Abstract
Open government is an approach that purposefully emphasizes and re-invigorates the basic principle of a "government of the people, for the people, and by the people". As e-Government becomes more ubiquitous, many questions arise about the development and maintenance of open and transparent government, citizen engagement in participatory government, notions of governance through transparency initiatives, co-design of open and collaborative government, and how governments and governmental institutions might be influenced through open government and transparency efforts. This year the Open Government and Participation minitrack includes six papers that reflect considerable geographical and methodological diversity.