According to this article from Federal Computer Week, a recent report (pdf) from the Kennedy School of Government suggests some major improvements that should be made to regulations.gov.
The major suggestions include these technical enhancements:
...information retrieval software to isolate relevant data, text categorization software to organize public comments, applications to create digital juries to link citizens and rule compliance wizards to guide the rule-writing process. Workshop participants also suggested the use of improved data mining capabilities to give rule writers more information and aid plain language translators in rule drafting.An interesting tidbit from the report, which underscores the need for a well-done regulations.gov (and which may give libertarians heartburn): "...over one hundred federal regulatory agencies and subagencies issue more than 4,500 new regulations each year".
