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This will eventually be an epic page on Web Literacies. Epic.
Got comments/questions/ideas? Select some text and go to Insert /
Comment^[[a]](#cmnt1)^


Short URL for this page = http://mzl.la/weblit
* * * * *
 
Web Literacies white paper
 
v0.9 (release candidate)
 
Working towards a framework to understand the skills,
 
competencies and literacies necessary to be a Webmaker.
 
                                        
 
Authors: Mozilla Learning Team and you!
 
Contact: Doug Belshaw
([doug@mozillafoundation.org](mailto:doug@mozillafoundation.org) /
[@dajbelshaw](http://twitter.com/dajbelshaw))
 
Short URL for sharing: [http://bit.ly/weblit09](http://bit.ly/weblit09)
 
                        
 
* * * * *
 
Table of contents
 
[Who is this for?](#h.c76loium27uv)
 
[What are we talking about?](#h.rbtc55hdfeof)
 
[Why are we talking about this?](#h.2m4t482fu1z7)
 
[What are web literacies?](#h.qfjtzx6nont)
 
[Web Skills](#h.ry29w3jeij08)
 
[Web Competencies](#h.n0qvjlu9bx4x)
 
[Web Literacies](#h.ctwlbafqspeu)
 
[Towards a framework for Web Literacies](#h.gtp4sk5fxmfi)
 
[Web Skills / Competencies / Literacies grid](#h.4z9ag17s1jlu)
 
[Webmaker badges](#h.291zs34xmyj3)
 
[References](#h.g5ep9pb6nvfi)
 
[SET UP SEGUE INTO HACKABLE GAMES - NON-CORE STUFF]
 
* * * * *
 
Who is this for?
================
 
The web is for everyone, so ostensibly this web literacies paper is also
for everyone. It is, however, likely to be of particular use and value
to educators and academics looking for a reference point and framework
to help develop web literacies in themselves and others.
 
When we mention ‘we’ in this white paper we’re talking about not only
about Mozilla, but the community of people who believe in
Constructivism, who believe in [Connected
Learning](http://connectedlearning.tv/), and who believe in learning
through making and doing. In other words, ‘we’ means ‘you’ as much as
‘us’! We’re people who believe in the practical application of knowledge
through project-based and interest-based learning.
 
To help make the following a bit more tangible, let’s consider three
scenarios:
 
1.  Leo, 15, wants to find some cool stuff to make. He goes to the
    [Mozilla Webmaker](http://webmaker.org) site to make some projects
    and earn some badges. He then adds these badges to his resumé to
    represent his new-found skills. Leo wants to connect with other
    youth interested in tech, so he joins a
    [CoderDojo](http://coderdojo.com/) meetup in New York. He also goes
    to a local hackjam and likes the group there so becomes a member and
    takes free HTML classes every Monday.
 
1.  Martha, 46, is a teacher of 20 years who wants to help her students
    learn skills that are relevant in the world today. She finds
    Mozilla’s Webmaker site after a recommendation from a colleague and
    learns about webmaking for the first time. While she’s there she
    finds curriculum to use in her classroom and connections to other
    innovative teachers around the world with whom she can share ideas.
 
1.  Abdullah, 24, runs a small nonprofit start-up aimed at helping kids
    learn to code. He's a member of Hive London and is looking for
    activities to keep kids engaged who come along to his weekend
    workshops. Abdullah creates a few projects that he can promote to a
    wider audience through The Mozilla Webmaker site.
 
We’ll return to these three examples to breathe life into some of the
more abstract concepts included in this white paper.
 
What are we talking about?                                                
==========================================================================
 
We’re talking about the web, the world’s largest public resource, the
operating system of the future, and (we believe) one of the greatest
drivers of happiness and human flourishing the world has ever
seen.^[[1]](#ftnt1)^ 
 
The web is a system of interlinked documents and resources accessed via
the internet. The internet can also be used to access email, Internet
Relay Chat (IRC) and other non-web services, but for the purposes of
this white paper we’re interested in the things that can be accessed and
created via modern web browsers. Taking Leo, Martha and Abdullah as our
examples, no matter what devices they choose to use, the web is
accessible to them all.
 
Literacy isn’t just about reading, but about writing too. When we think
about literacies on the web it’s important to go beyond just the
differences between paper and screen. Those differences, like the
hypertextuality of the web, are certainly important. But mastering these
differences does not automatically lead to ‘web literacies’. Being web
literate means not only being able to read the web but also having the
ability to ‘write’ it.
 
