by We always find it fascinating how memes are passed from one mind to another, and when we started this Urban Semiotic blog in 2004, the binding of “Urban” and “Semiotic” into a single idea was not prevalent or popular. Today, a curious site called Osun.org provides this odd search return for: http://www.osun.org/Urban+Semiotic-pdf.html
What, exactly is Osun.org — and does it matter?
Is Osun.org helping spread the “Urban Semiotic” meme — or is it merely living off previously forged connections?
Should search engine inclusion be mandatory or voluntary?
Who should be allowed to create a container and then fill it with content and profit from the sipping?
Apparently it looks a harmless serach engine David, but I am not sure if they are utilizing these contents somehow…
The site is basic and has no mission statement or contact info.
The site information says that it belongs to an administrator in China. I get the feeling they are trying to work around the prevalent Censorship somehow by having things in PDF format.
http://www.ip-adress.com/whois/www.osun.org
I thought it might be a censorship workaround, too, Gordon. The site is limited to providing .DOC files and .PDF files and .PPT files in search returns and you have to pick one file style before searching. Strange, eh?
It looks like it is a Google Apps hosted site, too — which makes it strange — especially since the Osun.org logo uses the same look and feel of the Google logo.
Thanks for this interesting conversation. There are so many things to know on the internet. I guess we should know who is behind these projects and what they hope to get out of it.
You’re certainly right about that, Anne. Transparency is necessary on the internet so we can always have an avenue for exploration and accurate information.