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in-mutual-weirdness · 7 months ago

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On Dating My Partners

Here is a personal essay on being in a singlet-plural relationship, originally posted on cohost (RIP) and subsequently onto dreamwidth as well. Enough people liked it both times that I'm sharing it here as well.

So, dating and plurality are topics that get covered a fair bit online, when you know the right places to look. Tumblr's got a not-insignificant corner, even if I don't go looking for it. Unfortunately, the broader public not knowing a ton about plurality also means that there's a lot of facets of my relationships that I don't really get to share or talk about. I had a handful of opportunities to write about it recently, so now I'm making a big ol' post about it here. In case it helps people learn, or understand something a little better, or maybe gives some folks an idea of what their lives could look like.

Also! If you want to hear more about dating from plural folks themselves, I'd recommend you check out the work of LB Lee (on dreamwidth and itch.io), and the many videos available on the plural events youtube channel, the archive for the Plural Positivity World Conference. There are other written accounts on people's personal blogs and youtube channels, but these are the ones I personally go back to often.

--- 2 Girlfriends, 1 Butch, and Assorted Roommates in a Trench Coat My partner(s) and I started dating when we both thought we were cisgender. We'd figured out our respective flavors of queer, more or less, but transness was something that emerged over the course of our relationship together. There's nothing quite as fun as t4t high-fiving on the escalators as you swap places in the gender binary.

Of course, even with our established baseline of queerness (and even after my partner had already spoken to me about being nonbinary), I was nervous coming out to them at the time. It's a big deal after all, to tell your partner that you're not the person who you (or they) thought you were. In a lot of ways transness is an unfurling of what was already there, and a partner who is flexible and compatible enough will be able to accept this change as who you are, and keep growing alongside you. But also. How do you know if the person you are going to become is someone who will be compatible with them, or if they will stay compatible with you?

All this to say, I think in a very real way, our existing experience with coming out and transitioning in the context of a relationship prepared us both to better handle the syscovery when it happened.

I'm not gonna like, go into it in a lot of detail. That's really not my story to tell. I will say that I owe a lot to the educational and outreach efforts of folks who were already out and plural, from the 20-teens onward. My partnersys sorted their selves-discovery out with the help of some close plural friends and many good written resources around plurality, questioning, and figuring things out. Meanwhile I'd also benefited from casual internet friendships with both that same system and other systems who I'd met among other internet communities. As many of y'all already know, few things help better than simply getting to know people from the identity/affinity group and these folks becoming part of your normal. And several of them helped me way at the beginning when all of this was new and a little confusing and scary because it was new and not yet known or predictable.

Eventually, people in the system started taking on names, and figuring themselves out as individuals. And that's when I started getting to know them as them and not just as the gestalt single person I'd known up until then. And being able to do that has been one of the best parts of my relationship.

One of the major, baseline requirements toward respecting plurality is being able to treat different system members as independent autonomous people. Yeah, they're a collective in the sense of being all in the same body, and there's gonna be a degree of memory & knowledge sharing depending on the system in question. But like, they're still separate entities from each other, which means you gotta forge a relationship with each of them as individuals. What was once a relationship with a single person now is a multifaceted web across multiple people, with different comfort levels, boundaries, and personal tastes. That was the first major piece of advice I got, when I binged through a DID youtuber's channel[1], and watched the video their partner made.

In his case, he spoke about how his partner was Jess, the system host (not all systems have one, but this one did). The other system members were all distinct people who he forged unique relationships with. Some of them were still interested in physical affection/intimacy, while others weren’t, and they were simply roommates/friends. Even though they weren't all dating, however, he saw forming a relationship with them and getting to know them as an essential part of his relationship with Jess, and part of his duty as a partner. These were important people in her life, after all, and at minimum he didn't want to be an asshole. So he spent time with all of them, talked to them about their interests, and did stuff they liked together. No matter who was out, he respected them as a person, respected their autonomy and their boundaries when they differed from his partner’s, and didn’t treat them as peripheral or disposable, or do things like ask them to bring his partner back out, please. (Fewer ways to make someone feel unwanted than to directly ask them to get someone else instead. They have a place in this body and in this world as much as anyone else in the system does.)

Some systems do date as a collective, where every member participates in the romantic relationship. My partnersys does not, however, so our relationship is much more like the one from the youtube channel. Three of the most common fronters are my partners (the aforementioned two gfs and one butch [Edit: at time of this repost, we're now married]). The rest of the system members are either close friends, or similarly are people I care about because of their connection to the system and my partners. If they don't show up externally often, I may not be very close to them, but like. They're still people in my family unit and household.

All of us are tied by our mutual connections to the members I am dating, and our lives intersect closely due to us living together and all the system members sharing a body. Not all of the system members share romantic love with me, whether due to incompatibility, personal disinterest, or stuff like "being 12 years old". To a degree, I was already used to dealing with these sorts of incompatibilities or drastic changes in boundaries - they just used to manifest as shutdowns where my partner would suddenly withdraw from affection and not want to be touched. Some of that was more typical "I feel like shit and don't want to be touched", but some of that was also people with very different boundaries sharing a body in an atmosphere where they were socially expected to be available and receptive to touch at all times, and failing to do so was a mark against them as a Good Partner. (Even if I knew to respect sudden withdrawals, none of us are immune to societal messaging.) If anything, knowing what's behind it has made it much easier to accommodate and meet everyone's differing needs. It's made me better at being a truly safe person to be around, because I know they're there and can respond accordingly.

It is nice being able to date my 3 partners. In the same way that transness is an uncovering of what was there, I recognize aspects of each of the system members in ways they acted before discovering plurality. We have the many years of previous relationship history to build from, but it is a joyful thing to get to learn each of them as themselves. The things they like, the specific dynamics we build between each other, the ways they understand themselves and their relationships. All 3 of them are therian and bring those aspects of their identity into their relationships as well (i.e. ways they like to give/receive affection, ways they structure their relationships. The wolf has his pack, and one of the dragons has her hoard - each valued, unique, but never given primacy or ownership over her. I will be her husband, but she won't be my wife.) Getting to know them means each of them get to be loved as themselves, and like. Yeah, I am loved many times over because there are more of them. I love the cheerful energetic affection of Quinn, the gruff protective masculinity of Ace, the devastating femme elegance of Orchid. Each of them show up so differently even within the same body - in language, in voice, in mannerisms. I love how each of them love me in different ways, and how that feeds different facets of me. I love being shared by them, and the ways they'll tease me about each other. I love the act of caring for each other, and the ways those make our collective lives better because their needs are being met.[2] I love the ways that these have all added to my life.

--- Intersections with Polyamory: or, Sharing the Trenchcoat On top of me having this web of relationships, each of them also have their own partnerships with others. Some of these are spread across multiple bodies, and some of these are other folks within a single system. I make the distinction because sharing a body and therefore having to share consciousness and control of said body imposes some practical limitations on your daily life.

For one thing, you straight up cannot control who's at the wheel at any given time. Some systems have no control over switching, but even those who can control switching and consciously hand off front time to each other don't always have that control. Sometimes people might white-knuckle from stress and get stuck in front, to the point that even if they try to let someone else show up, they'll resurface by accident. Sometimes people run out of steam sooner than expected, or are struggling with something that makes being present too painful, and have to hand it off to someone else. Others might spontaneously show up because something has pulled them to front, or they get so excited they barge past everyone else.[3] They might be one of your partners, they might be someone else. It means that even if you're dating multiple people and hold them in equal esteem, you won't always get to spend as much time with them as you want. Or they might want to spend part of their limited slice of front time talking to other people, who they also have relationships and obligations to. Time is still a very present constraint, when the same 24 hrs and limited physical energy must be shared across multiple people.

