Michael Barkin’s strengths are observation, engagement, and patience. He will evaluate a situation before suggesting a path forward. He engages with confidence that is based on analysis. He plans while listening, considers next steps based on results, and allows details and paths to emerge.

Michael has 20 years of experience in managing digital media. He provides consulting services to Fortune 500 companies, agencies, and individual clients. His methods are based on experience, from the shift to digital and cloud computing and now AI. He has a master's degree in information management and a bachelor's degree in geography from the University of Washington.

Michael’s work addresses the physical and virtual worlds. An interest in sustainable development in Latin America led to studies of social movements in the Americas and Europe. He photographed the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999 while preparing to visit a coffee cooperative in Southern Mexico. These stories led to publications and exhibits. Michael’s documentation of the anti-globalization movement provides an idealistic representation of the era.

Michael’s documentary projects about Seattle, the American Northwest, and related international themes monitor economics, ecology, and community. He references literary and cultural themes that affect and trace the course of social change, particularly Beat culture, the hippie movement, and travelers. An upbringing amidst the natural splendors and countercultures in Oregon informs his perspective on the beauty, opportunity, and risks of exploring the internal and external worlds.

The challenges of the digital era brought him to information science. An archival practice for his work and others is based on emerging digital tools, techniques, and methods. He maintains a collection of ephemera that adds meaning and context to his projects.