This minitrack focuses on the interactions between citizens and governments. As e-Government becomes more ubiquitous, many questions arise about what it means to develop and maintain an open and transparent government, to engage in participatory government, notions of governance through transparency initiatives, co-design of open and collaborative government, and how governments/governmental institutions might be influenced through open government and transparency efforts. This minitrack includes research on and studies of involvement of the public in the development, use, and evaluation of e-Government and participatory government dynamics, initiatives, and systems, including research that develops and explores open and transparent government frameworks, theories, and practice.

Open government is an approach, which purposefully emphasizes and re-invigorates the basic principle of a “government of the people, for the people, and by the people.” Through information technology, committed administrative leadership, and policies, countries around the world have now entered an era of unprecedented transparency of government operations and decision making intended to lead to more responsibility, accountability, collaborative and participatory government, and integrity of public officials. Additionally, involvement of citizens in the iterative design and evaluation of e-Government systems leads to more effective digital tools for civic engagement and participation in the long run.

We welcome theoretical papers as well as quantitative and qualitative studies on the topics. Good case studies will also be accepted with strong implications for theory and practice.

Topics and research areas include, but are not limited to

1. -Theories, quantitative and qualitative studies on open government
   

2. -Open/transparent government initiatives around the world
   

3. -Technologies enabling/inhibiting open/transparent government
   

4. -Collaborative design and participation by citizens
   

5. -e-Citizen, e-Democracy and e-Participation
   

6. -Participation and deliberation
   

7. -Freedom of information and transparency
   

8. -Studies of citizens and democratic processes in social media and/or virtual worlds
   

9. -Gov 2.0 and beyond
   

10. -Impact on society, communities, companies and government
    

11. -Good practices and pitfalls in open government, public engagement, collaboration
    

12. -Technology-based approaches to making government information available
    

13. -Studies of the universal access requirements of e-Government
    

14. -Impact of policy on transparency and openness
    

15. -Privacy, security, and the right to know
    

More co-chair information

Scott P. Robertson, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he is also the founder and director of HICHI, the Hawaii Computer-Human Interaction Lab. He teaches and conducts research in the area of Human-Computer Interaction, specifically social networking and digital government. Scott earned his PhD from Yale University (1983), an M.A. in Psychology/Cognitive Science from California State University, Fullerton (1979), and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Irvine (1976).

John Carlo Bertot, PhD/Syracuse, is Professor at the University of Maryland's College of Information Studies. He also serves as Co-Director of the Information Policy & Access Center. His research interests center on Information and telecommunications policy; e-Government; planning and evaluating library services, with an emphasis on networked services; public library use of and involvement with the Internet. He is also the editor-in-chief for Library Quarterly and Government Information Quarterly.

Karine Nahon, PhD, s an Associate Professor at the Information School, former director of the Center for Information & Society, faculty adjunct at the department of Communication and affiliated faculty at the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement in University of Washington. Her research interests lie in information policy and politics and in the social aspects of the management of information. She has a PhD and MSc in Management of Information Systems (2004) and BA in Computer Science and Political Science.  She serves as an expert in decision-making forums that relate to Internet and information technology policy; advises the science and technology committee of the Israeli parliament and she represents Israel in the UN in various committees.