Even if you can request people to get someone else...well, see what me and that other partner said in the previous section. That is not a request that can be made lightly, if you value everyone's autonomy. If you make someone feel unwanted, or disrespected, or less important/real than the others, you are Being A Dick. And that unequal treatment causes internal conflict for the system. Simply from a pragmatic point, you make shit worse for your partner if you cannot be nice to the people sharing their head.

In terms of how that impacts relationships and communication, for me it means having to save shit for the next time they're around. If I want to talk to Ace about a book we both read, I gotta wait til he's around. If I found some cute gay art for Quinn, I save it if she's out of town, so to speak. Yeah, if I post the link in our DMs, she'll be able to see it eventually, but I can't just keep spamming Quinn-links into the channel when someone else is there. It gets tiresome for them, especially if their interests don't overlap.

Their level of internal communication means that I can mention stuff to others and they can usually pass it on, or have a solid guess on what that person's response would be. For example, when I wrote a book review post and talked about reading it with Zanj (one of the "roommate" suite), I sent that passage to Quinn for a onceover before hitting post. Zanj eventually also showed up to comment directly (another reason to be careful with direct communication - you may unseat the current person in front if the person you've summoned crowds them out). For bigger things, like taking on a roommate or making travel plans, or anything that needs direct input from everyone, you do just gotta wait. The opinion of one person won't necessarily reflect the opinion of another, and while they can discuss stuff internally to reach a collective decision, that shit also takes time. Some folks may be difficult to reach, or they may need to resolve an impasse first.

Sharing the trenchcoat here also refers to the complications of dating multiple people in the same body. It is important that you not forget who they are. I've had moments where one person was out more consistently for a very long stretch of time, and when a different partner was out for a while, I treated them like the first person out of habit - got surprised by something the second partner did differently, or when they expressed an interest that the first partner didn't have. If you can see how that would be frustrating or hurtful to people who didn't share a body - congratulations. You now know exactly why that felt shitty for the second partner.

It is also important that you share independent time with each person. Yes, they have collective memory, so a date night I enjoyed with Ace is something that all three of them can remember (and I'm pretty sure Quinn stole his leftovers the next day for lunch). But like. This follows once again from the basic principle of "they are independent autonomous people." They will want different things. One may enjoy much more casual intimate touch, another may be asexual and disinterested in that kind of touch. The ways you banter with each other or spend your time together will be different. And like, shared memory doesn't mean they will feel the same immediacy to that memory - memories Belong to the person they happened to, even if you share the same brain. Quinn and Orchid know about the date, but they don't feel connected to the memory in the same way because it happened to someone else. If I want to date them, I have to date them. Otherwise all I'm giving them is secondhand affection and care. Not a great way to prove that you care about and value them as a person.

At the same time, this relationship arrangement is also different from previous poly arrangements I've had with people across multiple bodies. It's certainly cheaper to find shared housing with three partners if they're all in the same meatsuit. I don't have to navigate travel or scheduling in the same way - they handle the sharing of time among themselves, according to ability and circumstance. I just wake up and see who's around that day. And even if they're not in front, they can still be around. I have physical tokens and reminders around - a plushie they like, or a necklace they own. I already liked keeping orchid flowers in the house for personal and cultural reasons - now I have one more. The person who's in front may also pass on commentary or reactions, and I briefly get to glimpse them from their life inside. They all have a shared collective history, and we draw from the same 8-year accumulated bank of in-jokes and shared language. They rotate in and out of my daily life with ease, immediacy, and fluidity. It was different from the much slower work of building from scratch with someone entirely new. But it is nice to do that work as well. There is a different kind of novelty in getting to know someone with an entirely different life history, or physical body. This doesn't diminish the value of my partners, or make them less real as individuals. Just a difference in circumstances.

--- Why write this post? Plurality is pretty damn normalized in a fair few corners of the internet. I can track my arc of education and acclimation from stigma to familiarity. But that didn't mean I was prepared for it to enter my life in this way. It's been a net good, but a lot of it was stumbling through a significant period of uncertainty and having to figure shit out as we went. Some of that is unavoidable, because paradigm shifts are kind of just like that. My partners couldn't tell me shit they hadn't figured out yet, and they had to establish their own baselines first before we could reach a point of stability. I think about transition and relationships, and the difference between partnerships that do or don't survive a gender transition. It's no mistake that as more people become familiar with transness, there are more relationships that survive intact. Sometimes people change in a way that does make them incompatible, and that's always a possibility even with partners who do understand and support you. I would be lying if I said that all of this was easy, or that it didn't require a lot of effort and patience along the way. And sometimes that is a source of incompatibility as well.[4]

But also I don't think it takes a saint to date a plural person, anymore than it takes a saint to date a trans person, or a disabled person, or to date interracially. The partner from the youtube channel knew very little about DID when he first started dating his partner as a teen. But his reaction to hearing her say there were other people in her head was to go, "okay, so when can I meet them?" Stigma and oppression make things harder, by exerting pressure on relationships and priming people toward suspicion, scorn, and fear, instead of the curiosity and open-mindedness necessary to support you as partners. It is scarier to face down a paradigm shift in your relationship if you have no understanding, or a misinformed understanding of what that change will entail. I think about "trans widows" who see their exes' transitions as harm done to them, or see their exes as fundamentally dishonest or deceitful people. I think about common public perception of plurality, and the ableism bound up in it. I think about what I might have done with my fear and confusion, had I not found safe and reliable sources of information, had I not already been cross-trained through my immersion in transness, had I not had safe avenues to process and handle those raw feelings without dumping them onto my partner(s). I think about what would've happened to my partner(s), had their selves-actualization come at the cost of a foundational relationship they'd built their existing life around. There is a world where this went much, much worse. I know the outcome we got is not something that everyone gets, and christ but I want to make that a little more common. I want to help even one person get a better outcome. So here's my amateur roundup of things you need to know, if a partner comes out as plural.

Don't panic. It may introduce a lot of new problems or factors you don't know how to deal with yet. But you can and will learn. People have done this before, and will be able to tell you how to do it. You just have to find the people and places to ask.

Be supportive. Selves-discovery is a complicated and scary process. They're gonna be uncovering a lot and learning a lot of necessary skills on the fly. And you, as an established stabilizing presence in their lives, will be an important source of support through this process. Be ready to listen to them, no matter how strange or contradictory the things they're saying might sound. They may describe things that sound physically impossible, like phantom limbs, or having teleported into the body from somewhere else, or feeling like they're a different age, ethnicity, or species from the body. They may vacillate between believing they're plural or thinking they're a fraud and it's all fake. Believe them about what is true for them in that moment. Brain stuff is weird and symbolically driven - your perception, especially if it's persistent, is real enough to directly impact you, and flat disavowal doesn't make the impact or perception go away. You have to respond to the impact, and do what makes your life easier to live. Even in a case of clear-cut denial, when you see pretty clear evidence of plurality, you have to meet the denier where they're at. Otherwise you'll piss them off or make them feel unheard.

