Older People, Digital Public Services and Risks of Social Exclusion
The project aims at exploring whether and and under what conditions the digitalisation of public services (DPS – Digital Public Services) may represent a source of social exclusion for older individuals, focusing on the interplay of macro, meso e micro-level factors at stake. A group of researchers from Bicocca University (lead partner), Politecnico di Milano and the Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies of the National Research Council will be engaged in a two-years study entailing:
- a qualitative analysis of the contents of policy programmes focused on digitalisation produced at European, Italian, and regional levels, aimed at investigating older people’s representation(s) in the policy discourse;
- a mapping of the practices and organisations supporting older people in DPS access and use in two Italian regions, and a qualitative study based on interviews with key informants aimed at describing those factors that mediate the relationship between older people and DPS;
- a quantitative analysis of data from the 2010–2021 Eurostat Community Statistics on Information Societies survey, comparing and contrasting the Italian case and the European context, aimed at exploring older people’s DPS use and DPS everyday life practices;
- a qualitative longitudinal study on older people living in a rural area of northern Italy, aimed at exploring older people’s narrations on their everyday experiences with the ongoing digitalisation of public services.
The project also includes a broad array of dissemination activities, addressed to both the academic and general public.
Duration
October 2023 – October 2025
Team LPS
Emma Garavaglia, Mino Novello
Consortium
Politecnico di Milano, Bicocca University, IRPSS-CNR
Funding Body
Next Generation EU – MUR, call PNRR PRIN 2022
Website
https://ageingsocieties.unimib.it/digital-by-default/