{"id":1002,"date":"2015-02-27T09:51:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T01:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opendatahk.com\/?p=1002"},"modified":"2020-10-21T18:13:17","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T10:13:17","slug":"towards-open-data-government-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civicsight.org\/zh-hant\/towards-open-data-government-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards an Open Government Budget for Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"

The HK Budget is out,<\/a> and Open Data enthusiasts, engaged citizens and media are still reviewing it. The speech, figures, and now the data tell a story about what happened since last year and what is planned for this year. While others are looking between the lines, comparing totals from previous years, line spending of bureaux and departments, and new “sweeteners”, we are looking at the budget differently: at the format it is in and how everyone can better dive into it, better understand it, and have meaningful insight.<\/p>\n

With the budget in a more open data-friendly format, more people can more easily review the budget, crunch the numbers, and get the answers they’re looking for. More is possible when people can get right into the budget without needing to scrape totals and dig up past budget totals and build spreadsheets and databases.<\/p>\n

Last year the FSO (Financial Secretary’s Office) released the estimates figures as an Excel Spreadsheet file<\/a>, and this year the estimates are released in a\u00a0machine-readable CSV format<\/a>. These are steps in the right direction to support a more accessible budget for better transparency and oversight of the budget. Open Data Hong Kong supports civic engagement and review of the budget, and part of our efforts is working with Code4HK<\/a>\u00a0on a “Hack the Budget Hackathon<\/a><\/strong>” for engaged citizen to apply their skills, interest and curiosity on the budget.<\/p>\n

Few government documents have as much impact on the public as the government budget. It is important the budget is transparent<\/strong>, supports participation<\/strong> for decision making and policy making, for effective oversight<\/strong> and accountable review. The goalposts for these are changing. With rising levels of public capacity to review the work of government, technological tools to solve problems, and changing methods of engagement between government and the public, there are many opportunities for government budgets to report, engage and react:<\/p>\n