Be a safe person. If they ask you to keep their confidence, keep it. If someone new shows up and they're really scared/confused/sad/angry, help them de-escalate. They may not know who you are, or who/where they are, and need grounding. Find out how they're feeling, and what they need, and help them get it if possible. You may need to use the dementia toolkit (i.e. if they ask for something that isn't possible/safe, like "going home" to a place that no longer exists). Try to meet the need that's driving the request, whether that's feeling safe, or having autonomy, or wanting something familiar. I've sent scared kids off to work with a childhood stuffed animal, and while that didn't fix everything, it did help them calm down enough for an adult member to take the helm.

Give your partner space to discover things. This is the most important lesson I learned from transness in relationships. Open a trans subreddit or online community space and you will find stories aplenty of partners who tried to bargain folks out of their identity, or who imposed their desires over a trans person's exploration and self-definition. The same thing applies here. I kept my theories and thoughts to myself unless I was prompted. I let them tell me who they were, and asked questions about things I was curious about so I could learn more. And I also gave them space to be uncertain, so they could figure things out at their own pace instead of being forced to provide false reassurance or certainty. If they changed their name and pronouns, if they wanted to start presenting differently then they had before, I didn't get in their way. It will be new and will take some getting used to, but the principle is similar to transness. Here are people who have never gotten to develop an independent identity. You gotta let them do it. They will be happier this way.

Build your own support network and knowledge base. This may be difficult if you don't have many people in your life who know about plurality. My partner(s)' syscovery was also the creation of a new closet to maintain, and I needed safe outlets to handle my stress and uncertainty. For the latter, this meant turning to youtube and educational resources to learn things and dispel uncertainties. For the former, this meant hitting up online community spaces which had no connection to my partner(s) and asking folks who were knowledgeable about plurality to help me out. I could be scared, or frustrated, or messy, and return to my partner(s) after releasing that shit so it didn't drive my behavior toward them. You may also end up turning to loads of different people for their experience in completely unrelated things - an AAC user friend helped me a lot with supporting a system member who didn't talk out loud. You truly don't know what new experiences or identity axes each system member will fall along.

Respect everyone in the system. This includes angry or self-destructive folks. They may show up and try to sabotage shit, or say really angry and hateful things toward you or your partner. You don't have to lie down and take it, but you do have to remember that they're still part of the system, and they may likely be a permanent resident. They're also caught up in a situation they cannot control, with people they have to share a brain and body with, and cannot reasonably make any distance from. It would be surprising if no one flipped their lid from time to time. Try to establish trust and understanding - show them that you're willing to respect and listen to them. That is a much better basis for establishing improved relationships once they calm down, and are given the choice to cooperate with the collective.

I hope this was helpful, and thank you for reading. When I originally posted it on cohost, I'd intended it mostly as a chance to talk about my relationships and as an educational guide for singlets. What followed was a lowkey overwhelming amount of positive reception from plural folks, and I'm kind of jazzed as hell that I could write something like this well enough that many of y'all liked it too. So thanks for your cosign, I'm glad I could make something useful and good. Also! I would love to hear from others about their relationships. A lot of this stuff is individual, and I wasn't able to articulate some of the major points from here until coming across folks who experienced it differently. And it is nice hearing people talk about their relationships, and to swap stories with each other. ----------

[1]: For those curious, it was MultiplicityandMe. Very much a textbook DID system, and while I had to move past the DID framework into other forms of plurality (which can function in very different ways), their videos helped me a lot during the early syscovery days. Coincidentally, they achieved their final fusion goal right as I started watching them. [2]: One of the fun ones is that Ace is chronically sleepy as hell, due to being really badly understimulated. He needs a lot of physical activity, so recently I've started just fucking wrestling with him whenever he shows up. It is like night and day, how much happier and energetic he gets afterward. And even though I can't actually beat him, or get tired before he does, it's still just Fun to do. At the old apartment, he'd also sometimes just fuck off for an hour long walk, to basically the same effect. [3]: A particularly affectionate member once had to be "picked up like a puppy dog and dragged 10 ft back" after they stole someone else's designated cuddle time. It was extremely endearing [4]: I knew folks who broke up with partners because their exes couldn't adequately handle their mental health challenges. If you have frequent panic attacks, and your partner tends to spiral out instead of being able to calm you down, that's a major incompatibility even if this person is otherwise perfectly lovely

#plurality #singlet-plural relationships #only took me seven tries to insert that readmore hahahahahaah #and rip to those linkable footnotes. so it goes.

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buymobilebd · 2 months ago

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Lenovo Idea Tab Pro

The Lenovo Idea Tab Pro, unveiled in March 2025, is a versatile 12.7-inch tablet designed to cater to both students and everyday users. It combines robust performance with user-friendly features, making it a compelling choice in the tablet market.

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gproduction · 1 year ago

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Mastering the Art of AV Installation: A Comprehensive Guide

In today’s digitally driven world, audio-visual (AV) installations have become essential for various sectors, including corporate offices, educational institutions, and entertainment venues. Whether it’s for a high-end conference room, a dynamic classroom, or a home theater, a successful AV installation can transform any space into a highly interactive and engaging environment. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the key aspects of mastering AV installation, ensuring you achieve top-notch results every time.

Understanding the Basics of AV Installation

Before diving into the complexities, it's crucial to grasp the basics of AV installation. AV installation refers to the setup and integration of audio-visual systems, including projectors, screens, speakers, microphones, and other related equipment. The goal is to create an environment where audio and video components work seamlessly together to deliver a high-quality experience.

Key Components of AV Systems

Display Systems: These include projectors, LED walls, and large-screen displays. The choice depends on the room size, lighting conditions, and the purpose of the AV setup.

Audio Systems: This involves speakers, amplifiers, and microphones. Proper placement and configuration are vital to ensure clear and balanced sound throughout the space.

Control Systems: These are the brains behind the operation, integrating all components into a single, easy-to-use interface. Control systems can range from simple remote controls to sophisticated touch panels and voice-activated systems.

Connectivity Solutions: Cables, wireless transmitters, and network connections ensure that all components communicate effectively. Proper cable management and network security are critical for a reliable AV setup.

Planning Your AV Installation

A successful AV installation begins with meticulous planning. Here’s a step-by-step approach:

Assess the Space: Understand the dimensions, acoustics, and lighting of the installation area. This helps in selecting the right equipment and planning the layout.

Define Objectives: Clearly outline what you want to achieve with the AV installation. Are you aiming for a cinematic experience, a professional conference setup, or an interactive classroom?

Budgeting: Determine your budget early on. High-quality AV equipment can be expensive, but it’s a worthwhile investment for the performance and durability it offers.

Technical Considerations: Factor in the technical requirements, such as power supply, ventilation for heat-generating equipment, and network infrastructure.

Installation Process

Step-by-Step Guide

Pre-Installation Checks: Ensure all components are present and in working order. Test the equipment beforehand to avoid any last-minute issues.

Mounting and Placement: Install display systems at optimal viewing angles and heights. Place speakers strategically for even sound distribution.

Cabling and Connectivity: Run cables neatly and securely, avoiding any potential tripping hazards or interference issues. Test all connections to ensure seamless integration.

