Shortlisting is the process of selecting a subset of alternatives from a larger pool for further consideration or final decision-making. It is widely applied in social choice and multi-agent system scenarios. The growing demand for participatory decision-making and the continuously expanding space of candidates create an urgent need for efficient and fair shortlisting procedures. However, little principled study has been done on this problem. This blue-sky paper aims to highlight the overlooked significance of shortlisting, distinguish it from related problems, provide initial thoughts, and, more importantly, serve as a call to arms. We envision that principled shortlisting can reduce cognitive burden, enable fair collective decisions, encourage broader participation, and ultimately build trust in democratic systems.

翻译：短名单筛选是从更大的备选池中选择一个子集以供进一步考虑或最终决策的过程。该方法广泛应用于社会选择与多智能体系统场景中。参与式决策需求的日益增长与候选空间的持续扩大，使得对高效且公平的短名单筛选程序的需求变得尤为迫切。然而，目前针对该问题的原则性研究尚显不足。本文作为一篇前瞻性论文，旨在强调短名单筛选被忽视的重要性，厘清其与相关问题的区别，提供初步思考，并更关键地发挥号召作用。我们预见，原则性的短名单筛选能够减轻认知负担，实现公平的集体决策，鼓励更广泛的参与，并最终建立对民主体系的信任。