Professorial support for civic networks

One of the things that struck me at the Grassroots and Networks event that I reported earlier was how eloquent and enthusiastic Professor Stephen Coleman was in advocating the role of civic networks in renewing democracy. When he was with the Hansard Society his main focus was, I think, on the ways that Parliament, government and local government could use the Net to engage citizens.... and he feels these top-down institutions are doing reasonably well. Civic networks - whether local or reflecting interest groups - appear to be his current bottom-up passion.
The big engagement failure lies with political parties, which he predicted could be dead within 20 years if they carry on treating the members as voting-fodder.
Online activists have been pressing their case since the Freenets of the 1980s. It looks as if they are now in distinguished company.