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Common Challenges and Solutions

Even with meticulous planning, AV installations can present challenges. Here are some common issues and their solutions:

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info-4 · 1 year ago

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#Talentserve #Blendedlearning

Blended learning

Blended learning, the fusion of traditional face-to-face instruction with online learning elements, has emerged as a transformative approach in education. This pedagogical model combines the best of both worlds, offering students the flexibility of online learning while retaining the benefits of in-person interaction. With its emphasis on personalized learning experiences and adaptable delivery methods, blended learning has gained traction across educational institutions worldwide. In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into the intricacies of blended learning, its components, benefits, challenges, implementation strategies, and future prospects.

Understanding Blended Learning Blended learning encompasses a spectrum of instructional methods that integrate traditional classroom teaching with digital tools and resources. At its core, it seeks to optimize learning outcomes by leveraging technology to complement and enhance face-to-face instruction. This hybrid approach allows students to engage with course materials, collaborate with peers, and receive feedback through both online platforms and in-person interactions with educators.

Components of Blended Learning Blended learning models vary in structure and implementation, but they typically consist of the following components:

Face-to-Face Instruction: Traditional classroom sessions where teachers deliver lectures, facilitate discussions, and conduct hands-on activities. Online Learning: Virtual learning environments hosted on learning management systems (LMS) or educational platforms, providing access to course materials, multimedia resources, interactive modules, and communication tools. Asynchronous Activities: Self-paced online assignments, readings, quizzes, and multimedia content that students can access and complete independently. Synchronous Activities: Real-time online sessions, such as webinars, video conferences, or virtual classrooms, where students interact with instructors and peers in a live setting. Assessment and Feedback: Continuous evaluation through online assessments, quizzes, discussion forums, and timely feedback from instructors to monitor student progress and comprehension. Benefits of Blended Learning Blended learning offers numerous advantages for both educators and learners:

Flexibility and Accessibility: Students can access course materials anytime, anywhere, allowing for personalized learning experiences that accommodate diverse schedules, learning styles, and abilities. Increased Engagement: The integration of multimedia resources, interactive activities, and online discussions promotes active learning, collaboration, and student participation. Enhanced Learning Outcomes: Blended learning caters to individual learning needs by offering personalized instruction, adaptive feedback, and opportunities for self-directed learning, leading to improved academic performance and knowledge retention. Cost-Efficiency: By leveraging digital resources and reducing the need for physical infrastructure, blended learning can lower educational costs associated with travel, accommodation, and classroom maintenance. Preparation for the Digital Age: By integrating technology into the learning process, blended learning equips students with essential digital literacy skills, critical thinking abilities, and adaptability to thrive in the digital workforce. Challenges of Blended Learning Despite its potential benefits, blended learning also presents several challenges that educators and institutions must address:

Technological Barriers: Unequal access to technology, limited internet connectivity, and technical difficulties can hinder students' ability to fully engage with online learning resources. Pedagogical Integration: Effective integration of digital tools and online activities into the curriculum requires careful planning, training, and ongoing support for educators to ensure alignment with learning objectives and instructional practices. Assessment Validity: Ensuring the validity and reliability of online assessments and evaluations poses challenges related to plagiarism, cheating, and the authenticity of student work in virtual environments. Time and Resource Constraints: Designing, implementing, and managing blended learning initiatives require substantial time, resources, and expertise in instructional design, technology integration, and curriculum development. Student Motivation and Engagement: Maintaining student motivation and engagement in online learning environments can be challenging, particularly for self-paced activities or asynchronous discussions that lack the immediacy of face-to-face interactions. Strategies for Implementing Blended Learning Successful implementation of blended learning requires careful planning, collaboration, and ongoing evaluation. Here are some key strategies:

Needs Assessment: Conduct a thorough analysis of students' needs, learning preferences, and technological readiness to inform the design and delivery of blended learning experiences. Clear Learning Objectives: Establish clear learning objectives and outcomes aligned with curriculum standards, instructional goals, and assessment criteria to guide the development of blended learning activities. Technology Integration: Select appropriate digital tools, learning management systems, and online resources that support active learning, collaboration, and engagement while addressing accessibility and usability concerns. Pedagogical Training: Provide professional development opportunities, training workshops, and ongoing support for educators to enhance their digital literacy skills, instructional strategies, and ability to facilitate blended learning environments effectively. Feedback and Iteration: Solicit feedback from students, educators, and stakeholders through surveys, focus groups, and formative assessments to identify strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement in the blended learning experience. Continuous Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous improvement by revising, refining, and adapting blended learning initiatives based on evidence-based practices, student feedback, and emerging technologies. Future Trends and Prospects As technology continues to evolve and reshape the educational landscape, blended learning is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of learning. Several trends and developments are likely to influence the evolution of blended learning in the years to come:

Personalized Learning: Advances in adaptive learning technologies, artificial intelligence, and data analytics will enable personalized learning experiences tailored to individual student needs, preferences, and learning trajectories. Immersive Technologies: The integration of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) into blended learning environments will offer immersive, interactive experiences that enhance student engagement and comprehension. Global Collaboration: Blended learning will facilitate cross-cultural collaboration, global networking, and international exchanges, allowing students to connect with peers, experts, and resources from diverse cultural backgrounds and geographical locations. Hybrid Learning Models: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of hybrid learning models that combine in-person instruction with online elements, providing flexibility, resilience, and continuity in times of crisis or disruption. Lifelong Learning: Blended learning will support lifelong learning initiatives, professional development programs, and continuing education opportunities for learners of all ages, fostering a culture of lifelong learning and skill development in the digital age. Conclusion In conclusion, blended learning represents a dynamic, innovative approach to education that harnesses the power of technology to enhance teaching and learning outcomes. By integrating traditional pedagogical methods with digital tools and online resources, blended learning offers flexibility, accessibility, and personalized learning experiences that cater to the diverse needs of students in the 21st century. While challenges such as technological barriers, pedagogical integration, and assessment validity remain, strategic implementation strategies, ongoing professional development, and a commitment to continuous improvement can maximize the benefits of blended learning and prepare students for success in an ever-changing world. As we navigate the complexities of education in the digital age, blended learning stands as a beacon of innovation and opportunity, empowering learners to thrive in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

#Talentserve

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beardedmrbean · 1 year ago

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Ah the rumors are true (and these gaming companies coordinate)

https://x.com/xbox/status/1785308276063633588?s=46

I already figured out given last year Xbox revealed Star Wars outlaws and next day we had a gameplay reveal at the Ubi forward

Remember that leak AC red menu I sent? Well that was taken down to copyright, but I think that was a Xbox not a Ubi move.

Because the leak show the build being April third and most press conference game builds are usually a few months old as they are the most stable

So I heard original red would have it reveal in May 31st…hmmm if that still true

May 31st- a press event where we get a pre render cgi trailer, proper Yasuke and Naoe reveal, details, in game screenshots. And title reveal

June 9th- Xbox will have a gameplay demo showing off the capabilities of Xbox (and if Xbox bribed them enough. Ac red will be the first day one ac game on gamepass as the last three ac rpgs on it)

June 10th- a story trailer and “bts” video where they show how yes finally we are going to Japan and their ideas and inspirations for it

With probably the nice explanation why Yasuke was chose for the second playable character

Because people want red to be reveal at Ubisoft forward…but people need to digested Yasuke at first

Like my theory craft on how to use Yasuke in a what if continuation is interesting…but modern writers are not exactly smart.

Also there a fundamental difference between my black teen dad Jrpg idea vs writers who have critical theory plaguing their minds

Not to mention they think having more non whites will bring black people into fantasy games.

