Abstract
In Sweden, the principle of “Digital First”, as proposed by the Agency for Digital Government, stipulates that contacts between citizens and public agencies ought to take place primarily via digital means. Following this principle, welfare provision has increasingly become an online practice, which does not only change the forms of welfare provision, but also, and significantly, demand specific resources and skills from the citizens. This development is important to highlight in relation to senior citizens (aged 65+), as research has made it clear how this is a heterogenic but also digitally vulnerable group. In a highly digitalized country as Sweden, about 10 percent of this group lack access of technical devices for using the internet and 15 percent state that they never use the Internet at all (Olsson & Viscovi, 2023). This paper focuses on Swedish digital user interfaces, with an aim of understanding how their semiotic composition in different ways demands responsibility of senior citizens. Theoretically, it centers on the concept of responsibilization (Koksvik, 2020) and on critical discussions on digital citizenship (Schou & Hjelholt, 2018). Empirically, the paper draws on a multimodal discourse analysis of Swedish digital welfare user interfaces, which explores how the interfaces, in their layout, use of different semiosis, language use and affordances, multimodally serve to shift responsibility from the welfare state to the citizen. The paper critically discusses the implication of this shift for senior citizens, as a digitally vulnerable group.
Presenters
Ernesto AbaloAssociate Professor, Media and Communication, School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University, Jönköpings län, Sweden
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Public Policy and Public Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Digital Citizenship, Digital Welfare, Digitalization, Responsibilization, Senior Citizens
