About
InitiatED
We started with educators asking hard questions about digital life. Over time, those questions grew beyond classrooms, and so did the community around them.
A community, not a program.
InitiatED brings together educators, community organizers, researchers, parents, and other curious people who want a more human way to think about technology and the lives around it.
We are not a vendor, a platform, or a packaged curriculum. We are building a community where people can learn together, share what they know, and find language for what they are experiencing.
We care about privacy, power, and digital autonomy, but those are not abstract talking points for us. They matter because they shape whether people can participate, trust each other, and build something meaningful together.
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.
We are building toward structures where more people can help shape the work over time, not just watch from the sidelines.
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 means to be literate in a world shaped by digital media and networked platforms. She established the Divergent Awards, launched the lecture series, and built the network of scholars and educators that still connects us. That work remains the foundation of what exists here now.
Expanding the Circle
The questions that began in classrooms kept showing up everywhere else too: in families, community organizations, advocacy spaces, and daily life. The work started expanding beyond academia and beyond education alone.
InitiatED — A Broader Community
InitiatED became the name for the wider community that grew from those earlier questions. The goal now is to create a place where people from different contexts can think together, learn together, and help shape what comes next. Signpost Sessions, the Divergent Awards, and the public resources are all part of that work.
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 stewardship of the Initiative in 2024 and has been helping reshape 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 are building toward 501(c)(3) status and reconstituting the board to reflect where the work is headed: broader, more international, and less tied to academia alone. The founding board will include Shelbie Witte.
We are looking for people whose work sits at the intersection of technology, community, literacy, and equity, whether that happens in schools, nonprofits, organizing spaces, or other forms of public life.
Interested in serving? Get in touchGlobal by design.
Local by necessity.
People connected to this work live and work across different regions, institutions, and communities. We want the project to stay open enough to make sense in more than one context.
Educators, researchers, organizers, advocates, parents, neighbors. The only real requirement is curiosity, generosity, and a willingness to think with other people.
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.