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In this article I discuss the phenomenon of deliberated missed calls and their intentional use by senior mobile phone users in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Deliberate missed calls (DMC) are made with the intention that the receiver is not to answer them. Although this multiregional and multicultural practice is described in different countries, no specific study has been carried out on its use by the older population. To address this absence, this article explores the significance of using deliberate missed calls among seniors. There are three main conclusions. First, personal abilities and external support shape the way seniors use DMC. Second, seniors may abandon, or at least redefine, the use of deliberate missed calls if they change to a flat-rate contract. Finally, the focus on an already old innovation such as DMC allows us to observe the importance of accounting for the heterogeneity of older people if we are to properly analyze their mobile communication practices.

This article investigates digital and non-digital traces reused beyond the context of creation. A central idea of this article is that no (reused) dataset is perfect. Therefore, data quality assessment becomes essential to determine if a given dataset is "good enough" to be used to fulfill the users' goals. Biases, a possible source of discrimination, have become a relevant data challenge. Consequently, it is appropriate to analyze whether quality assessment indicators provide information on potential biases in the dataset. We use examples representing two opposing sides regarding data access to reflect on the relationship between quality and bias. First, the European Union open data portal fosters the democratization of data and expects users to manipulate the databases directly to perform their analyses. Second, online behavioral advertising systems offer individualized promotional services but do not share the datasets supporting their design. Quality assessment is socially constructed, as there is not a universal definition but a set of quality dimensions, which might change for each professional context. From the users' perspective, trust/credibility stands out as a relevant quality dimension in the two analyzed cases. Results show that quality indicators (whatever they are) provide limited information on potential biases. We suggest that data literacy is most needed among both open data users and clients of behavioral advertising systems. Notably, users must (be able to) understand the limitations of datasets for an optimal and bias-free interpretation of results and decision-making.

Considering that data are no stranger to politics and power, we argue that it may well be a site of age-based discrimination. We discuss how older people are described and, at times, disregarded in the analysis of digitisation and how those partial descriptions bring about challenges in the study of digital practices throughout life. We propose the notion of data ageism to conceptualise the production and reproduction of the disadvantaged status of old age caused by decisions concerning how to collect and deliver whose data. We exemplify this concept by examining data produced by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, which offers high-quality statistics on digitisation, but no data on individuals aged 75 years and over.

The Internet has been a valuable resource for many indigenous groups as a vehicle for self-representation. In this paper, we describe how the installation of a Wi-Fi signal in a Guaraní community in Greater Buenos Aires—as part of the community leader's decolonizing media projects—generated issues within the community. While much indigenous media research concerns the politics of cultural representation, we consider the politics of everyday, intracommunity mobile communication practices. Firstly, our findings show how the choice of communication medium can become a political issue. An upsurge in mobile-mediated communication within the community contributed to the decline of face-to-face deliberations, which were the mainstay of communal sharing arrangements and which held a central position in understandings of Guaraní culture. Secondly, our findings show how discrepancies between users' communication preferences and the readily available mobile media services can generate a use barrier by deterring users from obtaining the skills needed to effectively appropriate or transform mobile media services. Familiarity with a few mainstream social media apps not only reinforced imaginaries of the Internet as a nonindigenous space but also generated set ideas of what the Internet supports in terms of communicative form—social networking—and content type—mainstream media. In the end, the community leader's decolonizing projects, aimed at using social media for community media dissemination, were not only rejected by community members but also undermined by the dynamics of mobile media practices in the community. We argue that limited mobile technology skills combined with commercially oriented mobile media services can hinder creative and adaptable mobile media practices, and in turn, undermine decolonizing mobile appropriations.

Starting from Beck's concept of reflexivity, the paper investigates differences in risk perception regarding wireless technologies expressed by older people living in Romania and Catalonia (Spain). We combine evidence from conversations held with older individuals in different research projects together with an ad-hoc media content analysis. Our research reveals that seniors' discourses were consistent with the media prominence of different types of risks in each country. Results show that seniors' discourses on health risks relate to the way the media discussed them, with Romanian participants, in contrast to older people from Catalonia, expressing no concerns about electromagnetic radiation. Also, Romanian seniors were more concerned about the risk to others—younger family members—whereas seniors in Catalonia were more concerned about their own risks. Seniors from Romania made more references to the country's development. We discuss aging futures in societies with different risk perceptions. As the media presents the risks associated with digital technologies in differing lights, people's perceptions are formed accordingly. Also, in countries where technology is perceived as good per se, the techno-optimistic discourse would be reinforced not only by the media but also by the groups exposed to the highest social pressure towards technology adoption—for example, seniors.

Mobile broadband is playing an increasingly important role in the developing world. However, mobile platform providers and app publishers are dominated by multinational companies headquartered in the West. Where international agendas commit to promote local content production and a culturally diverse information society, there is minimal research on the orientation of commercial app production in developing regions. This article examines the targets and activities of mobile app developers in two Latin American economies – Argentina and Bolivia – analysing the political, social and economic conditions that connect or disconnect app developers and the interests of local users. Findings suggest that app distribution platforms do not favour local markets and that app developers largely focus on custom-design projects for commercial firms.

