Reducing regional asymmetries in Brazil through digital repositories: the RBRD experience

This presentation challenges the premise that technical openness alone guarantees universal access, arguing that meaningful openness requires active policies to reduce inequalities. It analyzes the case of the Brazilian Network of Digital Repositories (RBRD), coordinated by Ibict, which adopts a decentralized governance model structured around five regional sub-networks to address historical asymmetries between Brazil's South–Southeast axis and the North, Northeast, and Central-West regions. Drawing on the concept of "Informational Justice," the analysis demonstrates how Brazilian repositories operate not only as digital platforms but as "citizenship infrastructures," promoting informational sovereignty and returning publicly funded knowledge to society under an ethic of care.