of the datafication of aging bodies in the transformation of the home space to one of monitoring and management, probing representations of surveillance based on risk management as ‘independence’. Key themes include 1) the shift from the visible to the invisible in the ways we ‘see’ aging bodies; 2) the datafication of aging bodies in time and space; 3) the calculation of risk in AI-driven/algorithmic decision making which transforms data from old bodies into ‘actionable’ knowledge, and 4) the tethering of technologically enhanced care to priorities of scalability and efficiency. We hope to raise critical questions about AgeTech’s promises of delivering enhanced independence in later life, suggesting instead that these might be a form of what Lauren Berlant (2011) has termed ‘cruel optimism’.

Barbara L. Marshall is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Trent University, Peterborough, ON. She has written widely on feminist theory, aging, embodiment, sexuality and technologies. Her most recent book is Socio-gerontechnology: Interdisciplinary Critical Studies of Ageing and Technology (Routledge, 2021) (co-edited with A. Peine, W. Martin and L. Neven). Current projects focus on digital technologies and sociotechnical imaginaries of aging futures.

Dr. Wendy Martin is Director of Research in the Department of Health Sciences at Brunel University of London, UK. Her research focuses on ageing, embodiment, the digital and everyday life and the use of visual, material and digital methods. She was Principal Investigator for ESRC research project ‘Photographing Everyday Life’, is Co-Investigator for UKRI Ageing Development Award ‘Sound, Environment and Ageing’ and for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada international partnership ‘Aging in Data’. Wendy is Co-Editor of Socio-gerontechnology: Interdisciplinary Critical Studies of Ageing and Technology and Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology (2026, 2nd edition) and on the editorial boards Ageing and Society and Journal of Global Ageing.

Barb and Wendy are both long time collaborators with researchers at Concordia, participating in both the ACT (Aging, Communication, Technology, 2014-2021) and AiD (Aging in Data, 2021-2028) SSHRC partnership grants. While they have developed several joint presentations based on the material they’ll be speaking about today, this is the first one they’ll both be ‘present’ for!

About this series:
As AI becomes an ever-present part of our lives and media systems we are left with questions on how we age alongside this technology. A history of critical gerontechnology tells us of the roles of ageism within technology, and this working group examines how similar arguments apply (or differ) to emerging AI tools. The goal is to dispel myths and presuppositions to foster interdisciplinary research that is more than a bringing together of disciplines. Together these rapid research talks provide space to explore how aging and AI intersect in various domains so we can create meaningful research responses.

This event is hybrid, in-person at engAGE Centre for Research on Aging and online. Please email Eric at engage@concordia.ca if you like the online meeting link.