Episode 7. Overcoming Mediocrity with David Paskin

Today we are joined by Rabbi David Paskin, aka Torah Tech Guy, “helping people use great tech to share and create great Torah”. Together we begin to answer a simple question: “How do we create digital experiences that aren’t terrible and boring?”

Origin story

Rabbi David considers himself a “Jewish futurist” asking “what’s coming in the future?” He has a history making music on his “Rebcast” (“Rabbi Webcast”) and shooting music videos. When pandemic hit, he merged that with the Jewish community who were doing “a terrible job of creating online content, engaging classes and engaging services.”

Solutions?

“I’m fairly confident that I’ve caused more problems than I’ve solved! What I’ve tried to do is highlight some problems and offer some possible solutions. I don’t think the way I’ve solved a problem will necessarily work for other people”

David Paskin

Working with community leaders, David asks “Can we do better? What are some of the tools that I’ve used that have helped me do better. Let’s work together to figure out what works for you”.

Before pandemic he hadn’t paid attention to quality – audio clarity, gain level, etc…. He didn’t know about bokeh. He was inspired by Zoom‘s terrible faux-bokeh to learn how it could be done better. In his own workflow has been able to produce good audio and video quality.

But, more philosophically speaking, he asked the question “how do we create digital experiences that aren’t terrible and boring?”

Boring online conferences

“When we used to go to conferences we came for the corridors. We didn’t go for the keynotes. But the pandemic meant we could only have the keynotes, we realised how terrible those presentations really were.”

David Paskin

How can we engage people in digital space?

Ivanka ends up having to pour all her energy into these peripheral experiences when talking online. One of the first things she noticed was that David was smiling when he came on the call.

Energy

When you’re in a physical space – a big physical sanctuary with lots of people – there’s a natural energy that exists from the human beings sitting in those seats. In a digital space you don’t have that natural energy – we are literally all alone. How do we bring energy to these experiences?

“It’s like being an actor.” When you’re acting you always have to overdo whatever it is. Same with makeup – you have to over-accentuate. In digital we have to bring more energy.

Standing up

For David, a standing desk is paramount. David clamps everything to the desk or teaches always standing up because there is an energy that comes from standing up.

You can tell the people who are standing from the people who are sitting – it gives people presence.

Eye contact

The eyes are the window to the soul, so eye contact is important.

We don’t want to look at a lens, we want to look at a face. In order to look at your face I can’t look at the camera. People have workarounds like teleprompters.

So that you know that I know that you care.

Michael has a DSLR to the side of the camera and has to make a concerted effort to stare into the lens instead of looking at people’s faces. You could use Duet to put it on an iPad and put it on a teleprompter. If you’re making content you can’t be looking to the side and checking and producing as we go.

Also Michael’s standing desk stopped working.

Creating water cooler moments

Different apps arose at the start of the pandemic like wonder.me or spatial.chat. They’re cute, unique, fun and creative, but they also have problems. But if they don’t play well on mobile, they’re not great.

Wonder.me

In Wonder.me you can move yourself around a physical space unlike in Zoom where you’re dumped in a random box.

People can have a private chat in the back or at a “table”. But it’s no good for iPads.

Twine

Twine is a Zoom app that gives you a graphical breakout room with different tables, pair people up etc…

There are different ways to create these spontaneous interactions.

Zoom Test Kitchen

Zoom Test Kitchen is a weekly Zoom call where participants discuss the latest and greatest Zoom features and plugins.

You can join the call about Twine on the 8th April 2022, or find the video on that channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/zoomtestkitchen

Comfort with tools

People have to get familiar with digital tools and it’s hard to be immediately confident, especially when it’s people you don’t know.

Hybrid events can be different – Ivanka didn’t mind being chucked into a breakout room but it was also very limited time so you had an escape route. But serendipitous meetings are tricky to set up.

Being brave

After Hours is a 24 hour zoom call that you can jump in but it’s scary. Michael found himself writing about being brave and told himself to stop writing, go and make a cup of coffee, have a think and turn on camera. It’s intense talking to a stranger in this way.

“I live stream all day long and put everything out in public but this intimate situation is difficult – you don’t know what people think of you and who knows who.”

Michael

Providing parameters to that space makes it more explicit what the “rules are” and makes you less dependent on “reading the room”.

More about Office Hours and After Hours.

“One of the ironic experiences that we’re all having is that while we have found ourselves more distant physically, we’ve found ourselves in more intimate experiences with each other. We’re in each other’s homes and that’s weird.” says David.

“I’m seeing into your personal space and you’re seeing me in my personal space. It’s not like

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