“Channel” means a directed flow within a structure (like stream bed, circuit board, TV station) of water, electrons or information.
Latin “canalis” / channel - conduit for water.
BackChannel -
Alternate flow.
Can create an island like flow of water within the main channel.
An ongoing Twitter commentary while listening to a Congressional hearing or a Congressman texting to a news room during a confidential hearing are examples of “back channel” communication.
Using the “island in a stream” analogy of “Back channel” communication it can be a coded story within (island) the official main story. Both (official story and back story) can occur simultaneously.
In Diplomacy the official story make actually be less “true” than the “back story”. The official story may need to be formal even generic in content to avoid revealing too much and compromise the operation. The back channel as in the congressman’s twitter or text may actually reveal more of a kernel of the truth of what is really occurring.
Back channel styles of communication thus are like poetry or Haikus. Pithy and filled with symbology. Mind’s capable of grasping art or abstracts will be able to interpret “back channel” communication better than the strictly concrete thinker that cannot see all the colors and shades of meaning.