When the last time they went to the cookout? The vast majority of casual players only enjoy playing Cod, GTA, tekken and other fighting games, and the occasional license hero game

Okay okay fornite

Like here my pitch

Hey casual black gamers (who barely desire to play Normie games. WHAT I still deal with it) you remember Afro samurai? Well here a game where you play as the weapon bearer Yasuke in this game Assassin Creed Shadows (that is what some people saying the game is going called) where you help a secret ancient order unify Japan. And there more it’s a RPG where you can spend over 100 hours into and explore the beautiful recreation of feudal Japan!

Warning your dumbass might become a pseudo historian and desire more knowledge

(Or you might be interested in more ac games. Hmm here an Egypt one! Now might give you more! HEHEHEHE)

And noting bad wait- okay probably will be 70 dollars…..oh great a season and battle pass!….wdym online only?!

Ubi you now got 5-6 months to reform red market system (most ac game comes out on October or November) because you seen how your own game skulls and bones and SS kills JL flopped

Ugh why I had to be born during the hard times of gaming?

Maybe in May I get more leaks

Also college educated students, people do like organic diversity.

But white people don’t like the demonization of themselves from people who make more money they do in their lifetimes

Seriously what the fuck is the culture in California and New York where it socially acceptable to treat white people like fictional characters

June 10th- a story trailer and “bts” video where they show how yes finally we are going to Japan and their ideas and inspirations for it With probably the nice explanation why Yasuke was chose for the second playable character.

This all was the official timeline then, nice of them to post it, probably gonna be a few more leaks tho

Like my theory craft on how to use Yasuke in a what if continuation is interesting…but modern writers are not exactly smart. Also there a fundamental difference between my black teen dad Jrpg idea vs writers who have critical theory plaguing their minds Not to mention they think having more non whites will bring black people into fantasy games.

They need to stop with all the tokesism crap, even a MC can be a token if it's all just stereotypical nonsense. Then again certain parts of the audience that's all they want.

Gay guys need to be flaming, lesbians are lipstick or mega dyke, Latinos are gardners, and black people are thugs or you're doing it wrong.

If Yasuke breaks into a Undercover Brother type monolouge at some point I would laugh and cry.

When the last time they went to the cookout? The vast majority of casual players only enjoy playing Cod, GTA, tekken and other fighting games, and the occasional license hero game.

Oh I miss the cookouts, had a few friends that would invite me to different ones, damn fine food. Sometimes I acted extra white just to be funny too.

Prev and Warning your dumbass might become a pseudo historian and desire more knowledge (Or you might be interested in more ac games. Hmm here an Egypt one! Now might give you more! HEHEHEHE)

I like it, I also like tricking people into learning, makes things fun and interesting.

And noting bad wait- okay probably will be 70 dollars…..oh great a season and battle pass!….wdym online only?!

Grrrrrr

Ugh why I had to be born during the hard times of gaming? Maybe in May I get more leaks Also college educated students, people do like organic diversity.

There really was a golden age for it, late late 90's till the 10's when things all started to go online, get really good complete games and y you could hit up gameFAQ's if you needed help with something (used to have to know someone who knew or call the Nintendo Power hotline at $1.99 a min if you were stuck.

Think most college educated people like that too, it's just the loud ones that are the issue.

Seriously what the fuck is the culture in California and New York where it socially acceptable to treat white people like fictional characters

Speaking as a Californian let me say, fuck those guys doing that.

youtube

this is more like it

#zoomer huey anon

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infiniteaudiovisualseo · 2 years ago

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Unleashing The Power Of Digital Signage: What A Digital Signage Company Can Do For You

Are you looking to enhance your brand’s visibility, engage your audience, and drive more sales? Look no further than the power of digital signage. In today’s fast-paced digital world, traditional advertising methods are no longer enough to capture attention. Digital signage offers a dynamic solution, combining visual appeal with targeted messaging to create impactful brand experiences.

#digital signage #offline marketing #business #audiovisual #conference #video conferencing #marketing #audiovisual system #online conference #education

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mariacallous · 2 years ago

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For thousands of Ukrainians, Mark Hamill is the voice of the air raids. The first notice of an incoming attack is an ear-splitting whoop-whoop coming out of cell phone speakers, followed by the voice of the Star Wars actor in full Jedi Knight tones. “Air raid alert. Proceed to the nearest shelter,” he says. “Don’t be careless. Your overconfidence is your weakness.” In mid-May, following a few months of quiet in the skies over Kyiv, Russia restarted its almost nightly bombardments of cruise missiles and kamikaze drones. After a week of alerts, the novelty of “May the Force be with you” sounding asynchronously from a dozen phones in the air raid shelter wore off, and it was hard not to start blaming Hamill personally for the attacks.

The air alert app was developed by a home security company, Ajax Systems, on the second day of the war, in a process that epitomizes the scrappiness, flexibility, and back-of-the-envelope creativity that have allowed Ukraine to, at times, run its war effort like a startup, under the guidance of its 32-year-old vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.

On February 25, 2022, as fighter jets dueled low over Kyiv, Ajax’s chief marketing officer, Valentine Hrytsenko, was driving west out of the capital, helping to oversee the evacuation of the company’s manufacturing facilities, when his phone rang. It was the CEO of an IT outsourcing company, who wanted to know if Ajax had any experience with Apple’s critical alert function, which allows governments or emergency services to send alerts to users. The municipal air raid sirens were, in Hrytsenko’s words, “very old-style pieces of shit,” built during the Soviet Union, and often couldn’t be heard. People were already cobbling together their own mutual alert systems using Telegram, but these depended on volunteers finding out when raids were incoming and posting to public groups, making them unreliable and insecure.

From his car, Hrytsenko called Valeriya Ionan, the deputy minister of digital transformation, whom he knew from years working with the ministry on tech sector projects. She, in turn, connected him to several local “digital transformation officers”—government officials installed by Fedorov’s ministry in each region of Ukraine, with a brief to find tech solutions to bureaucratic problems. Together, they figured out how the air raid system actually worked: An official in a bunker would get a call from the military, and they would press a button to fire up the sirens. Ajax’s engineers built them another button, and an app. Within a week, the beta version was live. By March, the whole country was covered. “I think this would be impossible in other countries,” Hrytsenko says. “Just imagine, on the second day of the war, I message the deputy minister. We’re talking for five minutes and they give us the green light.”

When he came into government five years ago, Fedorov promised his newly formed Ministry of Digital Transformation would create “tangible products that change the lives of people,” by making the government entrepreneurial and responsive to the needs of the population. The process is working exactly as Fedorov envisioned. The products aren't quite what he had in mind.

Fedorov is tall and broad with wide schoolboyish features and close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair. Almost always seen dressed in a hoodie and jeans, he looks like a movie star unsuccessfully geeking up for a role. When we meet, he’s just come offstage after headlining a press conference to launch a new digital education initiative. In keeping with the government’s carefully curated image, it’s a slick affair, with strip lights and hi-def screens, celebrity cameos, and a Google executive giving a speech via video call. It’s held in a five-star hotel near the Dnipro riverside but, as a concession to the ever-present threat of airstrikes, it’s taking place in the underground parking lot. The gloom and the neon and the youthful crowd in sneakers and branded sportswear gives the whole thing a kind of subversive glamor.