Writing the web - creating pages, documents and multimedia assets -
means understanding the building blocks of the web. As Mitchell Baker
(Chairperson of Mozilla) says, we want to move beyond ‘elegant
consumption’ towards creating a generation of Webmakers. We’re not
talking about everyone becoming a fully-fledged programmer, but we do
believe that everyone should have the skills, competencies and
literacies to be able to tinker and create stuff with the web. This is
what Martha, the teacher in our example above, wants to help her
students learn. She wants them to be able to make parts of the web as
well as consume them.
 
Although a knowledge of the physical makeup of the internet is necessary
at some level, we’re primarily interested in the web as accessed through
a browser. We recognise that there are ‘Pre-Beginner’ skills such as
identifying a web browser’s address bar, using copy/paste functions, and
entering the URL of a site directly (rather than searching). Likewise,
there’s ‘Advanced’ skills such as code workflows and server-side
technologies that go beyond what we’re talking about here. Both
‘Pre-Beginner’ and ‘Advanced’ skills are currently out of scope for this
white paper. We’re focusing on the kinds of skills that Abdullah might
teach at his weekend sessions, or Leo might learn at his weekly HTML
classes.
 
* * * * *
 
Why are we talking about this?
==============================
 
We live in a networked economy at a time of accelerating change. As Duke
University Professor Cathy Davidson has noticed, this means we need new
literacies, new skills:
 
[O]ur world changed in April 1993 when the Mosaic 1.0 browser was
released to the general public. We need new forms of education. We need
to reform our learning institutions, concepts, and modes of assessment
for our age. Now, anyone with access to the World Wide Web can go far
beyond the passive consumer model to contribute content on the Web. We
can customize and remix, alone or in collaboration with others, located
anywhere on the Web. That Do-It-Yourself potential for connected,
participatory, improvisational learning requires new skills, what many
are calling new “literacies.”
 
(Davidson, 2012)
 
As set out in the [Mozilla
Manifesto](https://www.mozilla.org/about/manifesto.en.html) we believe
that the web is a resource to be protected; one to be co-created not
merely co-consumed. To create things with and on the web means being
able to both read and write it. In other words, to be web literate, “we
must learn not just how to use programs but how to make them” (Rushkoff,
2010).
 
The web is becoming the world’s second language, and a vital 21st
century skill. Digital literacy today is as important as reading,
writing and arithmetic. Mozilla believes it’s crucial that people
develop the skills they need to understand, shape and actively
participate in that world, instead of just passively consuming it.
 
We want to help create a web literate planet. We want to teach people
about the web through the web, moving them from consuming it to making
it as a means of self-expression. We want to create a generation of
people who know how the web works and can remix it. We also want to
empower educators, those who want to teach other people about the web.
 
Mozilla’s work is underpinned by a philosophy that we learn best through
doing and making. While our work is underpinned by the works of
academics in related fields, we’re interested in practical action. We’re
focused upon encouraging people to become experienced in writing parts
of the web and participating in online communities.
 
Learning by making and tinkering is not a new idea, nor is our belief in
interest-based pathways for learning. Both of these concepts are
fundamental to the work of foundational thinkers such as Froebel,
Montessori, Dewey, Thorndike, Vygotsky, Papert and
Csikszentmihalyi (amongst many others). Learning theories such as
Constructivism^[[2]](#ftnt2)^ and Connectivism,^[[3]](#ftnt3)^ influence
 our work around Web Literacies along with notions such as ‘Flow’
states^[[4]](#ftnt4)^ and the importance of a sense of play.
 
We’re putting these learning theories into action through the Webmaker
tools we’re creating but also through the badge system design
accompanying our work in this area. Interest-based pathways through a
series of (badged) challenges promote flow states through clear goals
and immediate feedback. More about this can be found in the Webmaker
badges section below.
 
What are web literacies?
========================
 
We’re currently working towards defining web literacies as part of our
work around Mozilla Webmaker. We understand web literacies to be
comprised of parts of digital literacies, media literacies,
computational/algorithmic thinking and computer science. We’re also
interested in newly-defined and emerging areas such as ‘Hacker
Literacies’ (Santo, 2012)
 
![](images/image01.png)
 
The purpose of this white paper is to define and contextualise what we
mean by web literacies - and to inform activities for people wanting to
work towards gaining those literacies., It also serves as a reference
point for those who want to help create a generation of Webmakers,
people who can ‘write’ as well as ‘read’ the web.
 
We see there being three steps to Web Literacies. First come Web
Skills such as searching and using URLs appropriately. Two or more Web
Skills combine into Web Competencies that we could call, for example,
‘Browser basics’ or ‘Search Engine basics’. These are bundles of Web
Skills for a particular purpose ‘assessed’ via a lightweight peer review
system.
 
