Public access to information and communication technologies: the place of the locutorios (call centers) in migration processes

Various places that offer access to new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have emerged in our cities in recent years. In this paper we focus specifically on the "locutorios" (call centers), places of access to ICT and also to conventional telephony. Users are mostly the migrant and in motion population. We conducted a qualitative ethnographic study, which have applied techniques of participant observation, interviews and discussion groups. The results show that call centers are not only spaces to enable the establishment and maintenance of links to distance, but also allow space for relationships in situ. This makes the "locutorios" (call centers) meeting places, that is, associations stations. We present the "locutorios" (call centres) as a metaphor for immigration, because it allows us to account for their national and transnational character. It also allows us to account for the family networks and social practices that are generated in these sociotechnical spaces. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]