发表机构
University of Pisa; Institute for Informatics and Telematics, National Research Council (IIT-CNR); Institute of Science and Technologies of Information “A. Faedo”, National Research Council (ISTI-CNR)（比萨大学; 国家研究委员会信息学与电信研究所; 国家研究委员会“阿·法埃多”信息技术科学研究所）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。AI 中文总结
本文提出开放平台实地实验（OPFEs）方法，使独立研究者能在开放社交媒体上直接干预平台组件，扩展实验设计空间，实现透明、生态有效的因果研究。
AI 中文摘要
尽管对社交媒体因果证据的需求日益增长，独立研究人员在直接在在线平台上进行实验的能力方面仍受到严重限制。为了应对这一挑战，多种方法论上的变通方案应运而生——从受控调查和模拟到客户端覆盖层和平台合作——每种方案都在理想的实验属性之间进行不同的权衡。最近出现的开放社交媒体平台提供了一种质上不同的方法论机会。在此，我们提出了一个社交媒体实验的设计空间，并讨论了开放平台实地实验（OPFEs）。OPFEs代表了一类独特的实验方法，使独立研究人员能够在实时社交媒体环境中直接干预功能性平台组件，如客户端、推荐系统和审核服务。通过对实验原型的比较分析，我们表明OPFEs占据了设计空间中一个先前未被探索的区域。然后，我们通过描述实现OPFEs的架构和治理要素，将其映射到Bluesky和AT协议上，并展示一个完整OPFE设计的端到端生命周期，从而将理论与实践联系起来。总体而言，这项工作将OPFEs确立为一种在开放社交媒体上进行独立、透明和生态接地实验的实用方法论范式。
英文摘要
Despite a growing demand for causal evidence about social media, independent researchers remain severely constrained in their ability to conduct experiments directly on online platforms. To cope, multiple methodological workarounds have emerged - from controlled surveys and simulations to client-side overlays and platform partnerships - each requiring distinct trade-offs between desirable experimental properties. The recent emergence of open social media platforms offers a qualitatively different methodological opportunity. Here we propose a design space of social media experimentation and discuss Open Platform Field Experiments (OPFEs). OPFEs represent a distinct class of experimental approaches that enable independent researchers to directly intervene on functional platform components - such as clients, recommendation systems, and moderation services - within live social media environments. Through a comparative analysis of experimental archetypes, we show that OPFEs occupy a previously unexplored region of the design space. We then bridge theory and practice by characterizing the architectural and governance elements that enable OPFEs, mapping them onto Bluesky and the AT Protocol, and illustrating the end-to-end lifecycle of a complete OPFE design. Overall, this work establishes OPFEs as a practical methodological paradigm for independent, transparent, and ecologically grounded experimentation on open social media.
