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Just as it was indicated in May 2023, the rural cyberspace and analytics platform has been merged with the expeditions surveys. In this arrangement, the expeditions encompass a 7 year-long journey under which all various concepts will be tested, redesigned, built and deployed into the market, if successful. 

The rural cyberspace and analytics platform is just one of them. However, it is integrated and interdependent with many other concepts, therefore remains central. Its name was changed from “Village Internet” to “COMP@SS” to reflect its navigation feature which would offer both rural communities and development stakeholders the ability to precisely locate what they need to bring about some social economic growth. 

The title and the theme of the expeditions have been changed as well. It is now titled as “3rd World Futuristic Livability Expeditions 2030”, briefed as “Xpeditions 2030”. Previously, it was titled as “Cyber Third World Expeditions 2023”. 

Its theme has been changed to “A wish to experience 2063 in 2030 in Malawi. Is it possible?“. Previously, it was “The quest into the possibility of a nation of digital villages by 2030”. 

The title was changed to emphasize on the envisioned and desired well-being, self-sufficiency and sustainability, using the word “livability”. In the same line, the term “futuristic” is associated with application of technology to make life better than the term “Cyber” which is generally associated with extensive and intensive use of technology. 

On the other hand, it was a hard decision to drop the most common or familiar term “digital villages” or its nearest “digital-driven rural transformation” in the theme, but it had to be done. It is all because of the need to eliminate donor-dependent or non-profit associated features. Just as it is inside, the expeditions must demonstrate the mission’s independence of and disassociation from the nonprofit ecosystem. 

The new theme tries to show that the expeditions and 3rdWorld Xplora business itself are oriented towards the same development goals but using a totally unconventional approach, that is associated with the commercial sector as well as humanistic principles. 

We may be talking about the same thing. But our practical actions are totally different.

In line with the 3rdWorld Xplora’s See Through Policy, more information on reasons and how the decisions and plans are made can be found on 3rdWorld Xplora LinkedIn and Facebook pages, as well as WhatsApp channel and X (Twitter) handle.