Open government implementation model: a stage model for achieving increased public engagement

The main objective of this research is to propose and present the Open Government Implementation Model (OGIM), which is a stage model that prescribes and guides government agencies on their journey to open government. The OGIM defines four implementation stages and describes the focuses, deliverables, benefits, challenges, best practices, and metrics for each stage. A thesis of the OGIM states that government agencies should advance their open government initiatives in a progressive and orderly manner by focusing on one implementation stage at a time, starting from increasing data transparency (Stage 1), and then moving on to improving open participation (Stage 2), enhancing open collaboration (Stage 3), and realizing ubiquitous engagement (Stage 4). We argue that, by following this sequence, agencies can minimize risk and effectively harness the power of social media in order to engage the public.