Two years ago the Generations association launched courses on the use of the new communication media, directed specifically at younger and older women. It has been possible to confirm the interest and need to take part in the Information Society among women of all ages, and once the initial wariness felt by many people, irrespective of their age, was overcome, the elements which facilitate participation in social life were appreciated. Future development possibilities involve an in-depth study of the intergenerational aspect in the broadening of communication skills, including research on methods of learning in a mixed group consisting of people of widely different ages. Here are two comments by older women who attended a course in 1999, together with young girls, as part of the European project: Older Women and Social Exclusion: Issues, Empowerment, Action.

‘I am 64 years of age and retired. When I heard about the course on the use of new technology for communication I immediately thought that this could be an opportunity to re-establish contact with my grandchildren, who, now that they were grown up, didn’t play with me any more. I get on well with children and young people and I was beginning to feel left out of this aspect of the information society with which they are so familiar. I also felt that knowing how to ‘surf’ would satisfy my need to keep my mind always open, that having the opportunity to get in touch with so many other people and cultures would break down the barriers of loneliness. Finally, for people who like to travel like me but can no longer do so, it would be an opportunity to be able to ‘visit’ the British Museum or Cairo, even if only in virtual reality’.(Fosca)

‘The first communication medium after the newspaper was radio. I can still remember the magic of the words that came out of that little big box which was already widening our horizons and making us use our imagination. From radio to TV, with the addition of pictures which you could almost touch with your hand and which made you say that they were just the way you had seen them. Now with the new communication media we have conquered the last geographical barriers. Will these new tools now also help us to overcome political barriers and the generation gap? My personal experience with the computer, a tool which fascinated me and yet at the same time frightened me, has been interesting: I interacted with this tool side by side with ten-year-old children. At the end of the course I was almost one of them, so much so that during a church service I was approached by a little girl with fair hair who with a mysterious air asked me about the last lesson, as she had not paid sufficient attention. It gives me a thrill to think that with this new type of literacy women, especially older women, who are free of family ties, are starting once again to play a part in society equal to that of men, I hope that many of us will seize this opportunity’ (Anna).

The Association Generazioni creates intergenerational actions that embrace the point of view of women living in rural areas: their lives, rhythms and traditions.

Generazioni aims to understand and optimise the experience, needs and wishes of every woman at every age so that the well-being of all is promoted and shared.

Generazioni aims to recognise gender difference and optimise the individual contributions of women in all their cultural, social and economic implications.