Opte Project
Encyclopedia
Barrett Lyon
-Early life and education:The son of a lawyer, Lyon was raised in Auburn, California. Although he initially struggled in school due to dyslexia, in middle school he became fascinated with computers. He soon found that the methods he used to overcome dyslexia allowed him to quickly gain an expert...
that seeks to make an accurate representation of the extent of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
using visual graphics.
Opte originated from the Latin word Opti, meaning Optical. The name originated from the project creator Barrett Lyon and the fluid nature of the name opte.org made it stick.
The project was started in October 2003 in an effort to provide a useful Internet map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
with open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
code. Lyon believes that the network mapping
Network Mapping
Network mapping is the study of the physical connectivity of networks. Internet mapping is the study of the physical connectivity of the Internet. Network mapping often attempts to determine the servers and operating systems run on networks...
can help teach students more about the Internet. It can also be used to visualize sites of disaster
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
s in the world, citing the significant destruction of Internet capabilities after a disaster. Additionally it can be used as an important gauge for the growth of the Internet and the areas of growth.
The images themselves are featured at the Boston Museum of Science and The Museum of Modern Art.