While much of the ICT4D literature is at odds with the use of text
in user interfaces for illiterate users we see a great potential to
connect illiterate users through text messaging - a cheap,
asynchronous and convenient communication channel. Touch
screen smart phones offer a new opportunity for illiterate people
to interact with textual content in connections with text-to-speech
solutions. To that effect, we present the design evolution and
evaluation of EasyTexting an application that enables illiterate
users to use this medium via text-to-speech for reading out words
and by making composition possible through icons and reuse of
previous words. The application sends and receives plain SMS
and there is no requirement for a second party to utilize the
application.