Contextualizing Tech: Creating Community & Addressing Accessibility

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Jonathan: I think we're all really looking for authentic experiences and connection. No matter where that may be the last few years have been pretty tough, honestly, and I don't think we'll ever be able to fully replace. the connection of being in person, but we can augment it and in some pretty good ways.

[00:00:17] Isotta: This is Art Is… a podcast for artists where we brainstormed the future of the art world and the creative industries today. I'm sharing part two of my conversation with Jonathan Girroir. Jonathan is the senior manager. Of developer relations at tech soft 3d, and as 25 years of experience in the software development industry, if you haven't listened to part one of our conversation,

[00:00:44] Isotta: I recommend you go back and listen to season three, episode 13, which contextualizes much of the tech innovation we have discussed throughout the. From NFTs to open Metaverses Jonathan also discusses his thoughts on the increasing hybridity between physical and digital experiences and the opportunity artists have to work in that niche.

[00:01:03] Isotta: Today we dive back in opening with a discussion on managing expectations in light of new innovations and technologies. Jonathan helps deconstruct the tech adoption curve and helps us understand how to separate fact from fiction. We then move on to discuss how one of tech soft 3d is biggest priorities is uniting its community of 3d software developers.

[00:01:23] Isotta: Online. Jonathan shares his opinions on the three pillars to building a strong community and shares why he believes connection and open access to knowledge is essential for long-term sustainability and success. Online community has been a key theme throughout the season. And I found it particularly interesting to learn about how and why Jonathan is building his community.

[00:01:46] Isotta: Although on the surface, many of these topics Wouldn't seem to be related to art or artists. They speak to the broader interest of his podcast, which has always been learning from other industries and recognizing the power of open, transparent conversation as a learning tool to better understand complex concepts, which promote meaningful and lasting.

[00:02:06] Isotta: Before we begin, I would love it. If you took a moment to reflect on who in your life might also benefit from listening to this podcast, when you do, please share art is a podcast for artists with them So we can continue to grow the show organically and brainstorm the future of the art world together.

[00:02:23] Jonathan: my name is Jonathan Girroir and I'm, senior tech marketing manager here at tech soft 3d, and the chief technology evangelists.

[00:02:33] Isotta: how should we as creatives understand and think about the difference between hype and reality, as in how can we distinguish

[00:02:41] Isotta: the mass marketing frenzy around new innovation versus the reality of where technology is currently at?

[00:02:47] Jonathan: Yeah. I think what you're describing is the hype bubble that we're in. And I do feel like the buzz words like metaverse and NFT are really in their hype bubble and. I think they're exciting. I have a really hard time not finding shiny objects, really exciting and chasing after them. So I'm not sure if I have great advice there.

[00:03:11] Jonathan: we had a hype bubble. I talked about 3d printing a little while ago. About 10 years ago, there was like this big. Everybody was talking about it, then it died off, but it still is here and it's being used. So with any of these, let's say these technologies and there's going to be new ones, what is that going to look like in the future?

[00:03:29] Jonathan: hard to tell the interesting, I think there's these different phases of adoption. So you have. You have the hype bubble and like early adoption. And then you have the innovators, and that might be like 5% of everybody doing, or 1% it's these innovators, there's doing kind of interesting things.

[00:03:47] Jonathan: And we certainly see that, in this space and others, the metaverse and NFTs, you have innovators and you have. Your early adopters. And that's where a lot of people like big companies are starting to invest in this space. And I think we're there we're at this early adoption phase.

[00:04:04] Jonathan: We don't know exactly what the future holds, but we're no longer just innovating around NFTs and the metaverse, but people are putting real money behind it. what's lots of money. Kind of after that, on the innovation curve, you see your late adopters, we're not there yet at all. And then you have your laggards and I think it's important to just be like experiment with these new technologies, build cool, innovative things, iterate on it.

[00:04:32] Jonathan: there's always space for traditional work as well. Oh, what it really comes down to at least where a business tech soft, 3d we're in the business of making software. And when we invest in technology, we, we don't, ride the hype bubble, but it is interesting to us to see where things are going.

[00:04:50] Jonathan: And it's those use cases who is really using this. To make real things who, who is in the metaverse building things yet. And right now, at least in my space, nobody, I'm not really like we have digital twins, but nobody is building a car or a train or building in virtual reality. that's not happening yet.

[00:05:14] Jonathan: they're doing design review. That's the maintenance. So there's these use cases, but. We need to see a real company, real users using the technology. And then, that shows us there's opportunity there, that real people, instead of just creating demo where something that looks nice, to go to a trade show with that, we really want to see people using it.

[00:05:38] Jonathan: I do think, even though we're in the hype bubble of the metaverse, I think that is here. And I think that is something that in the neck, in the years to come. Shortly, we're going to see more and more of that touching our lives. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but we're not just going to be tied to our computer screens or our phones, but the digital world is going to be reaching out to us and a lot of, potentially invasive, but also, meaningful ways.

[00:06:06] Jonathan: And so there's a lot of opportunity there to create, NFTs, allow us to monetize. Our work, your work. And so that's really exciting for, for artists and creators, because that gives you a place and a profession and get rewarded for that. So that's really exciting. I think technology, yeah.

[00:06:28] Jonathan: is a exciting place to be. and we're going to be able to create some cool things in the built world and the virtual world. So I'm curious to see what your listeners are building honestly, with technology, especially in mixed media, I'd love to see some of those creations.

[00:06:44] Isotta: How is tech soft, 3d working towards increasing access to your product? Offering

[00:06:51] Isotta:

[00:06:51] Jonathan: Yeah, I think in our digital age, that's what everybody's trying to figure out is how to remove barriers. So this is, in terms of the experience. So I worked with developers like those are the people, software developers, people who code and, They have a job and they have things they need to accomplish.

