Like any complex collaboration, our own journey in creating Many-to-Many has been non-linear, full of learning, and deeply shaped by the partners we worked with. For those curious about the story behind the work, we’ve shared the story in three parts. These sections explore the origins of the idea, how our “Proof of Possibility” unfolded, and an exploration of the key learnings that continue to shape our work.
Our Journey in Three Parts
How the Many-to-Many System was Developed
The Proof of Possibility and the Learning Network
The Origin Story
The broader context of where the idea of Many-to-Many was born, and key collaborators along the way
Ongoing Learnings
Working and learning out loud, blogs, propositions, reflections
Meet the Core Team
The Many-to-Many initiative is stewarded by a small, multi-disciplinary team of practitioners, researchers, and designers within Dark Matter Labs. Our role was to be both (co)subjects and facilitators of a Proof of Possibility, where we have navigated the complexities of collaboration work firsthand. Our collective expertise spans collaboration governance, strategic design, systems architecture, governance, technology, and information design, united by a shared commitment to building more equitable and effective ways of collaborating.
Annette is co-leader of the Many-to-Many initiative, guiding its strategic direction and grounding it in deep, context based practice. Annette focuses on the methodology and process of navigating complexity in live, emergent systems - as well as the governing structures, legal architectures, and power dynamics - that shape collaborative efforts. Annette has been instrumental in stewarding the project’s core concepts and deep codes from their earliest inception within Beyond the Rules.
As co-leader of Many-to-Many, Michelle uses her strategic synthesis and sensemaking abilities to guide the emergent elements of the strategic direction, focussing on collecting and articulating the underlying patterns and meta-learnings of the work. Drawing from her background in tackling complex social and environmental challenges in non-traditional ways, she designed and held the space for the project to be both a live collaborative context and a sandbox for new models. Michelle has been instrumental in leading sensemaking of what we learnt in order to create models, tools and assets that others can build from.
Gurden is the lead technologist who brought the Many-to-Many digital platform to life. With a background in computer science and a focus on new media design, he translated the team’s deep content and complex requirements into a functional, elegant, and human-friendly website and ecosystem of supporting materials, tools, guides and logs. Gurden championed an iterative, agile process, moving quickly from wireframes to a live prototype to enable real-world testing and feedback. He is leading the programme of work to ensure the website does not become a static archive of information, but a dynamic living resource for others.
Information Architect
Arianna is the strategic and visual designer for Many-to-Many, responsible for making the project’s immense complexity understandable and navigable. Her work is central to the making the Many-to- Many work more accessible, turning dense research and abstract concepts into clear diagrams, intuitive pathways, and compelling stories. Arianna led the architectural design of the website and Field Guide, championing a “thinking through visual prototyping” approach.