Digital Inclusion in Public Spaces of Access to Information Technology and Communication: The Voice of Community Telecenters in Recife's City

ABSTRACT

This study examines how community telecenters operate as public spaces for digital inclusion within e‐government initiatives in Recife, Brazil. Although Community Technology Centers (CTCs) are frequently promoted in ICT4D policies as mechanisms for expanding digital citizenship and access to public services, less is known about how these initiatives are experienced and appropriated in everyday practice within marginalized urban contexts. The research adopts an interpretive qualitative case study design focused on the telecentro.BR program implemented at a community telecenter located in Recife, Northeast Brazil. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with coordinators, monitors, and users, complemented by documentary analysis of public policies, institutional reports, and program guidelines. The empirical material was examined through thematic content analysis. The findings reveal three central dynamics. First, the telecenters' operation was heavily affected by political discontinuity, generating instability in staffing, technical support, and long‐term planning. Second, users perceived the telecenter primarily as a place for temporary qualification courses rather than as an open public access venue for continuous digital engagement and e‐government services. Third, infrastructural limitations and symbolic barriers reduced community appropriation of the space, weakening its role as a locally embedded digital inclusion initiative. This study contributes to ICT4D and e‐government literature by demonstrating that the effectiveness of telecenters depends not only on technological infrastructure, but also on governance continuity, community appropriation, and the alignment between policy design and local realities. The findings further extend discussions on digital inclusion by showing how institutional and symbolic barriers may reproduce exclusionary dynamics even within policies explicitly designed to promote inclusion.