公共論壇（public forum）的倡議者相信，審議式民主的理想可以透過這樣的政治參與形式得到落實。從國內外的實踐經驗來看，公共論壇最受肯定的功能是藉由對論壇參與者背景的挑選和安排，提供參與者接觸多元偏好的機會，藉此幫助參與者提昇其決策品質。然而，這個主流形式根本的問題尚未獲得討論與解決。這些問題也將限制了這個實驗的有效性與合理性。國內大多研究已經指出公共論壇在操作上的限制。本文將更進一步指出目前公共論壇與理論預期的落差，並嘗試提供下一階段推動公共論壇的可能想像。

Advocates of public forum believe that it is the best practice of deliberative democracy, acknowledged by domestic and international practitioners. Public forum allows a selection of participants and the provision of information for making sound decisions. The procedure seems to help make better public policies. However, some basic and profound problems that have been addressed by political theorists still lack attention of practitioners in Taiwan, which may have created an misunderstanding among the public sectors that public forum has become the best way of practicing deliberative democracy. Current studies and reports provided by local researchers have pointed out some limits when practicing public forums. This paper takes a further step by pointing out a gap between the experiences and theoretical insights. Most importantly, it introduces a possible solution by discussing how Swiss Center for Technology Assessment incorporates the mechanisms of deliberative democracy into the congressional law-making procedures.