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Mission
Generations
on Line is dedicated to enhancing communication among generations
by promoting Internet access and literacy to elders. Aimed at
the large population of older Americans who cannot afford or choose
not to enroll in computer or Internet training, Generations on
Line will:
- Foster
and promote Internet literacy, access and skills to the elderly:
- Overcome
older persons' fear and reluctance of the new electronic media;
and
- Stimulate
and encourage communication and exchange of ideas among generations.
Background
Generations
on Line (GoL) has simplified the Internet for seniors. GoL has
created, tested and developed a software program that provides
on-screen, step-by step instruction to help people over 65 use
the Internet. GoL makes this program and its adjunct materials
free to seniors through places where they live and congregate,
such as nursing homes, HUD subsidized housing, retirement communities,
senior centers and public libraries. These sites receive a subscription
to the web-based software, a coach training kit, and ongoing telephone technical support.
Philadelphia,
where Generations on Line began, has one of the highest concentrations
of senior citizens in the nation. GoL was tested in 7 independent
facilities for four months in the Philadelphia area, and introduced
nationwide at a national press conference held at the Philadelphia
Senior Center, led by then Secretary of Commerce, Norman Mineta
and Mayor John Street.
Today,
the program is in more than 1900 facilities in 49 states and Canada,
is in both English and Spanish, has won the major award from the
American Society on Aging - for innovation in older adult learning
- and has helped more than 90,000 individuals and their families.
Strategy
Although
Internet sites, computer classes, books, computer training centers and school initiatives targeting the elderly are available, the focus of Generations on Line is different. Generations on Line provides web-based software and support materials for senior centers, public libraries, continuing care retirement centers, retirement homes and low income elder housing. The software guides novices step-by-step with onscreen instructions on every page in large type, plain English and a clear, uncluttered interface with friendly icons. It is free to seniors
NEW!
Generations on Line is launching an interactive app that makes older adults comfortable using an iPad® or Android tablet.
It is an on-screen step-by-step learning experience for iPad or Android technology and basic functions such as email, FaceTime, searching, YouTube, and other apps.
Compatible with iPad 2 and above and all Android tablets. Available on Itunes and soon available on Google Play. We also offer a cloud version for centers that serve seniors, along with a full coaching program and support.
The app and cloud version of iPad and Android training includes a simulated experience to learn the basics of using the device and online experience to acquire a Gmail account, search the Web, and use features such as FaceTime, YouTube, texting, photographs, and using apps.
There are four applications and
Help pages:
Swinging in the clouds from an old fashioned clothesline are the four tutorials available . With directions on every screen, no need to remember the instructions. With simple language in large type and age-friendly icons, practice in simulation offline, the older and wiser learn in a safe and comfortable space. Once comfortable, new users go directly online within the tutorial.
Email, texting, video calling have become essential in reconnecting the generations.
This space enables elders who have no notion of this electronic capability to use these amazing tools.
More things page . Interests don’t change just because we add years to our lives. These exciting new tools and searching the web enable older adults to pursue life long learning, hobbies, and connections with family, friends, and the world around them.
On the PC training program, there are four applications and Help pages:
Memories:
Generation to generation is an intergenerational oral history.
After school classes of 9 and 10-year old students, under a
teacher's supervision ask questions about the past, in four
categories: Origins and History; Inventions and Transportation;
Sports and Entertainment; and "When you were my age." The responses
by seniors are manually filtered each day; the teacher guidelines
and categories are based on Fourth grade studies. The children
involved with the program to date have been enormously interested.
They are guided by a well developed curriculum to first think
about older people, discuss their impressions, perceptions,
and biases.
Look
it Up is a multilingual search in 36 languages, with results
returned
in simple responses. Because the program is web-based, the users
are connected and linked to the full World Wide Web. The multilingual
search has empowered immigrant populations, like 73-year-old
Gin Qao, who spoke no English, but reads China News online every
day for two hours; and Spanish, Russian and other Asian immigrants
seeking ties and information.
