Abstract
This article discusses how we can ensure that various senior citizens (women and men, living alone
or together, full of vitality or in fragile health, coming from different cultural backgrounds) can
identify with images representing themselves so they continue to have access to information sources
in our digitising information society. First, the role of two discourse coalitions, the eternally youthful
seniors towards and the frail needy seniors in the Netherlands will be discussed. Then, a case study
of the websites of the three senior citizens’ organisations in the Netherlands which will be used to
answer the question to what extent these organisations represent their various members in their use
of images of eternally youthful or frail needy seniors and if they are represented as a homogeneous
or diverse group. Finally, the article will answer the question how creative use can be made of the
various images of senior citizens - following the principle of ‘designing for dynamic diversity’ - to
achieve an accessible homepage.
or together, full of vitality or in fragile health, coming from different cultural backgrounds) can
identify with images representing themselves so they continue to have access to information sources
in our digitising information society. First, the role of two discourse coalitions, the eternally youthful
seniors towards and the frail needy seniors in the Netherlands will be discussed. Then, a case study
of the websites of the three senior citizens’ organisations in the Netherlands which will be used to
answer the question to what extent these organisations represent their various members in their use
of images of eternally youthful or frail needy seniors and if they are represented as a homogeneous
or diverse group. Finally, the article will answer the question how creative use can be made of the
various images of senior citizens - following the principle of ‘designing for dynamic diversity’ - to
achieve an accessible homepage.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 21-45 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Observatorio (OBS*) |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Keywords
- digitising information society
- information accessibility
- senior citizens
- discoursecoalitions
- identification
- designing for diversity