This paper compares and contrasts the Internet with other fundamental educational infrastructures throughout history by assessing the affordances and constraints of that medium along with those of oral tradition and print literacy. Highlights include affordances and constraints of the Internet; literacy and the development of education in the Medieval-to-Modern and Modern-to-Postmodern periods and the resulting focus on the learning process, constructivism, and skills development; interactivity of Internet learning materials; a comparison of the Internet to libraries and the publishing infrastructure; and the shifting role of the online user in assessing and even controlling the quality of materials, responsibilities which were previously left to editors and professionals. (Contains 44 references.) (AEF)