Nick Norman

I help complex projects come together and move forward.

Usually that means bringing in the right people, connecting partners and resources across silos and ecosystems, and building the collaborative infrastructure that allows people to participate and work together at scale.

My work spans community development and social impact projects, movement building, and global institutions where technology plays a central role in the mission.
Work With Nick

Organizations and ecosystems Nick has worked within

Experience

The projects below are the clearest way to understand my work.

They span a distressed hotel turned transitional housing model; a communications program built inside a global open-source library; a post-COVID convening for a decentralized web movement; and digitization partnerships across major institutions. Each came with its own complexity.

Some were built from scratch. Others began as early-stage work that needed structure and momentum. A few had to be built inside existing institutions, with their own cultures, systems, and decision-making realities.

1 Million
Pages Digitized

A multi-institutional project with UC Berkeley, UCLA, the California State Library, and the Internet Archive, preserving over a century of California civic history and recognized with a 2024 Anthem Award.

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15+ Million
Readers Served

Led the build out of Open Library's communications program from the ground up during a period of rapid global growth, earning Communications Fellow and Lead Emeritus recognition.

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500+
Leaders Convened

Co-produced end-to-end operations and stakeholder alignment for a five-day global convening of decentralized web leaders, managing partners including the Ford Foundation, Filecoin, and Bluesky.

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40+
News Outlets

Supported a global advocacy campaign from concept through launch, securing coverage across 40+ major outlets, moving public conversation around digital preservation, and earning formal U.S. Congressional recognition.

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14
Global Partners

Co-produced an interactive 2046 experience created in conjunction with the Internet Archive's 25th anniversary campaign, helping develop content and coordinate 14 global partners around the future of open access.

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$3 Million
Funding Secured

A distressed hotel facing closure was redesigned from the ground up into a transitional housing model — raising $3 Million in 30 days during the 2008 financial crisis.

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Research and Development

The Relational Infrastructure Framework

Around 2020, my research expanded into digital tools and emerging technology, specifically exploring how platforms and AI systems could be made accessible and useful for organizations and communities that have largely been left out of those conversations.

This work led to the release of version 1 of the Relational Infrastructure Framework in April 2026. This past May, I built and released a demo tool that shows how the framework can help organizations understand where collaboration, participation, and trust are being supported or strained across complex projects.

Explore Frameworks

How Projects Actually Get Built

Nick focuses on the collaborative infrastructure that makes complex projects possible. Drawing on experience that spans early-stage ideas to global impact projects, he shares what it takes to build community, connect partners across silos, and secure the resources projects need to grow. Available through workshops, podcasts, and direct engagement.

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If you are building something that requires the right people, systems, and relationships to work, send me a message here.

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