A unified 20-year history of the radically changing way we relate to the Web

[Commentary] Over the past 20+ years, our understanding of what the Web is and how it impacts society has developed. So has our understanding of Web literacy. My focus isn’t the history of the Web itself, but the history of the skills that people have thought necessary to use it. It’s a subtle, but important distinction.

The 5 eras of Web literacy:

• 1993-1997: The Information Superhighway
• 1999-2002: The Wild West
• 2003-2007: The Web 2.0 era
• 2008-2012: The Era of the App
• 2013+: The Post-Snowden era

My hope is that in this new fifth era, we understand the Web for what it is, a platform for human flourishing. Perhaps we will learn to teach current and next generations how to read, write and participate, effectively using it.

[Belshaw is Web Literacy Lead at the Mozilla Foundation.]