Most Data.gov apps are built by government, not the public

Information from the government's massive data set repository, Data.gov, went into about 1,100 new applications and mashups developed by the public and government during the 16 months preceding September 2011, according to a recent report. That's a substantial increase of the tool's use in previous years. The majority of new applications included in those figures, however, was produced by government workers or contractors, not members of the public, said General Services Administration spokesman Robert Lesino. Those government-built applications include "widgets, gadgets, RSS feeds and mobile applications," he said, and most can be accessed through federal websites.