Finally, Web Literacies consist of a range of these Web Competencies -
for example, ‘Browser basics,’ ‘Search engine basics,’ and ‘Web
mechanics’. In addition, some element of self-reflection is required
here to realise that you’re now able to ‘Explore’ the web at a beginner
level.
 
![](images/image00.png)
 
Let’s look at Web Skills, Web Competencies and Web Literacies in a bit
more depth.
 
Web Skills
----------
 
By ‘skills’ we mean learned capacities to perform specific
actions. Skills can be generic (transferable) or domain-specific. In
terms of Web Skills the following may be helpful by way of illustration:
a generic skill is understanding how code is structured; a
domain-specific skill is how to use various elements of HTML (e.g. \<p\>
and \<h1\> tags). In our earlier example, Leo learns both generic and
domain-specific skills in his HTML classes.
 
Teachers in formal education are well aware that skills have objective
thresholds. That’s to say the skills they teach young people are
assessed by third parties (such as exam boards) against some kind of
rubric. In a similar way to Scouting badges, the learner has to prove
they have particular learned capacities in a given area. Likewise, the
Mozilla Webmaker badges we’re developing require learners to demonstrate
such capacities as they ‘level-up’.
 
Martha, our 46 year-old teacher, is interested in how the Web Skills
developed via activities and projects on webmaker.org could be used in
her lessons. She maps these skills onto her country’s national
curriculum, sharing this on a wiki with other educators who can adapt it
for their own purposes.
 
Web Competencies
----------------
 
By ‘competencies’ we mean collections of skills for pre-defined
purposes. Web Competencies are bundles of Web Skills that allow
individuals to ‘level-up’ in their knowledge, skills and understanding.
Abdullah, for example, is interested in showing progression through the
workshops and sessions he provides through his nonprofit start-up. He
might decide to focus on teaching the skills young people need to gain
the Web Design basics competency badge.
 
Whether someone demonstrates a particular Web Competency depends on
their displaying evidence of mastering certain Web Skills in that area.
Building in an element of peer assessment at this stage ensures the
evidence required stays fresh, current and relevant to what’s required
to be effective on the web today.
 
Returning to our learner scenarios, as Leo progresses in his knowledge,
skills and understanding around HTML he realises he’s ready to submit
some of his work for peer review. He places a mini-portfolio of his work
online and asks the Webmaker community to look at it. Leo receives 13
up-votes and only 2 down-votes meaning he has received enough peer
recognition to be awarded an HTML basics badge.
 
In the first instance the organisation awarding Webmaker badges will be
Mozilla. As the ecosystem develops, however, we very much welcome and
encourage other organisations to contribute tools, content and
activities. These organisations will also be able to define the mix of
skills that lead to competencies they wish to recognise and badge.
Martha, for example, might want to tie the work she’s doing even more
closely to the national curriculum or standards she is required to
teach.
 
Web Literacies
--------------
 
At it’s most basic, ‘literacy’ is the ability to read and write
something. As we’re focusing on Web Literacies the ‘thing’ that we’re
reading and writing is the web. In addition to this, however, as people
become more literate we expect them to think critically and be able to
look at the world from more than one perspective. For someone to be
‘literate’ they have to be aware that they are literate and be accepted
within a wider community of literate peers.
 
Let’s take Leo as our example here. He continues attending his Monday
HTML classes and starts tinkering with HTML and CSS at home as well.
After a few months he gains Web Competencies badges in HTML basics, CSS
basics and Web design basics. When a friend asks for help with a website
she’s designing, Leo decides start an after-school interest group with
her. Soon, he’s creating ‘howto’ videos for the benefit of those in his
nascent community, whilst she’s working towards Javascript basics to be
able to teach others. Teaching something you’ve recently learned
yourself forces self-reflection on your own knowledge, skills and
understanding.
 
Literacy is a condition to be obtained not a threshold to cross. We want
people not only to self-identify as Webmakers but demonstrate the
knowledge, skills and understanding required to be part of one or more
web communities. We’re still in the process of defining the process by
which individuals obtain Web Literacies badges, but they’ll contain both
elements of peer assessment and self-reflection.
 
