Can technologies represent their publics?

This article locates the frequent call for public participation in the governance of technology within a theory of democratic representation. The article examines several modes of representation—symbolic, formal, delegate, trustee, and descriptive—in light of their potential contribution to a democratic theory of publicly representative technology. Publicly representative technology depends on each of the modes, giving some preference to the representative as trustee. Not every technical artifact or system should be expected to represent its constituents in the same way, but each mode of representation has an important role to play in facilitating democratic representation through technology.