Send
a Postcard by email is a full service email program with
a 1-step
registration, guidance and directions on every page, reminders
how to make the "@" sign, and the concept that email is more
like an old fashioned post card than a private letter. Each
user has his/her own email address and can received email on
any computer in any library or facility that subscribes to Generations
on Line. The current version also accepts family pictures; it
does not allow for internet photographs or other attachments,
to prevent viruses and unwieldy downloads on public computers.
More
choices is an application that selects and provides links
to popular
websites for the elderly. These include newspapers from around
the world, clean health portals, and senior entitlement pages.
Changing
Lives
From
interview by Northwestern University researcher in Chicago:
Generations on Line has provided a lifeline for 72-year-old Mr.
Pope. The War in Iraq has brought back many difficult memories
and flashbacks of his days as a prisoner of War during the Korean
War. But through Generations on Line, Mr. Pope is able to maintain
contact with many of his buddies with whom he shared 29 months
of imprisonment in Korea. As a young African American man, his
life was shaped by these difficult experiences.
Mr. Pope
is 72 years old. For the past nine years or so he lived alone
in a Chicago Housing Authority Senior Building, on the south side
of Chicago. Mr. Pope was born in Alabama, and some of his brothers
and sisters still live there. He was a cab driver for over 22
years, and drove a truck as well. "Well really, I just like
to stay in touch with the fellas -- the guys that was in prison
(in Korea) with me. It is about five of us still living and I
just love to stay in touch with them, because when we was in Korea
we was there in that mud hole 29 months. So they are very important
to me, and they are very dear to me and close to me. And I love
just being able to just say hi and a bye to stay close. And then
I think of my not having a computer, these reunions I have missed.
I have missed being there. A lot of them in these nineteen years,
when they started them, a lot of them has passed on and then I
would have gotten the chance to see them before then or whatever,
you know."
Mr. Pope
has a few words of wisdom to share with other seniors, to encourage
them to give the computer a try. "Well, you could be a little
hesitant until you start to use it...It is like taking a shave,
you know, shaving hair off your face. You know, once you start
you say, 'Oh, I look bad.' Once you get the hairs off you look
better, so if they use it more it will come more. They just have
to get started. If they can be motivated a little, then that's
it."
An
email from Mrs. Robinson at age 105:
i went to the doctor last week after a long time weth a long list
of questions ----but came away with no answers. The next day I
turned to the computer and looked up the word 'Aphasia' and found
out all I wanted to know all about the my problems that were bothering
me. It is a strange world . I feel better now that I know that
I am the way I am ----and can accept IT. Does this make sense
to you? iI wanted you to know how the computer has heiped where
a human failed
Report
from an activities director in Milwaukee:
Max asked what else I could teach him and I asked him what he
wanted to know. Max spoke about his long lost grandchild and how
he would love to reconnect with her. I helped him navigate to
the site in the state of New York, where she lived, and through
another search engine, he found where his granddaughter lived
in New York City. The rest was up to Max, and he copied all of
the information down. Now that he had an email address, he could
also ask his grandchild to email him.
Note
from a nursing home in Florida:
"One of our residents had a stroke about four years ago and
as he was recovering, had difficulty with his speech. As a result,
he soon began to shun all conversation. I hooked him up with email
through Generations on Line and he began to recover his self confidence
and his speech gradually improved. Being able to use email and
the computer was pivotal to his recovery."
Note
from a peer coach:
At the introductory first session, a lady wanted to learn the
computer to send her son an email but she was very concerned about
identity theft. To show her I used email all the time and we had
not yet set up her email, I said we could use my email and send
her son a note that she would be learning computer and would be
sending her own email using gol. It was a short note to say she
was learning how to send email and would be setting hers up shortly.
Her note was typed by her in all caps. Her son emailed me back
saying that at first he was afraid to open the email because he
didn't know who I was and then he was happy to receive it. I sent
him a short note to apologize for not letting him know it was
his mom. He said not a problem but to tell his mom not to send
her email in all uppercase letters. That she had yelled at him
all his life and didn't need her yelling at him through the email.
