Technology & aging crossing borders: Expanding ISG membership and chapters across the world
S. Kwon, W. D. Kearns, G. M. Gutman (Conveners)
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AbstractParticipants: Y. Afacan (Turkey), J. M. Garcia-Alonso (Spain), P. C. Castro (Brazil), G. M. Gutman (Canada), S. Ishihara (Japan), W. D. Kearns (USA), S. Kwon (South Korea, Germany), F. O. Medola (Brazil), W. Moyle (Australia), W. A. Rogers (USA). ISSUE After the World Conference of Gerontechnology 2022 in Daegu, South Korea, and before the 14th Biannual Meeting of the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG), 2-4 September 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, the reach of the Society – broken down by its regional/linguistic groups – spans four continents and an additional student chapter (ISG, n.d.-a). The North American chapter comprises Canada and the USA, while South America is represented by Brazil. The Asian ones are as follows: Hong Kong Great Bay Area, Japan, Sinophone, and South Korea. ISG’s fourth continent – Europe – is composed of the Austrian-German-Swiss, Dutch-Flemish, Francophone, and Iberian chapters. Since ISG hosted its first World Conference of Gerontechnology 1991 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (Graafmans, 2016/2017), and on a more regular basis since its 3rd international meeting in Miami, FL, USA, 2002, three host countries are not part of a chapter (Finland, Italy, Norway) (ISG, n.d.-b). Further, in contrast to North America, Europe and – to a certain extent – also Asia, the geographical distribution of ISG conference participants 2002-2022 is disproportional, considering country/continent sizes as well as the overall global volume of scholarly activities in tech & aging: Africa makes up <3% of all attendees in 20 years (the highest proportion among 10 occasions), Oceania <5.5%, and South America <3%. It does not suffice that the field of technology and aging bridges a multitude of professions through inter- and multi-disciplinarity (Kwon, 2002). Regional borders must be crossed as well to create optimal effects for all providers and users/consumers of GeronTech products and services on all biopsychosocial levels (Burdick & Kwon, 2017).Keywords: chapters, globalization, expansion, International Society for Gerontechnology, ISG
S. Kwon, W. D. Kearns, G. M. Gutman (Conveners) (2024). Technology & aging crossing borders: Expanding ISG membership and chapters across the world. Gerontechnology, 23(2), 1-1
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2024.23.s.1159.rt