Advocates for open data in Hong Kong says citizens should have easier access to information

Among those contributing to the din at Delaney's pub in Wan Chai on a recent Thursday evening was group of about 20 people, discussing, of all things, data. They were members of Open Data Hong Kong (ODHK), a loose community of web programmers, journalists, academics, NGO employees, consultants and analysts who believe access to data by citizens can lead to a better society.

While it's not a typical subject for a pub conversation, the use of public information and statistics has attracted considerable attention from the broader community in recent years.

In retail, it has dramatically affected the way e-commerce sites anticipate supply and demand. In Hollywood, it was the storyline behind , which shows the use of baseball statistics by the Oakland Athletics team in its 2002 Major League draft. In politics, it launched the career of American statistician Nate Silver who, during the 2008 presidential elections, correctly forecasted the winners of all 35 US Senate races.

But for the people behind ODHK, the idea of open data is simply how to ensure engaged citizens can play a role in shaping public policy.

"Open data is a subset of a larger topic, which is open government," says Douglas Bastien Wai-Chung, one of group's designated organisers and community manager for leading department store.

Governments will ultimately decide on policy but that doesn't mean they should have a monopoly over policy development and analysis. "If government shared the knowledge that it has while trying to arrive at some of its solutions, it could tap into a much broader base that is perhaps even more skilled and more engaged," Bastien says. "Engaged citizens have better solutions."