How about an open, transparent government run by ... you?

It’s no longer enough to weigh in once every few years on the job performance of those we hire to represent us. We need to rethink what it means to participate in a democracy; that’s what ol’ Henry II did way back in the 12th century, when he essentially created the jury system.

That innovation went beyond just requiring government to be transparent; it was also a practical way of turning power over to regular citizens in a participatory democracy, says Beth Simone Noveck, who directed President Obama’s Open Government Initiative and now runs NYU’s GovLab, where some of the most creative experiments around enhancing citizen participation are being incubated, which we’ll get to.