Kaʻala Souza is on a mission to revive Hawaiʻi’s literacy legacy. In the 19th century, under the charge of King Kamehameha III, the Hawaiian Kingdom held one of the highest literacy rates in the world — over 90%.
Now, Souza believes Hawaiʻi’s digital literacy can be raised to the same historic standard.
His organization, Māpunawai, started over six years ago with free computer giveaways and free basic computer classes.
Souza joined The Conversation to share how Mānpunawai’s staff and volunteers offer one-on-one assistance to help community members gain confidence with technology.
When the organization first began offering services to the public, its aim was to make technology accessible to the complete beginner.
“We started calling it basic computer class,” Souza recounted.
“And then eventually the joke was, somebody said, ‘Oh, I need to come to your 101 class,’ and I go, ‘Uncle, we don't do 101, we do 001.’”
Now Māpunawai has grown enough to run the Digital Navigator program, which is available for free at all 51 Hawaiʻi public libraries.
“We have digital navigators now in every single library in the state, and a digital navigator is somebody who you can set up an appointment with, and they help you with whatever,” Souza explained.
All it takes is a library card to plug into the Digital Navigators program.
Especially now, after storms and hurricanes impacted areas across the islands, Digital Navigators are standing by to help however they can, Souza said.
They’re able to help in many ways, from communicating with healthcare providers, filling out online forms and setting up ways to document the impacts.
Ultimately, Souza’s mission is to bridge the digital literacy gap that has worsened in recent years.
“It's like a low tide reveals the reef … during the pandemic, people who were very digital became more digital, and people who were not digital, they just fell further and further behind. And the pandemic was really the beginning for us to say there's this huge gap, and we can fill that gap,” Souza said.
“I would love for Hawaiʻi to be the most digitally literate state in the country.”
More information about Māpunawai can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 29, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
