Talk:Will Byrne

Declaring conflict of interest

Hi, for anyone who reads or edits this in future, I wish to declare my conflict of interest in that I am related to the subject of this article. I would like to make minor changes to make this article more contemporaneously accurate so that it does not represent the subject as currently employed by organizations he is no longer associated with. I will declare those material changes here for current and future review. Thanks! JByrne404 (talk) 02:53, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

All of my changes are noted on the log, but the most notable is to note that Will Byrne is no longer affiliated with Groundswell. The other notable changes include changing his name in the article from "Will" to "Byrne" to follow appropriate Wikipedia naming conventions. I also noted dead links, including reference to Wikipedia entries for particular words or phrases, and included one additional supporting citation to existing text. Otherwise, I left the text as is. JByrne404 (talk) 03:36, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

Additional changes

Also noting my conflict of interest for later editors' review: I made a handful of additional changes to include information about the subject's later work:

• Senior Director of the Innovation Lab at Human Rights First
• Citris Fellowship
• Added supporting citations of Fast Company articles
• Added Alma mater to Info Box

Feel free to comment or message me if any issues are discovered with my edits. Thanks! JByrne404 (talk) 16:30, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

Addition of Ashoka Innovators for the Public Award (2011)

Hello, This article does not mention the subject’s selection as an Ashoka Fellow in 2011, which is a significant, highly selective global award. This is documented on Ashoka’s official website here, which also indicates the subject's selection in 2011: https://www.ashoka.org/en/fellow/will-byrne. Could an editor please add this information under the “Awards” or “Recognition” section? Suggested wording: Byrne was selected as an Ashoka Fellow by the global social entrepreneurship organization Ashoka Innovators for the Public in 2011 [year listed on the source]. This award, as outlined in the link, was centered on his work on "civic consumption", so an additional possible citation be could be in the work history section of "Groundswell", which describes this concept. Thank you for considering this update and for maintaining the article’s accuracy. Bryson1974 (talk) 17:30, 7 November 2025 (UTC)

Edit request: subject-requested corrections and sourcing improvements

I am the subject of this article (COI disclosed; see also the earlier disclosure on this page by my family member JByrne404). I request four specific changes. One of them (item 2) removes a flattering claim that is inaccurate; I include it to keep the record straight.

1. Restore the Ashoka Fellowship to Honors and awards. It was removed in this 22 March 2023 edit pruning under-sourced entries. Proposed line:

• Ashoka Fellow, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, elected 2011

The election is verifiable in the awarding organization's fellow directory — the standard sourcing for the fact of an Ashoka Fellowship in other biographies — and Fast Company's contributor page corroborates it. I am not requesting restoration of the other items removed in that edit. Transparency note: the November 2025 request above from Bryson1974 was posted by me, before I understood the disclosure requirements. It should not be read as independent support; please treat this request as superseding it, and that account as retired. All of my future requests will come from this account only.

2. Correct the infobox alma mater field. The infobox currently reads "B.A. Vassar College, Stanford University." My Stanford affiliation was a Civic Innovation Fellowship at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, as the article body correctly states; I do not hold a Stanford degree. Please remove Stanford University from the alma mater field.

3. Repair the dead Concord Academy citation. The "Hall Fellowship" reference (concordacademy.org/about_concord_academy/hallfellowship.aspx) is a dead link. An archived snapshot exists. Please add to the citation: |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305091717/http://www.concordacademy.org/about_concord_academy/hallfellowship.aspx |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=dead

4. Add a wikilink. In the Groundswell section, in the sentence Byrne called this model "civic consumption.", please link the term to Civic consumption, the existing standalone article on the concept.

Thank you for considering. Willbyrne1984 (talk) 18:43, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• Willbyrne1984, I appreciate the COI disclosure. I took care of 2. However, I am not going to add honors etc. based on primary links. The article barely has any secondary sourcing as it is. Drmies (talk) 18:55, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

  Understood, thank you for the explanation. Willbyrne1984 (talk) 19:29, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

References