Why an Interactive Docket?

The data access issue is CRE's first use of the Interactive Public Docket model. We believe that the data access debate provides an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the new electronic, public docket format. In addition to the general benefits of an ongoing docket discussed above, the CRE Interactive Public Docket is particularly well suited to the data access issue because of the large number of stakeholders involved in data access and their wide geographic distribution. Virtually every state university, for example, houses researchers who will be affected by the new federal data access policy. Likewise, the Interactive Public Docket's facility for rapid give and take debate lends itself well to the data access issue, in which answers to complex questions may lie at the end of a series of rejoinders from multiple participants.

The Interactive Public Docket format also takes advantage of links to the CRE website that have been established on the websites of numerous federal agencies.