About
InitiatED
We started as a small group of educators asking how people navigate a digital world that wasn't designed with them in mind. That question hasn't changed. The community around it has grown.
A community, not a program.
InitiatED is a global cooperative network — educators, community organizers, researchers, parents, and practitioners who want to understand how technology shapes their lives and communities, and do something about it.
We're not a vendor. We're not selling a product or a curriculum. We're building a community where people can learn together, share what they know, and figure out what they don't.
We believe people have the right to understand and shape the technology in their lives. That's not a new idea — communities have always fought for access to information and the tools to act on it. We're continuing that work in a digital context.
High touch before high tech. We meet people where they are, not where we think they should be.
Small cohorts, real conversations, shared questions. The goal is connection as much as skill-building.
Cooperative structure, rotating leadership, equitable decision-making. The community owns this, not a director or a donor.
Our evolution
The Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age
Founded by Shelbie Witte at Oklahoma State University as an academic initiative asking what it actually means to be literate in a world shaped by networked platforms and digital media. She established the Divergent Awards, launched the annual lecture series, and built the network of scholars and educators that still connects us. Eight years of that work are the foundation everything here is built on.
Expanding the Circle
Recognized that the questions we were asking in classrooms were the same ones people were asking everywhere else. Digital access, platform power, and the ability to understand and control information affect whole communities — not just students. Began building toward a network that extended past academia and past education.
InitiatED — A Cooperative Network
Relaunched as a global cooperative network. Shared power, rotating leadership, and a structure designed to be genuinely international and intersectional. Launched the Signpost Sessions as the primary community learning structure. Building toward a community where anyone who cares about these questions has a place.
People
The people behind it.
Founded the Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age at Oklahoma State University in 2016. Built the lecture series, the Divergent Awards, and the network of educators and researchers that still connects this community. She went on to serve as Dean of the College of Education, Communication, and Behavioral Sciences at the University of North Dakota. The work here exists because of what she started.
Associate Professor of Literacy Education. Took over as Director of the Initiative in 2024 and has been rebuilding it as initiatED — a cooperative network extending past academia toward anyone navigating digital life on their own terms. His research sits at the intersection of literacy, technology, and equity.
wiobyrne.com →Board of Directors
Reconstituting.
We're building toward 501(c)(3) status and reconstituting the board to reflect the direction of the work — international, intersectional, and beyond academia. The founding board will include Shelbie Witte.
We're looking for people who work at the intersection of technology, community, and equity — in schools, in organizing, in advocacy, anywhere that work actually happens.
Interested in serving? Get in touchGlobal by design.
Local by necessity.
Members on six continents. The cooperative model is designed to work across different geographic and cultural contexts — not to export one community's answers onto another's questions.
Educators, researchers, organizers, advocates, parents, neighbors. The only requirement is that you're curious about what technology does to communities, and what communities can do about it.
K–12, university, adult education, community educators
Grassroots leaders working at the intersection of technology and community
Scholars studying media, platforms, digital infrastructure, and learning
Digital rights, educational equity, community literacy
Anyone building resilience in their community, institution, or neighborhood
No credential required. Just a willingness to show up and engage.