Nicole H. Garrett

Last month, I attended NAGARA’s annual meeting in Seattle, WA.  I learned a lot, saw a lot, and shopped a lot. 

One day of the conference was spent at Microsoft headquarters.  It was really interesting to hear where Microsoft thinks the future of technology is headed.  In their  virtual home, the house computer knows what food is in the house, what homework students have, and the schedule of everybody in the family.  Personally, I found it a tad creepy, although I can see how some of the ideas could become mainstream in ten years.   The virtual office is under construction, so we didn’t see too much of that exhibit.  Mostly, it consisted of a video demo with Surface units to play around with.  The surface units are neat, but I don’t see any difference between it’s features and those on the iPhone.  Again, I see how we are heading into a mouse free age, but I’m not sure if Microsoft is at the head of innovation anymore.

I presented on the NHPRC grant the Archives of Michigan received last year.  We were the last session of the conference, so we were surprised to get around 25 people.  The talk went well and I made some contacts–win, win in my book!

Seattle itself is a beautiful city.  It’s always fun to stay downtown and explore.  I shopped downtown, visited the Klondike  Gold Rush National Park,  the Experience Music Project, and the Needle, and explored the various neighborhoods of the city.

Next year, NAGARA will be joining with COSA and SAA for a joint annual meeting in Washington, D.C.  I’m really looking forward to attending!

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