Challenge: Building some tutorials for first-time internet users
Despite rapid growth in global connectivity, billions of people remain offline. The latest ITU estimates put the number at approximately 2.3 billion people, or 29% of the world’s population. But connectivity alone does not guarantee digital inclusion. Even among those who are online, basic digital skills remain far from universal.
In some countries, fewer than half of young and also older people can perform simple tasks such as moving files, creating a PDF, or using drag-and-drop interfaces, while only a single-digit percentage can use spreadsheet formulas. The gap goes beyond mechanics, too: meaningful participation in the digital world requires confidence, access to appropriate tools, digital literacy, and the ability to apply technology to everyday life.
Many first time users are handed a smartphone specifically to message family, and that same access exposes them to strangers, scams, and requests for personal information with little guidance on how to respond!
Existing digital literacy content largely assumes the audience already has abundant bandwidth, a stable device, and literacy in a specific written language. None of that holds for a first time internet user in a low connectivity setting.
Alternative/idea: Design and build a set of tutorials that teach essential digital skills, starting with the skills people actually reach for first, communication and safety, before extending to file handling, documents.
Each tutorial should be delivered and consumed with near zero bandwidth, work fully offline once received, and teach through short interactive steps and visual cues rather than dense text, so it doesn't depend on the learner already reading fluently in any particular language.
So initially the idea it's a single self contained HTML file, under 20KB, walks a first time user through the different ways to communicate on a phone (text, chat apps, voice notes, calls, group chats) using a simple visual "data meter" so people can see at a glance what each method costs, then moves into a safety module built around a real feeling scenario.
A stranger asks for personal details, the learner taps a choice, and gets immediate feedback rather than a lecture.
No fonts, images, or scripts are loaded from the internet, so the whole lesson works after a single download or a Bluetooth or USB transfer, and the content itself (the steps array) is separated cleanly enough from the layout code that a translator or local facilitator could adapt the wording without touching any code.