* * * * *
 
Towards a framework for Web Literacies
======================================
 
We’re approaching Web Literacies in a bottom-up way, identifying the
skills necessary to be able to use and make aspects of the web. We’ve
crowdsourced these skills both internally within Mozilla and externally
through various channels. We invite other organisations and communities
to get involved. The skills we’ve crowdsourced combine into competencies
that reside broadly in one of four areas of Web Literacies:
 
1.  Exploring - I navigate the web while learning, questioning and
    evaluating what it has to offer.
2.  Creating - I create things with the web and solve problems while
    respecting the work of others.
3.  Connecting - I communicate and participate appropriately in one or
    more web communities.
4.  Protecting - I protect the web as a public resource for free
    expression.
 
The grid below is a flexible framework that we’re using to inform our
work around Webmaker badges. It’s not fixed for all time, but will
develop with the web - along with input from other interested parties.
 
* * * * *
 
Web Skills / Competencies / Literacies grid
===========================================
 
[](#)[](#)
 
EXPLORING
 
CREATING
 
CONNECTING
 
PROTECTING
 
Browser basics
 
(e.g. URLs, copy/paste)
 
HTML basics
 
(e.g. adding images, linking)
 
Participation
 
(e.g. etiquette, curation)
 
Privacy
 
(e.g. cookies, privacy controls)
 
BEGINNER
 
Search engine basics
 
(e.g. keyword search, filtering)
 
CSS basics
 
(e.g. fonts, positioning)
 
Collaboration
 
(e.g. co-creation, wikis)
 
Security basics
 
(e.g. HTTPS, password management)
 
Web mechanics
 
(e.g. view source, hyperlinks)
 
Web design basics
 
(e.g. affordances of the web, designing for audiences)
 
Sharing
 
(e.g. social networks, embedding)
 
Rights online
 
(e.g. copyright, open licensing)
 
Browser skills
 
(e.g. cookie management, add-ons)
 
Javascript basics
 
(e.g. programming basics, javascript syntax)
 
Contributing to web communities
 
(e.g. distributed working, collaborative curation)
 
Identity
 
(e.g. personal information curation, tracking management)
 
INTERMEDIATE
 
Credibility
 
(e.g. trustworthiness of websites, evaluating information)
 
Advanced web design
 
(e.g. responsive design, accessibility)
 
Storytelling
 
(e.g. multimedia, augmentation)
 
Security & encryption
 
(e.g. data protection, basic encryption)
 
Remixing
 
(e.g. mashups, hackable games)
 
Infrastructure
 
(e.g. hosting, domains)
 
Open practices
 
(e.g. open standards, open source)
 
Legalese on the web
 
(e.g. privacy policies, terms of service agreements)
 
As well as input from those currently making the web, this grid is
informed by the work of Beetham & Sharpe (2009), Belshaw (2011),
Davidson (2011), Jenkins (2009), Rheingold (2012), Udell (2011), and
Wing (2006). Their ideas around participatory culture, digital
literacies and computational thinking can be found in, for example, the
abstraction required for getting started with programming, understanding
the architectures of participation involved in tech communities, the
creativity and communication inherent in web design, and getting
involved in remix culture.
 
Webmaker badges
===============
 
In order to provide ways to ‘level up’ in being able to make aspects of
the web we’re currently working on a series of Webmaker badges. These
are allied to our work around [Open Badges](http://openbadges.org) - a
new way to get recognition for skills and achievements and display them
across the web.
 
We see badges as a way to connect tools with learning experiences, as
well as learners to other community members. Our target audience are
amateurs who have something to say and want to learn how to tinker and
create with the web in ever-more powerful ways. They provide a way for
Leo to demonstrate his learning, for Martha to motivate her students,
and for Abdullah to provide structure to his weekend workshops.
 
An example of our thinking (still a work in progress) is the HTML
basics badge. This is a Web Competency badge made up of a collection of
Web Skills such as:
 
1.  Clean Coder - fixing / adding clean code
2.  Optimizer - cleaning up code / deleting unnecessary code
3.  Code Whisperer - adding explanatory code comments
4.  Code Builder - writing clean code
5.  Editor - fixing / adding heading \<h1\>, paragraph \<p\>
6.  Image Maker - fixing / adding image \<i\>
7.  3DI Visioneer - fixing / adding html \<div\>
8.  A-Lister - fixing / adding html \<ol\> \<li\>
9.  Media Maker - fixing / adding media \<i frame\>
10. Audio Maker - fixing / adding audio
11. Hyperlinker - fixing / adding hyperlink
12. Quick Fixer - fixing syntax errors / adding appropriate opening and
    closing tags
 
As we’re providing interest-based pathways the idea is that whilst a
certain number of web skills would have to be gained to achieve the HTML
basics badge, there’s no requirement to gain every skill.  
 