It’s not a packed room, but Fedorov is the main draw. Since the invasion began, he’s been one of the Ukrainian government’s most visible figures at home and abroad, more so even than the minister of defense, and second only to President Zelenksyy. Which makes sense. This has been a war fought in parallel in cyberspace, with information operations from all parties, diplomacy done at small scale on platforms, and relentless news flow, stories of hope and horror leveraged—and exploited—for gain on both sides. It’s one where, oddly for an active conflict, digital marketing, social media campaigning, crowdfunding, and bootstrapping have been vital skills. That is Fedorov’s world.

Within days of the invasion, the ministry had launched an appeal for donations: Fedorov tweeted out the government’s crypto wallet addresses, raising millions of dollars by the end of the first week. By May, the ministry had turned this into United24, a one-click ecommerce-style platform where anyone with a credit card, Paypal account, or crypto wallet could contribute to the war effort. Superficially simple, it was a radical move for any government—let alone a government at war—to open up its state finances and military supply chain to donations from the public. “But the world hasn’t seen such a huge, full-scale invasion, broadcast live, 24-7,” Fedorov says, speaking through an interpreter. “If we’d waited for people to donate through the organizations that already exist, they’d have got to Ukraine’s needs very slowly, or not at all.”

Since the start of the war, United24 has raised a reported $350 million to buy drones, rebuild homes, and fund demining operations. It has attracted celebrity endorsements from Hamill to Barbra Streisand to Imagine Dragons, helping to keep the conflict in the public consciousness around the world by giving ordinary people an opportunity to feel like they’re participating in Ukraine’s struggle for survival—something Fedorov says is more important than the money. “The same way the president talks to people abroad by broadcasts or on stage, this is the same way United24 speaks to regular people,” he says. “The main point of United24 is not fundraising itself, but keeping people around the world aware of what is going on in Ukraine.”

The initiative, and the projects that have spun out of it over the first 500 days of the war, have also been a vindication of Fedorov and Zelenskyy’s peacetime vision for the Ukrainian state. Since taking power in 2019, their administration has been trying to rewire the country’s bureaucracy, running parts of the government like a startup, communicating with and delivering services to citizens directly through their smartphones. They have nurtured their relationships with the local and global technology sectors, presenting themselves as an open, transparent and tech-forward nation, contiguous with the European Union and the democratic world they want to be part of, and whose support they now depend on.

Nothing could have prepared them for the total war that Russia launched in 2022. But Fedorov has been able to mobilize an extraordinary coalition of volunteers, entrepreneurs, engineers, hackers, and funders who have been able to move fast and build things, to innovate under fire to keep soldiers fighting and civilians safe—to get smarter. To win.

Until 2019, Fedorov was a little-known figure in Ukraine. His first foray into politics was as student mayor of his hometown of Zaporizhzhia. In 2013, as a 23-year-old, he founded a digital marketing company called SMMStudio, specializing in Facebook and Instagram ads for small businesses. One of its clients was a TV production company, Kvartal 95, founded by a comedian called Volodymyr Zelenskyy whose biggest hit was a political comedy, Servant of the People—in which a schoolteacher is unexpectedly elected president on the back of a viral video. Zelenskyy’s political party, also named Servant of the People, was spun out of Kvartal 95 in 2018. Fedorov signed on as an adviser.

In 2019, Servant of the People ran an extraordinary insurgent campaign for the presidency. The Ukrainian electorate was desperate for change, four years into a slow-burning war with Russian proxies in the Donbass region in the east, and exhausted with the crony politics of the post-Soviet era. Zelenskyy’s pitch was a new kind of politics: consensual, based on listening to the people and taking advice from experts, and decoupled from the oligopolies that corrupted administrations and slowed economic and social progress. Challenging those vested interests meant cutting the party off from the oligarchs’ financial resources, so they had to fight smart.

Fedorov ran the campaign’s digital strategy. He used Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram to sidestep the mainstream media and talk directly to a young, very online population. On Facebook, Zelenskyy crowdsourced policy ideas and asked for nominations for his cabinet. While TV was still a more important medium for the electorate at large, Zelenskyy’s campaign was at times able to dictate the news agenda online, driving viral stories that then made their way onto mainstream channels. They micro-targeted demographics that could be mobilized to vote on individual issues, with categories from “lawyers” to “mothers on maternity leave” to “men under 35 who drive for Uber.” With a full-time team of just eight people, Fedorov’s unit used social media to mobilize hundreds of thousands of volunteers, coordinated through a hub on Telegram.

Zelenskyy won the election in the second round against the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, with nearly 75 percent of the vote. At 28 years old, Fedorov was appointed to head the newly formed Ministry of Digital Transformation, with the brief of digitizing the Ukrainian state. The new government had inherited a Soviet-era bureaucracy that had been hijacked by oligarchs, manipulated by Russia, and was corrupt at many levels. In 2019 the country ranked 126th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, a common benchmark. By bringing services and government processes online, the administration hoped they could create a more transparent state, where corruption couldn’t fester in dark corners. “A computer has no friends or godfathers, and doesn’t take bribes,” Zelenskyy said at a Ministry of Digital Transformation summit in 2021.

The ministry’s flagship project was Diia, a “state in a smartphone” app, launched to the public in 2020. The system stored users’ official documents, including driver’s licenses and vehicle registration documents, and let them access online a growing list of government services, from tax filings to the issuance of marriage certificates. Ukraine became one of the first countries worldwide to give digital ID documents the same status as physical ones. Initially met with skepticism by a public used to governments overpromising and underdelivering, it’s now been downloaded onto 19 million smartphones and offers around 120 different government services.

“We wanted to build something that Ukrainians abroad would brag about when they went overseas,” Fedorov says, knowing full well that they already do. In its early days, Ukraine’s plans to digitize the state were often compared to Estonia, the small Baltic state that has become synonymous with e-government. This year, Ukraine is exporting Diia to Estonia, which is white-labeling the service for its own citizens.

Diia wasn’t just about building a practical tool, it was a way to change the perception of the Ukrainian government at home and abroad. Under Fedorov, the ministry was very visibly run like a startup. Its minister dresses and speaks like a tech founder, and the ministry has cultivated an air of accessibility and openness to experimentation. It has positioned itself at the center of the country’s booming tech sector, facilitating, investing, and supporting. In 2020, it launched a new “virtual free zone,” Diia City, offering tax breaks and other incentives for tech companies. The ministry has been a cheerleader internationally, with Fedorov himself conducting state-to-company diplomacy to build links between the government and Big Tech. A few months before the full-scale invasion, in late 2021, Fedorov was in Silicon Valley, pitching Ukraine to the US tech sector. On Facebook, he shared a picture from his meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, posting effusive praise for the “most efficient manager in the world.”

In peacetime, it’s easy to look at these initiatives with a cynical eye as the branding exercises of a country competing for a slice of the global tech dollar. Eastern Europe and Central Asia are densely populated with former Soviet states trying to reorient their economies toward services; what country doesn’t have a putative tech hub? But when the full-scale war finally began, this groundwork meant that Ukraine had a leadership with enormous experience of running asymmetrical digital campaigning; it had immediate access to a network of innovative and highly motivated engineers and tech entrepreneurs; and it had direct lines into a number of powerful global companies.

The war didn’t come s a surprise. Intelligence agencies had been warning for months that the huge buildup of Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders wasn’t a bluff. Fedorov’s ministry had been on a war footing since November 2021, working to harden national infrastructure against cyberattacks.

