Observing social machines part 1: what to observe?

As a scoping exercise in the design of our Social Machines Observatory we consider the observation of Social Machines "in the wild", as illustrated through two scenarios. More than identifying and classifying individual machines, we argue that we need to study interactions between machines and observe them throughout their lifecycle. We suggest that purpose may be a key notion to help identify individual Social Machines in composed systems, and that mixed observation methods will be required. This exercise provides a basis for later work on how we instrument and observe the ecosystem.