How can technology support the commons?

This project emerged from a deep dive into how digital technologies often reinforce capitalism’s extractive logics—but don’t have to. Drawing from feminist technoscience, post-capitalist economics, and commons theory, the research asked: how can digital tools empower collective practices of provisioning, care, and governance? Through iterative workshops, field testing, and co-design with real communities, Commonhood began to take shape, not as a universal solution, but as a situated response.

Commonhood is a web-based tool where members of a collective can share what they need and what they can offer. It uses a hybrid AI system to suggest meaningful matches—but without automating relationships. There’s no messaging, no ratings, no tracking—just a shared space to explore reciprocity. The prototype is intentionally limited: it invites slowness, ambiguity, and human interpretation. It doesn’t try to fix the world—just hold space for people to care for each other, differently.

Commonhood is not a finished product—it’s a proposition in motion. The first prototype laid the groundwork, but the real work begins now: testing it with new constellations, adapting it to different contexts, and exploring how distinct commons might connect, support, and learn from each other. Cross-commons exchange isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a political one. It’s about weaving solidarity across difference, and building the infrastructures we need to sustain life otherwise.