<p>This paper analyzes how older people, living in Spain, use smartphones and smartphone applications. Using a mixed methods approach, we compare quantitative results obtained by tracking mobile app usage amongst different generational samples with qualitative, focus-group discussions with active smartphone users. A sample of Spanish smartphone users were tracked during one month in the winter of 2014 (238 individuals, aged 20 to 76 years-old). This was followed by three focus group sessions conducted in the spring of 2015, with 24 individuals aged 55 to 81. As we learned, WhatsApp is currently the most popular application used by people of all ages, including older adults. Smartphones increasingly are playing a central role in the life of older participants, although the frequency of app access is negatively correlated with age. On the other hand, as our data indicates, older adults also use a number of different types of apps that are distinct from that of younger users. Older participants access personal information manager apps (calendar, address book and notes) more often than other age groups. And comparatively, older participants use the smartphone less often in stable locations (home, office, relatives' home) with Wifi than somewhere else and with mobile data. As we argue, differences in age seem to reflect the evolution in personal interests and communication patterns that change as we grow older. Our study captures new trends in smartphone usage amongst this cohort. It also indicates how a combination of methods may help to assess the validity of the log and qualitative data. We highlight the relevance of conducting careful generational studies in smartphone use and some of the potentials and limitations of making predictive studies of ICT use as we change throughout the life course. Finally, we assert the value of the inclusion of older representatives within research, which ultimately may influence public decisions and the design of new technologies.</p>

<p>We analyze the relationships seniors have with mobile communications in two different European contexts, Romania and Catalonia. By means of a qualitative approach, we describe the ways older individuals incorporate mobile phones in everyday life communication practices, and the motivations supporting these decisions. To understand motivations for using a given communication device –as the mobile phone– we took into account the channels individual has access to; individual's personal interest on using available devices in everyday communications; the location of the members of the individual's personal network; and the pricing system that determines the cost of mediated communication.</p><p>The empirical analysis is based on two case studies conducted in Romania and in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Catalonia) in different moments, between 2010 and 2012. Participants were 60 years old or over. Information was gathered by means of semi-structured interviews that were recorded and transcribed, while a common methodological design allows an enriched insight. Besides gender, we take into account heterogeneity of ageing for a more nuanced analysis.</p><p>This paper constitutes the first step in the exploration of common trends in the relationship seniors have with mobile communication in different European countries.</p>

Mobile broadband is playing an increasingly important role in the developing world. However, mobile platform providers and app publishers are dominated by multinational companies headquartered in the West. Where international agendas commit to promote local content production and a culturally diverse information society, there is minimal research on the orientation of commercial app production in developing regions. This article examines the targets and activities of mobile app developers in two Latin American economies -Argentina and Bolivia- analysing the political, social and economic conditions that connect or disconnect app developers and the interests of local users. Findings suggest that app distribution platforms do not favour local markets and that app developers largely focus on custom-design projects for commercial firms.

2021 marked the 25th Anniversary of Manuel Castells' The Rise of the Network Society, the first volume of the Information Age trilogy. The Trilogy immediately became one of the most influential works to understand the societal change in the wake of the digital revolution. More than two decades later, many of the emerging processes theorised and analysed in the Trilogy have reached full maturity, if not evolved in unexpected ways. Also, several theoretical and epistemological trends have developed or consolidated in the social sciences that have either been influenced by or challenged the Trilogy position. In this scenario, is the Network Society Theory still relevant for understanding today's digitalised society? How should we develop the Network Society approach now? This special issue aims to answer these questions. In particular, in this collection of papers, we identify three interrelated dimensions: new developments in the evolution or disruption of the Network Society, the articulation between network logics and other spatial forms, and the relation of the Network Society with recurrent topics in Castells' work beyond the Information. The papers are a selection of the contributions to the online workshop The Network Society Today: (Revisiting) the Information Age Trilogy (November 2–30, 2020), in which Prof. Castells also participated. This volume brings together a wide range of established and emerging scholars from a diversity of Social Sciences disciplines with plural theoretically informed papers tackling rich empirical case studies across the world, spanning throughout America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Contributions conclude with a reflection by Manuel Castells on them and his work.

The increase in ageing populations has spurred predictions on the growth of a politically powerful old-age bloc. While their protest mobilizations have risen to reach youth standards, there is scarce scholarly evidence of the role of multiple identities in older activists' involvement. We address this gap by interviewing activists in Iaioflautas, an older adults' social movement emerging from the heat of the protest cycles in Spain in 2011. In-depth interviews with 15 members of varying levels of involvement revealed the paramount role of the movement in the identity construction of its participants. Iaioflautas endows a strong sense of collective identity based on intergenerational solidarity and enables to counter the culturally devalued identity of older adults and retirees. Whereas perceptions of widespread ageist stereotypes against older adults abound in this group, they omit to view the movement through an old-age identity politics lens. Furthermore, they reproduce ageist attitudes against age peers refraining from active involvement. This paradox suggests that the non-politicization of ageism restrains the development of a collective identity based on old age. We highlight how an increase in ageing populations might advance this issue in future research.

The increase in ageing populations has spurred predictions on the growth of a politically powerful old-age bloc. While their protest mobilizations have risen to reach youth standards, there is scarce scholarly evidence of the role of multiple identities in older activists' involvement. We address this gap by interviewing activists in Iaioflautas, an older adults' social movement emerging from the heat of the protest cycles in Spain in 2011. In-depth interviews with 15 members of varying levels of involvement revealed the paramount role of the movement in the identity construction of its participants. Iaioflautas endows a strong sense of collective identity based on intergenerational solidarity and enables to counter the culturally devalued identity of older adults and retirees. Whereas perceptions of widespread ageist stereotypes against older adults abound in this group, they omit to view the movement through an old-age identity politics lens. Furthermore, they reproduce ageist attitudes against age peers refraining from active involvement. This paradox suggests that the non-politicization of ageism restrains the development of a collective identity based on old age. We highlight how an increase in ageing populations might advance this issue in future research.