They are laughing still.:)
Staff
Tobey
Gordon Dichter, M.Ed., founder and CEO, founder and CEO, was named One of the 50 Most Influential People in Aging by PBS news in aging service Next Avenue in October, 2015. Ms. Dichter is the former Vice
President of Communications and Public Affairs and Executive Committee
Member at SmithKline Beecham Healthcare Services (now Glaxo SmithKline),
a worldwide healthcare company. She was known for the first corporate
television news program for employees worldwide, and later as
the founder of the Drug Testing Index and repositioning Pap Screening
from a finite test to a screen. Ms Dichter left SmithKline in
1999 to pursue Generations on Line. She has served on the Boards
of The Free Library of Philadelphia, Maternity Care Coalition,
The Philadelphia School, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,
The Wilma Theater, and The Philadelphia Film Society. Ms. Dichter
is a frequent speaker and consultant on the digital divide. She
is a full-time, unpaid chief executive of the organization, responsible
for strategic direction, partnership development, finance, and
Board and public relations.
Vasil
J. Pappas, Jr. MBA, founder of Precision Media Works, a Philadelphia-area
producer of print and electronic communications. He is the former
vice president and general manager of United Press International's
business news and financial information division, a former Wall
Street Journal reporter, and the founding editor of the National
Business Employment Weekly. He is an officer and board member
of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association. As COO, Mr.
Pappas is responsible for strategic planning, security, and oversight
of Generations on Line service.
Michael
Pierce, M.Div., Director of Training and Service, has been
in computer technology and training for 17 years, with a multigenerational
focus. As the Director for Information Technology for the Association
for Education of Young Children, a nonprofit youth agency, and
a Pastor, Michael brings the unique combination of training and
counseling, troubleshooting and communication to seniors. He holds
a BS in Religion & Philosophy with a Minor in Computer Science
and a Masters of Divinity. Mr. Pierce serves current clients with
the GoL Help Desk, conducts training seminars, publishes the GoL
bulletin, and creates the software for special projects. He is
a recognized speaker at national aging network meetings.
Katie
Burke, M.B.A., Administrator, Formerly with Chilton Research
Services, as market research project director. She holds a B.S.
with concentration in marketing from Villanova University and
an MBA from Villanova University. An active community volunteer,
Katie has chaired and coordinated events and raised significant
funding for a range of church, school, health and childcare projects.
Ms. Burke manages project flow, database, client relations and
market research.
Board
of Advisors/Directors
*USA*
John
Beilenson
President, Strategic Communications & Planning, consultants to
not-for-profit organizations, particularly in the field of aging,
Editorial director of Infoaging.org for American Federation for
Aging Research, author/editor of 16 books related to aging.
*H.E.
Broadbent, Ph.D.
Former Director of Information Technology, The Free Library of
Philadelphia and former head of Task force on seniors and youth,
American Library Association. Secretary.
Humphrey
Chen Senior Vice President Corporate Development, Independence Banc;
former Vice President Verizon; previous VP Microsoft.
Adrienne Cohen, B.S.
Consultant to Aging Positively llc.
Former Executive Director of Center in the Park (29 years), former Vice-President of the National Council on Aging’s (NCOA) National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC), founding President of the Pennsylvania Association of Senior Centers, and former President of the Philadelphia Association of Senior Center Administrators.
Debbie Ellen Dalecki, MSW, Doctoral candidate, abd, Individual
and Family Studies with a concentration in Gerontology, University
of Delaware Resident Services Coordinator, Ingleside Retirement
Apartments, Ingleside Homes, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware
*Tobey
Gordon Dichter
Unpaid CEO and Founder of Generations on Line; former Vice President
of Communications and Public Affairs and Executive Committee Member
at SmithKline Beecham Healthcare Services (now GlaxoSmithKline).
Brian Duke
System Director, Senior Services, Main Line Health;
Former Secretary of Aging, Pennsylvania; previously, Pennsylvania Department of Aging, Bucks County Area Agency on Aging, New Jersey Foundation for Aging.
Cecilia Garcia, Benton Foundation Senior Advisor, B.A.
