Essentially, here in the Colne Valley, and more widely throughout the South Pennines region if the project develops as we hope it will, our vision is to build and run an Open Public Local Access Network, or OPLAN. Malcolm Matson the leading proponent of this model, has been arguing the case most eloquently for a number of years. This video of a presentation he made to a conference in the Netherlands in late 2006 sets out many of the core arguments that support our project. While it is about 45 minutes long, it is really worthwhile taking the time to watch as it offers some really clear insights into the key issues that underpin the value of having our own network.
If you watch the video and get really frustrated because you can't see all the slides that Malcolm is referring to, you can download these separately from the OPLAN site here. To learn more about the OPLAN concept and the work of the OPLAN Foundation, visit the Foundation's website.