The rapid emergence of the Internet is having an historic impact on literacy practices and on the very nature of literacy itself. Each article in this issue has articulated these changes. Each brings a unique and important perspective to its analysis. They illustrate that, today, literacy means many different things to many different people. This issue presents a multifaceted description of many new literacies and issues that have emerged as the Internet, and related technologies, define this century. To place these articles in context, one must realize that even more profound changes to literacy lie ahead. The Internet, and its potential to disseminate rapidly new technologies of literacy, ensures that literacy will rapidly and continually change.