[00:07:10] Jonathan: And my job is to try and figure out how to make it easier for them. So that means getting our tools as quickly and as easily as possible. So that's our software development tools. It's, the whole experience. So we talk about. in, if you have an app on your phone, what's the user experience.

[00:07:25] Jonathan: The really well-designed apps have really good user experiences and they're just intuitive. the same thing is true for developers. What's the developer experience, the creative experience for the developer, how easy is it to get started using our tools to build something that is meaningful to them.

[00:07:40] Jonathan: And so a lot of our energy is going into that providing. Learning material and content that allows that developer to create as quickly as possible. so that, that means online access and documentation and getting started and educational we'll call it like learning material as well as an online community where they can connect with other people and learn from each other.

[00:08:02] Jonathan: This is also something that we're really focusing on trying to bring these people together that are in the same space. It's very niche. Area, like there's a lot of software developers out there, that are writing in one language or using one technology or they're in video games or they're, they're doing something very specific.

[00:08:18] Jonathan: there's a handful of software developers out there creating 3d software. And so we're really trying to bring those people together so they can learn from each other and innovate as well.

[00:08:27] Isotta: I am so excited. You brought up online community because that's something that I've really been excited about in the last few months. especially since, Realizing that I can make meaningful connections with people online without ever leaving my house.

[00:08:41] Isotta: so I was wondering, how are you reaching the right people?

[00:08:44] Jonathan: Yeah, I think we're all really looking for authentic experiences and connection. No matter where that may be the last few years have been pretty tough, honestly, and I don't think we'll ever be able to fully replace. the connection of being in person, but we can augment it and in some pretty good ways.

[00:09:01] Jonathan: So when building a community, we're looking at it in really three, three main pillars. And the first one is making sure that you have ease of access. And Onboarding of that community that we've built a forum, making sure you have presence and your find-able. So that could be through,just a web presence of some sort being where the people are.

[00:09:23] Jonathan: it could be w where are the discussion boards and are you participating in that and allowing people to find you and, Making sure that you're discoverable. So having the right search terms for the search engines in your profile or on your webpage and just that whole just being present and, allowing people to easily connect with you and onboard, particularly for us.

[00:09:48] Jonathan: The next thing is once people have found you, you have to give them a reason to be there and to come back. So that means really compelling content. And so you give people that reason, like that desire what's new this week. And so not only do they find you, but they find. The value of the content that you're creating, you're helping them in some way.

[00:10:08] Jonathan: You're inspiring them. You're making their life easier for our developers. That's like, how can I make their life easier? How can I help solve their problems? How can, and for you, how can we inspire and connect people? So you want to provide meaningful value and then allow people that opportunity to come back and continue to receive that value.

[00:10:29] Jonathan: And it does. regular content. And so that evergreen content that is refreshing, it gives people a reason to come back. And then the third part is how do you facilitate these, these connections between people, if you're building a community? So it could be through a discussion board, the ability really asking people for feedback and connection.

[00:10:51] Jonathan: and that could be through, let's say a forum or a. A discord server. That's big in tech right now, a way of communicating and connecting. social is, you know,that's big. I'm from a generation where in a mindset, I'm in technology and I want to distance myself as much as possible, there's so many people are connected and making sure that you play that game and are connected and putting your content out on social channels.

[00:11:16] Jonathan: And that's a great. To connect. but then we really are looking forward to in-person events. we've been virtual for a few years, but, we do a tour, world tour of our technology and bringing, together people for in-person events, for connecting. we're looking forward to doing that in the near future.

[00:11:33] Jonathan: one thing that has been amazing. During this pandemic and having, virtual events is the accessibility to everybody and anybody. So we would be in a couple cities every year doing in person events, but that was pretty limiting for university students and, people in areas where maybe you have emerging, technology and countries that don't have, their companies don't have budgets to fly people around the world to attend events.

[00:12:02] Jonathan: and that's, that's very limiting. And so we've seen an increase in our community involvement from areas where. emerging markets for us. so China, India, Russia, Israel, Israel, super technologically advanced, but it's just not an area that we've been successful in having a presence in, in the future.

[00:12:22] Jonathan: There really is going to be a hybrid. So we have. monthly events where we're bringing together new users. So that's always going to be virtual. when we do our in person events, we'll want to livestream it. So that way everybody has an opportunity to consume that information. We record them and republish them online.

[00:12:39] Jonathan: So there, there is an opportunity and we're going to continue to have a, let's say a hybrid model. our goal for the community. Our developer community is to grow and this year,it's been a new endeavour. So last year we created the foundation for this community. this year is all about connection and trying to foster that and invite people in to contribute.

[00:13:01] Jonathan: because we're a business, we have metrics around even that, like how much connection do we get this year? and so that's what we're really trying to focus on is. Is create those prompts for people to contribute, to connect and to discuss and to provide feedback.

[00:13:17] Jonathan: our website is tech soft, 3d.com. And I'm primarily a LinkedIn user, so you can find me Jonathan Girroir, on LinkedIn.

[00:13:29] Isotta: Thank you for listening to Art Is… a podcast for artists. This episode I'd like to thank Jonathan Girroir from tech soft 3d for sharing his valuable perspective with us, Please leave. Art is a podcast for artists, a rating and review in apple podcasts.

[00:13:45] Isotta: It helps others find us. You can support the work I do by subscribing wherever you listen. And by donating to the podcast, the link to do so is in the episode disc. Okay. That's it for now. Thanks so much. And see you next Wednesday