Advises the Benton Foundation on issues related to broadband adoption challenges for low-income seniors. Executive Director 1997-2013. Former press secretary for Bob Filner (D-CA) a Member of the U.S House of Representatives. Communications director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, a national Latino nonprofit organization, and producer at WTVS, Detroit's public television station. Media & Democracy Coalition Board of Directors.
*Kathy Gosliner M.B.A.; M.Ed.
Consultant and former Associate Director and Vice President of
Development, Free Library of Philadelphia system of 55 branches.
Anne
Hagele
Emeritus Executive Director
The Philadelphia Senior Center, third oldest and third largest
senior center in the U.S.
Kathryn Jedrziewski, Ph.D.
Deputy Director , Institute on Aging, University of Pennsylvania Deputy Director for Administration, Alzheimer’s Disease Center
Jeremy
Kramer
Converged Products and Platforms, Comcast Corporation
*Michael Marcus, Ph.D. ABD, MSW
Program Director, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
Former Sr. Program Officer Chicago Community Trust
Quynh Mai-Nguyen
Co-founder and Creative Director of Jay Social Web Design firm
*Bruce
Melgary
Executive Director, The Brook J. Lenfest Foundation and The Allerton Foundation
David
Nevison
Associate Executive Director
Planning and Development
Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
Sandra Raghu
Executive Director, American Postal Workers House, HUD low income housing for seniors
Grahame Richards, J.D.
Program
Director
The Lenfest Foundation
Wanda
Rodriguez-Mercado
Project
Coordinator
National Association for Hispanic Elderly
*Sean
Wechter
Senior Vice President of Digital Technology and Product Development at TEGNA (formerly Gannett) Corporation.
Ann
Wrixon
Executive Director
Independent Adoption Center
Former President and CEO, SeniorNet
*Directors – all meetings are joint, with a Directors’ governance session
Privacy
Policy
Generations
on Line is committed to protecting and ensuring the privacy of
people using the Generations on Line web-based software. The following
describes the steps we take to carry out this commitment.
Information
Collection and Use
Generations
on Line (GoL) software does not collect, store or dispense individually
identifiable information about its users. Our registration form
requires only facilities to provide contact information which
allows GoL to send administrators information and updates about
GoL and our services. We use the IP address of a facility's computer(s)
to verify that the facility subscribes to GoL and to help diagnose
problems with our server or to administer our program.
Generations
on Line does not collect, and therefore does not intend to sell,
rent or share information about individual users. It may collect
aggregated data about application usage within the program to
monitor traffic, better understand the needs of the users and
thereby enhance our program.
Registration
In order
to use the Generation on Line software, provided through the Internet,
an institution must qualify as a setting where older people live
or congregate. To do so, an administrator or representative of
a facility must first complete the registration form. During registration,
the administrator is required to provide contact information (such
as name and email address). This information is used to contact
the facility about the program, monitor its effectiveness and
respond to future needs or requests.
Public
forums
Individual
postings within "Memories: Generation to generation" may be monitored
to ensure that individuals users are not abusing the service by
posting inappropriate or offensive messages. Individual users
posting such messages may be barred from the service.
Individual
users posting to "Memories, Generation to generation" should be
advised that any information that is disclosed in these areas
becomes public information, and users should exercise caution
when deciding to disclose personal information.
Links
The
Generations on Line program contains links to other sites. GoL
cannot be responsible for the content or the privacy practices
employed by other sites.
Surveys
From
time to time our program may request information from users for
purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of
this program. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary.
Security
The
GoL web-based software has password protected security measures
in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information
under our control.
Contact
us
If you
have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices
of this site, or your dealings with Generations on Line, please
contact:
Generations
on Line Administration Center
3637 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.222.6400
Tobey
Dichter, CEO
tobeydichter@generationsonline.com
215.922.3244
1017 Clinton Street
Philadelphia, PA. 19107
Katie
Burke, Administrator
katieburke@generationsonline.com
215.222.6400
VJ Pappas,
COO
vjpappas@generationsonline.com
215.222.6400
Michael
H. Pierce, Director of Training
mike@generationsonline.com
267.997.3785
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