Transparency was the fuel; connectivity was the engine; a sense of oneself as a more effective participant in the democratic process (personal democracy, if you will) was the journey. What was emerging was a greatly expanded notion of the role of citizen not just as a passive consumer of political information and occasional voter, but as active player, demanding a seat at the table and a view of the proceedings, sharing self-generated news of what was important, and participating in problem solving.
The back-channel was coming to the foreground. The modern transparency movement was about to take off.
