Social machines are a prominent focus of attention for those who work in the field of Web and Internet science. Although a number of online systems have been described as social machines (examples include the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Reddit, and Galaxy Zoo), there is, as yet, little consensus as to the precise meaning of the term “social machine.” This presents a problem for the scientific study of social machines, especially when it comes to the provision of a theoretical framework that directs, informs, and explicates the scientific and engineering activities of the social machine community. The present paper outlines an approach to understanding social machines that draws on recent work in the philosophy of science, especially work in so-called mechanical philosophy. This is what might be called a mechanistic view of social machines. According to this view, social machines are systems whose phenomena (i.e., events, states, and processes) are explained via an appeal to (online) socio-technical mechanisms. We show how this account is able to accommodate a number of existing attempts to define the social machine concept, thereby yielding an important opportunity for theoretical integration.

对于在 Web 和 Internet 科学领域工作的人来说，社交机器是一个突出的关注焦点。尽管许多在线系统被描述为社交机器（例如 Facebook、Twitter、维基百科、Reddit 和 Galaxy Zoo），但对于术语“社交机器”的确切含义几乎没有达成共识。” 这给社会机器的科学研究带来了一个问题，特别是在提供指导、通知和解释社会机器社区的科学和工程活动的理论框架方面。本文概述了一种理解社会机器的方法，该方法借鉴了科学哲学领域的最新工作，尤其是所谓的机械哲学工作。这就是所谓的社会机器的机械论观点。根据这种观点，社会机器是其现象（即事件、状态和过程）通过对（在线）社会技术机制的诉求来解释的系统。我们展示了该帐户如何能够适应定义社会机器概念的许多现有尝试，从而为理论整合提供重要机会。