When the invasion began, the ministry went on the offensive, mobilizing the local tech community and using a weaponized version of its 2019 electoral playbook. Fedorov promoted a Telegram channel, the “IT Army of Ukraine,” which gathered volunteers from across the country and all over the world to hack Russian targets. Admins post targets on the channel—Russian banks, ministries, and public infrastructure—and the digital militias go after them. The channel now has more than 180,000 subscribers, who have claimed responsibility for hacks of the Moscow Stock Exchange and media outlets TASS and Kommersant. They got into radio stations in Moscow and broadcast air raid alerts, shut down the ticketing systems of Russian railway networks, and took the country’s product authentication system offline, causing chaos in its commercial supply chains.

At the same time, Fedorov, the ministry, and members of the tech community were pulling strings in Silicon Valley, mobilizing support for a “digital blockade” of Russia. On February 25, Fedorov wrote to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos asking them to block access to their services in Russia. He asked Meta to shut down Facebook and Instagram for Russian users. He reconnected with Tim Cook at Apple, asking the company to stop selling products and services to Russia. “We need your support—in 2022, modern technology is perhaps the best answer to the tanks, multiple rocket launchers … and missiles,” the letter read.

The ministry had friends in America who helped spread the word, like Denys Gurak, a Ukrainian venture capitalist based in Connecticut. “I knew lobbyists, and I knew journalists, so I started picking up the phone and calling just everybody, asking, ‘Who can you connect me with?’ So we could start shaming Big Tech that they’re not doing anything,” Gurak says. Some of the Ukrainian demands were wildly improbable—there was a campaign to get Russia disconnected from GPS. “In the minds of Ukrainians, that totally made sense,” Gurak says. “If you ask any Ukrainian back then what had to be done in tech, they would say, ‘Just fuck them all,’ [cut them off] from GPS from the internet, from Swift.”

Gurak and others didn’t just target CEOs of tech companies, but employees at those companies too, urging them to pressure their bosses to act. When Zelenskyy and Fedorov wrote to executives, including Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, and COO Sheryl Sandberg, asking them for assistance, Gurak helped make sure the emails “leaked” to The Ink, a newsletter read by tens of thousands of tech workers.

It’s hard to say whether these interventions directly resulted in what the companies did next. Netflix was already under pressure from new laws in Russia that would have restricted the content of its shows and compelled it to broadcast propaganda. Meta had been publicly dismantling Russian disinformation operations on Instagram and Facebook for years, leading to intense criticism from the Kremlin. Apple’s exports to Russia were inevitably going to be hit by looming sanctions. But nevertheless, they acted. Netflix, which had roughly a million customers in Russia, suspended its service there in March, closing it fully in May. YouTube blocked access to Russian state-affiliated channels worldwide. Apple halted all sales in Russia. Amazon gave Ukraine access to secure cloud storage to keep its government functioning, reduced fees for Ukrainian businesses selling on its platforms, and donated millions of dollars' worth of humanitarian and educational supplies. Facebook blocked some Russian state media from using its platforms in Europe, and changed a policy that blocked users if they called for the deaths of Russian and Belarusian presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko. In response, Russia banned both platforms for “Russophobia” in March. In October, Russia declared Meta an “extremist organization.”

These are tech companies that have often studiously avoided taking overt political stances, at times dancing on a razor’s edge between neutrality and complicity in autocratic countries. Taking sides in a war between two sovereign nations feels more profound than simple commercial calculation. At the launch event in Kyiv where I met Fedorov, a Google executive gave a gushing presentation on videoconference, in front of a yellow wall that echoed the Ukrainian flag. A couple of months earlier, I saw Fedorov give a video address to a Google for Startups event in Warsaw. Wearing military green, he described the tech sector as an “economic front line” in the war with Russia. The support in the room was unambiguous. “When the invasion began, we had personal connections to these companies,” Fedorov says. “They knew who we are, what we look like, what our values are and our mission is.”

Of all Fedorov’s callouts to the tech world, the most tactically significant was probably his February 26 tweet to Elon Musk: “While you try to colonize Mars—Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space—Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations,” Fedorov wrote. “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,” Musk shot back.

It could be argued that this was a fantastic marketing opportunity for Musk’s company—Starlink being a solution in search of a problem—but the devices have at times proved decisive. The satellite broadband service has been used by frontline troops to communicate with one another when other networks go down, and to fly drones for surveillance and artillery targeting. Starlinks have kept government agencies and health care facilities online despite Russia’s routine targeting of power and communications infrastructure. When, in February 2023, Starlink said it was restricting Ukraine’s military use of the system, there was an outcry. (Although true to form in a Musk company, there was apparently little follow-through, and Ukrainian users said they experienced no meaningful disruption to their service.)

When asked about the early days of the war, what Fedorov reaches for isn’t the big picture, but the details—the small changes to processes that made the state more nimble. They figured out how to securely send training materials to military volunteers. They changed the law on cloud storage for government data to make it harder for the Russians to take out vital systems. They tweaked financial infrastructure to make sure donations from the global public went straight into transparent national accounting systems. United24, a platform where you can donate bitcoin to buy drones to kill Russian soldiers, has a banner saying it’s audited by Deloitte, one of the Big Four global accounting firms.

These things must have felt small and needlessly bureaucratic during the opening days of an existential conflict, in which government business was being conducted from bunkers and leading political figures were reportedly being targeted for assassination by the Russians. But they mattered, Fedorov says, because the administration couldn’t afford to be anything less than performatively incorruptible. “It was a test [set] by the president,” Fedorov says. “Make all this happen fast, but also keep the bureaucracy in place.”

Fedorov’s ministry was able to use that solid base of bureaucracy to bypass the military’s slow procurement processes, taking in money and buying drones and other high-tech gear from whoever could get it into the field quickly. “United24 shows how many unnecessary chains there were in this decisionmaking, and how it could be streamlined or optimized,” he says. In practice, what that meant was they could buy things that soldiers wanted, but the army’s procedures wouldn’t let them have. “Procedures work like anchors,” says Alexander Stepura, founder and CEO of Skyeton, a Ukrainian drone manufacturer. “The guys on the front line, they don't think about procedures.”

In a farmer’s field an hour’s drive outside of Kyiv, a man in combat fatigues kneels in the dust like a supplicant, one arm raised to the heavens, holding a quadcopter on his outstretched palm. A few meters away, two of his comrades take cover behind a concrete pylon, watched over by an instructor in aviator sunglasses. After a long wait—long enough for the kneeling soldier to have to get up and stretch his legs—the drone’s propellers start to spin. It lifts slowly from his hand, then zips away, heading for a distant tree line.

The team of three—pilot, navigator, and catcher—are learning how to launch their drones (the instructors call them “birds”) and bring them safely home in a low diagonal line that’s hard for the enemy to track. The rule of thumb is you have 30 seconds in the open before someone spots you and the mortar bombs start to fall. “Priority number one is for soldiers to survive,” the instructor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says. The second is to get the drones back intact, since it’s getting harder and harder to get hold of the Chinese-made DJI models that were ubiquitous in the early days of the war.

These fields, strung with electrical cables and dotted with smallholdings, are where Ukraine’s “Army of Drones” trains. Over the past year, hundreds of Ukrainians have come here to learn to fly unmanned aerial vehicles in defense of their homeland, being taught how to surveil enemy lines, spot targets for artillery, and drop explosives on Russian vehicles. There’s an informality to the operation—at the battery charging station a spaniel belonging to one of the instructors barges between the trainees’ legs—but the trainers have honed their skills in combat, and many of their students go from the school directly back to the lines.

