Observing Social Machines Part 2: How to Observe?

Social machines are increasingly attracting study. In our paper "Observing Social Machines Part 1: what to observe?" we scoped the task of observing them. Several exercises that have followed have further informed our thinking and methodologies. Here, in Part 2, we reflect on how to observe? We promote a variety of methodologies that transcend the study of individual social machines, recognizing social machines as co-constituted processes within the evolving Web, and the intersection of social machines with the physical world through the Internet of Things. Our approaches emphasize the importance of sociality and human-centric perspectives.