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The Administration recognizes that one of the most effective ways to spur innovation is to open valuable government data and
encourage innovators to use these data to build new applications and services to help improve lives. By creating curated sections
of Data.gov centered on specific content, the Administration sought to make it easier for the public to find data of most
interest to them. In the Plan, the Administration committed to expanding the number of curated topics and has met that commitment.
Not only has the U.S. Government launched three subsections of Data.gov discussed in the Plan (education, research and development,
and public safety), the Administration has gone further, and launched thirteen additional topic areas. This initial thematic
approach to government data helped to better connect private sector citizens, companies, and non-profits with relevant datasets,
and served to increase communication between internal government groups working in complementary areas. Building on this success,
the Federal Government is exploring ways to enable the automatic generation of additional resources around any topic to further
engage the public. The Administration will continue to expand and rethink development in these areas. Data.gov contains updated
information on the approach to further enhancing the Data.gov platform. Making open government data machine-readable and available
is a necessary step, but insufficient to realize outcomes for the public. That is why the Administration has worked hard to
collaborate with civil society, nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurs, and other innovators about ways they can use these
data to materially benefit Americans, in part through workshops ("Data Jams") and through larger celebration events ("Datapaloozas").
The Administration has also put out calls-to-action for entrepreneurs and citizen solvers to use open government data to create
new solutions, products, and services that solve tough problems, create jobs, and benefit Americans, through nearly the 250
incentive prizes and challenges offered to date by more than fifty Federal departments and agencies on Challenge.gov.
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We will work toward expanding the number of Data.gov "communities" that connect data related to particular subject matters
with users and producers of that data. With communities focused on health, energy, and law already launched, we will work
to launch new communities in education, research and development, and public safety in the next year.
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