Hello Everyone, I would like to introduce myself to this very supportive and knowledgeable community. My name is Diane Shaw (not sure what will show up when I hit the send button!), and I am doing a PhD at the University of Adelaide (Anthropology). I have recently completed 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork studying the online/offline social interactions of older people. My primary focus has been on Australians between the ages of 65 and 85 who are on a social networking site for older people (40 plus). Working closely with older people online and offline has been incredibly rewarding, and has produced some startling and exciting results. Significantly, being online and socially connected to others is an incredibly meaningful part of my participants everyday lives. A recent post from Kelly asking for references on social media and the elderly has prompted me to contribute to the list. I also had difficultly finding quality articles on older people using the Internet to connect socially. (As an aside, it is interesting to note that even the more senior of my participants (85 year olds) as well as the broader community in my study, do not consider themselves elderly, preferring the title of senior.) Listed, below, are some references that may be useful. Dell, P. (2008) Acting your age: a study of the relationship between online social interaction and identity in older adults. PhD thesis. Murdoch University Perth. Furlong, M. (1989) An electronic community for older adults: the seniorNet network. Journal of Communication, 39:145-53. Kanayama, T. (2003) Ethnographic research on the experience of Japanese elderly people online. New Media Society, 5:267-288. Malta, S. (2007). Love Actually! Older adults and their romantic Internet relationships. Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, 5(2):84-102. Mellor, D., Firth, L., and Moore, K. (2008). Can the Internet improve the well-being of the elderly. Aging International, 32:25-42. Stalp, M., Williams, R., Lynch, A. and Radina M. (2009). Conspicuously consuming: the Red Hat Society and midlife womens identity. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 38(2):225-253. Torres, S. (2006). Different ways of understanding the construct of successful aging: Iranian immigrants speak about what aging well means to them. Journal Cross Cultural Gerontology, 21:1-23. Xie, B. (2003). Older adults, computers, and the Internet: future directions, Retrieved 20 July 2009, from www.gerontechjournal.net, 2(4):289-305. Xie, B. (2007). Using the Internet for offline relationship formation. Social Science Computer Review, 25(3):396-404. I would just like to add that it has been my experience that in order to understand older peoples participation with social networking sites (as well as the Internet generally emails, banking, information), it is important not to isolate the use of current technology (computers and the Internet) from older peoples past life experiences with using technology in general (work experience, ham radio, pen-palling, cameras, telephones, washing machines, and so on), or to ignore what we already know about social interaction amongst older people (for example, support and sharing of knowledge see Myerhoff, B. (1979) Number our days. New York: E.P. Dutton). Well, Ive been a tad verbose! I hope the references provided help with the task. Cheers, Di di.shaw@adelaide.edu.au Phd Candidate University of Adelaide