An example of some interest-based pathways can be seen below. The
coloured icons indicate badges that have been gained, with those that
are greyed-out yet to be achieved. As indicated in a previous section,
we envisage that ‘levelling-up’ to a Web Competency badge requires an
element of peer-assessment. Levelling-up to one of the Web Literacies
badges requires peer-assessment plus some kind of self-reflection.
 
![](images/image02.jpg)
 
Conclusion
==========
 
We believe that everyone should have the skills, competencies and
literacies to be constructive and creative on the web. Not everyone
needs to be a fully-fledged programmer, nor does everyone want to be a
web designer. However, given the pervasiveness of the web in our lives,
everyone certainly needs to feel like it’s a medium to be written and
made as well as one to be read and consumed.
 
This Web Literacies white paper is the beginning of a conversation:
we’re not attempting to create a ‘canon’ of knowledge or skills.
Instead, we’re looking to create a flexible framework of Web Skills,
Competencies and Literacies that can evolve along with the web itself.
And we’d very much like it if you could join us in that journey.
 
* * * * *
 
* * * * *
 
References
==========
 
1.  Beetham, H. & Sharpe, R. (2009) ‘Responding to Learners’, Keynote
    presentation at the JISC Online Conference 2009, available at:
    [http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference09/programme/respondinglearners.aspx](http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference09/programme/respondinglearners.aspx) (accessed
    23 October 2012)
 
2.  Belshaw, D.A.J. (2011) ‘What is ‘digital literacy’? A Pragmatic
    investigation’, (unpublished doctoral thesis), Durham University,
    available at:
    [http://neverendingthesis.com](http://neverendingthesis.com) (accessed
    14 October 2012)
 
3.  Davidson, C.N. (2011) Now You See It: Now You See It: How Technology
    and Brain Science Will Transform Schools and Business for the 21st
    Century, London: Viking Books
 
4.  Davidson, C.N. (2012) ‘Why We Need a 4th R: Reading, wRiting,
    aRithmetic, algoRithms’, DMLcentral, available at:
    [http://dmlcentral.net/blog/cathy-davidson/why-we-need-4th-r-reading-writing-arithmetic-algorithms](http://dmlcentral.net/blog/cathy-davidson/why-we-need-4th-r-reading-writing-arithmetic-algorithms) (accessed
    18 September 2012)
 
5.  Davidson, C.N. & Goldberg, D.T. (2009) ‘The Future of Learning
    Institutions in a Digital Age’ (The John D. and Catherine T.
    MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning),
    Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
 
6.  Jenkins, H. (2009) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory
    Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century (The John D. and
    Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and
    Learning), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
 
7.  Rheingold, H. (2012) Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, Cambridge, MA:
    MIT Press
 
8.  Rushkoff, D. (2010) Program or be Programmed: Ten Commands for the
    Digital Age, London: OR Books
 
9.  Santo, R. (2012) ‘Hacker Literacies: Synthesizing Critical and
    Participatory Media Literacy Frameworks,’ International Journal of
    Learning and Media, 3:3, pp.1-5
 
1.  Udell, J. (2011) ‘Seven Ways to Think Like the Web’, Weblog,
    available
    at: [http://blog.jonudell.net/2011/01/24/seven-ways-to-think-like-the-web/](http://blog.jonudell.net/2011/01/24/seven-ways-to-think-like-the-web/) (accessed
    17 October 2012)
 
10. Wing, J.M. (2008) ‘Computational Thinking and Thinking about
    Thinking,’ Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, 366, pp.
    3717-3725
 
                        
 
* * * * *
 
[[1]](#ftnt_ref1) See Mozillian Gervase Markham’s post:
[http://blog.gerv.net/2012/07/mozilla-an-ethical-career/](http://blog.gerv.net/2012/07/mozilla-an-ethical-career/) 
 
[[2]](#ftnt_ref2) Constructivism is, broadly speaking, a learning theory
that focuses upon experiential learning, self-direction, creativity,
first-hand experience. It posits learning as an active, social process.
 
[[3]](#ftnt_ref3) Connectivism is a theory of learning that sees
learning as a process of practice and reflection. It allows for
knowledge to reside in non-human actors and sees learners as ‘nodes on a
network’.
 
[[4]](#ftnt_ref4) A state of ‘Flow’ as defined by Csikszentmihalyi,
includes an activity with clear goals, clear and immediate feedback, and
with a good balance between (perceived) challenges and (perceived)
skills.
 
[[a]](#cmnt_ref1)Doug Belshaw:
 
Comments are good - please add them! :-)
Dajbelshaw
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