Open government encourages engagement, improves government, and strengthens the economy. It encourages engagement by allowing citizens to access information about their representatives and participate more in the political process. It improves government by making it more transparent and functioning as a platform. It strengthens the economy by making more public data available as platforms that can stimulate innovation and be repurposed by others. For data and government to be truly open, information needs to be accessible, in open formats, and able to be legally repurposed.