The document discusses open government and open data. It defines open government as making government information and services accessible to the public through principles like transparency, citizen participation, and collaboration. Open data refers to non-private government data that is freely available for public use. The document advocates for open data and citizen involvement to create "open cities," where startups can use open data and real-time web services to develop applications that benefit the public and involve crowdsourcing community input. Challenges and opportunities around open sensor networks and engaging officials to support these efforts are also addressed.