Towards Developing a Mobile Application for Illiterate People to Reduce Digital Divide

Illiteracy is one of the main complications in developing countries like Bangladesh. The adoption and uses of the ICT based applications by the illiterate people of a developing country (like Bangladesh) is very essential to reduce the digital inequality and the digital divide for the social and economic development. The objective of this article is to develop a usable and adaptable mobile application focusing job search for illiterate people in Bangladesh. To achieve this objective, firstly, a conceptual framework was proposed based on the findings of the literature survey and a need finding study, while the need findings study was replicated with 40 illiterate people. Secondly, an android based mobile application with user-intuitive user interface was developed. To make the interface intuitive for illiterate people, it encompasses voice, icon, pictography, minimal number of text in native language, and the like. Finally, the application was evaluated with 40 illiterate people in a laboratory environment. The evaluation study showed that intuitive user interfaces is important to develop a usable mobile application for illiterate people that in turn help them to adopt and use the ICT based applications to reduce the digital divide in Bangladesh.