I met “the world beyond” within the confines of my browser. Growing up in a small town in Colombia, my dreams felt rather small. My curiosity, however, was huge, and I saw the world’s wonders for the first time, met new languages and cultures, and explored concepts fairly alien to me through a small CRT screen.
For me, the internet was my own private library, and I thank the thousands of projects selflessly promoting free knowledge for my education and my early personal growth. From the Arts, technology and politics, to science and mythology, it was all there, and it was beautiful. It still is.
The internet played a vital role in my own mental emancipation, and I cherish any early efforts I took that informed the person I am today.
The internet is real life. It does not replace space and time but rather extends our reach to the farthest limits of the universe.
I used to think this gift came with very tight strings attached. For all the knowledge bestowed on me over the years, it was my duty to return the favor handsomely. I had to change the world significantly to make it all worthy. But the world does not only need companies trying to “change the world.” It also needs people willing to improve the lives of those around them, no matter how small. People willing to “do the dishes.”
Building an internet business can be a humble yet rewarding endeavor, and it can be done unpretentiously. At least that’s what we aim to do with COx3.
I’m setting up this practice, then, because it’s my time to give back to the internet. It’s my time to fight for a place I’m deeply thankful for.
The internet has changed significantly since I was behind that CRT screen. It’s giving us new, more powerful ways to interact with each other every day. It has also fundamentally changed content and our relationship to it. As with everything, this brings a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities.
I believe some of these changes have weakened the role of content stories and knowledge on the web: from over-engineered articles written for machines, to superficial pieces that pander to our instant gratification, to the overproduction of zero-value content to fulfill disconnected business goals way beyond the transmission of quality knowledge or entertainment.
From the bare bones of this practice, COx3’s mission is to make contributions that widen the pool of human-centered knowledge and entertainment on the internet by designing, building, and sustaining content systems along with the respective experts of their fields and industries.
This means that we intend to support businesses and institutions that believe in the preservation and dissemination of knowledge or entertainment that people a) need to consume, b) want to consume, and c) deserve to consume.
We intend to put this mission at the forefront of our practice because we believe this is the right way to contribute to the internet. Information is the lifeblood of the web, and working on building content the right way is an important step in maintaining a web that will enrich people’s lives for the next generations.
Personally, I believe this mission is everything, and I hope other content professionals join in on this challenge because it’s something that concerns us all.
And from my end, this is something I can start contributing towards today. And I will do my best to contribute to the best of my ability, knowing that with every step we take, we’re moving in the right direction: towards building the kind of web we all deserve.
—Youce