This article addresses the growing body of eRulemaking research and scholarship that is focusing on whether Internet-enhanced public participation results in better rules or in a process characterized by informed deliberation. It links the development of a new federal web portal, Regulations.Gov, to recent scholarship on public participation in regulatory rulemaking, E-Government practice, and National Science Foundation-sponsored Digital Government research. The argument is made that academic researchers, IT developers and eRulemaking managers need continuous and diverse involvement of the public, organized interest groups, and agency rule-writing personnel in the design of applications best suited to the purpose of public participation in rulemaking.
