Barrett Lyon – Artist / Founder – “What is Opte about? – Some people need to see to understand – This project was originally created to generate a picture (or map) of the Internet. Since the Internet is basically a vast constellation of networks that somehow interconnect to provide the relatively seamless communication of data, it seemed logical one could draw lines from one point to another. The visualization is a collection of programs that collectively output an image of every relationship of every network on the Internet. The result was an award-winning representation of the Internet that now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. The idea turned into a 10+ year labor of love under the moniker of The Opte Project. The map has been used an icon of what the Internet looks like in hundreds of books, in movies, museums, office buildings, educational discussions, and countless publications. The map has also become a teaching tool, allowing people that are visual learners to quickly understand what the Internet and networking is about. The images are released under a creative commons license, which allows anyone to use it for non-commercial purposes. For commercial use, there is a single one-time license fee which goes to support this project. There are many other answers in our FAQ section of the site.”