The Ukrainian army’s use of drones in the early days of the war was another master class in tech innovation. Ordinary soldiers collaborated with engineers and programmers working out of living rooms and office spaces to bootstrap a weapons program that helped drive Russia’s armored columns back from the edge of Kyiv, often using drones costing a few hundred dollars apiece to destroy millions of dollars’ worth of high-tech military gear. Since then, the enemy has begun to develop countermeasures, so the Army of Drones has had to adapt and refine its tactics and its gear. “If you want to win, you have to be smarter,” the unit’s lead instructor, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, says. “And the only way to get smarter is to learn.”

Many of Ukraine’s innovations in drone warfare were made in sheds, offices, small industrial premises, and in the trenches themselves. Soldiers jury-rigged drones to carry grenades or mortar bombs; engineers and designers helped refine the systems, 3D-printing harnesses that used, for example, light-activated mechanisms that could be fitted to the underside of DJI Mavic drones, turning the UAV’s auxiliary lights into a trigger. But the country also had a sizable aerospace industry clustered in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Lviv, which naturally pivoted to meet the threat of obliteration. Skyeton was part of it. Founded in 2006 as a maker of light aircraft, it’s been making UAVs for close to a decade, selling long-range surveillance drones to coast guards and police forces in Asia and Africa. One of its drones was put to work in Botswana, protecting the last remaining black rhino from poachers.

Converting its products for military use wasn’t straightforward. They needed to be adapted to fly without GNSS or GPS signals, and to be resistant to electronic warfare. Their software needed to be rewritten to identify military targets. “A lot of engineers in Ukraine are obsessed with fighting the enemy, so you just say ‘We need you guys’ and they come to the company and help,” says Skyeton CEO Stepura. They quickly built a new system that could fly without satellite navigation and took it to the military—who turned them down because it hadn’t been through testing, a process that typically takes two to three years in peacetime. The Army of Drones said yes straight away, and Skyeton’s drones headed to the front, where they’re still flying.

Stepura, and others I spoke to, are convinced that this approach has given Ukraine an edge. This is a war between competing technologies, he says. “Today, we have in this test field in Ukraine everything that was developed around the world. And it turns out, it doesn’t work.”

Surveillance drones like Boeing’s ScanEagle, previously billed as best-in-class, were too heavy, too slow to deploy, and too easy for the Russians to spot, he says. So the Army of Drones has gone for war-as-product-development, beta testing with “end users,” getting feedback, refining, picking winners. “The Army of Drones, all the time they communicate with end users, they collect information,” Stepura says. “They continue to invest into those companies that provide the product [about] which they've received good feedback.”

It’s easy to see Fedorov’s fingerprints on this approach. The deputy prime minister is taciturn, factual in his answers. (He’s far more expressive on Twitter.) But he’s at his most enthusiastic when he recounts a recent visit to a base on the front line near Zaporizhzhia. “The base is like an underground—actually underground—IT company. Everything is on screens with satellite connections, drone videos,” he says, with evident satisfaction. “The way people look and the way people talk, it’s just an IT company. A year ago, before the invasion, you wouldn’t see that.”

When I mention my meeting with Fedorov to Stepura, he beams. “He’s really good,” he says. “He’s really good. He’s a champion.” He might well be happy. The war, terrible as it’s been, has also been good for business. Skyeton has gone from 60 employees to 160. The drone industry is booming. A consensus estimate among half a dozen people I spoke with in the sector is that there are now around 100 viable military drone startups in Ukraine.

With the first, desperate phase of the war over, and the front line settling into more of a dynamic equilibrium, the Ministry of Digital Transformation wants to turn this startup arms business into a bona fide military-industrial complex. In April, the ministry, working with the military, launched Brave1, a “defense-tech” cluster to incubate promising technology that can first be deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine, and then be sold to customers overseas. In early June, the same fields where I watched new recruits learn the basics on DJI Mavics hosted a competition between 11 drone startups, who flew their birds in dogfights and over simulated trenches, watched over by Fedorov and an army general. The winner gets a chance at a contract with the military.

“The defense forces and the startup communities are different worlds,” Nataliia Kushnerska, Brave1’s project lead, says. “In this project, everybody receives what they need. The general staff and Ministry of Defense receive really great solutions they can actually use. The Ministry of the Economy receives a growing ecosystem, an industry that you could use to recover the country.”

It’s been a balmy spring in Kyiv. Café crowds spill out onto street-side tables. Couples walk their dogs under the blossoms in the city’s sprawling parks and botanic gardens, and teenagers use the front steps of the opera house as a skate ramp. From 500 days’ distance, the desperate, brutal defense of the capital last year has slipped into memory. What’s replaced it is a strange new normal. Restaurants advertise their bunkers alongside their menus. On train station platforms, men and women in uniform wait with duffel bags and bunches of flowers—returning from or heading to the front. During the day the skies are clear of planes, an odd absence for a capital city. At night, there are the sirens: Mark Hamill on repeat. When I left, the counteroffensive was due to happen any day. Here and there people dropped hints—supplies they’d been asked to find, mysterious trips to the southeast. It began in June, with Ukrainian forces inching forward once more.

Victory isn’t assured, and there are many sacrifices yet to come. But there is now space—psychological, emotional, and economic—to think about what comes next. Before I left Kyiv, I spoke to Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former government minister and now president of the Kyiv School of Economics, who is known for his unfiltered political analysis. I asked him why this young government had defied the expectations of many pundits, who expected their anti-corruption drives and grand plans for digitization to founder, and for them to crumble before Russia’s onslaught. “Because people weren’t paying attention to the details,” Mylovanov says. Of Fedorov, he says simply: “He’s the future.”

The war has provided proof of concept not just for drones, or the tech sector, but for a government that was idealistic and untested—even for Ukraine, as a nation whose borders, sovereignty, and identity have been undermined for decades.

Brave1 is a small way for Ukraine to look forward, to turn the disaster it’s living through into a chance to build something new. The incubator isn’t hosted in an imposing military building staffed by men in fatigues, but in the Unit City tech hub in Kyiv, with beanbags, third-wave coffee stands, and trampolines built into the courtyard. It’s emblematic of the startup-ization of the war effort, but also of the way that the war has become background noise in many cases. Its moments are still shocking, but day to day there’s a need to just get on with business.

The war is always there—Fedorov still had to present his education project in the basement, not the ballroom—but it’s been integrated into the workflow. In March, Fedorov was promoted and given an expanded brief as deputy prime minister for innovation, education, science, and technology. He’s pushing the Diia app into new places. It now hosts courses to help Ukrainians retrain in tech, and motivational lectures from sports stars and celebrities. Ukrainians can use it to watch and vote in the Eurovision Song Contest. And they can use it to listen to emergency radio broadcasts, to store their evacuation documents, to apply for funds if their homes are destroyed, even to report the movements of Russian troops to a chatbot.

Speaking as he does, like a tech worker, Fedorov says these are exactly the kind of life-changing, tangible products he promised to create, all incremental progress that adds up to a new way of governing. Small acts of political radicalism delivered online. “Government as a service,” as he puts it. He’s rolling out changes to the education system. He’s reforming the statistical service. The dull things that don’t make headlines. Ordinary things that need to be done alongside the extraordinary ones. “The world keeps going,” he says. “While Ukraine fights for freedom.”

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