The Bot Proxy
Samuel Woolley, Samantha Shorey, Philip William Howard · 2018
This chapter explores bots as a form of networked self-expression. It interviews bot makers to better understand the processes and relationships that determine the shape of automated technologies. Thinking of bots as proxies means to consider them more than a mask for a user, but less than a fully independent sentient entity. Bot makers defined the success of their bots in two ways: intention and attention. For some bot makers, the intention of their bots was practical. Bots extend people&s;s abilities to rally volunteers, gather signatures for political petitions, or translate across language barriers on social networks. Success is based on what a bot achieves, relative to what its creator wanted it to do. Bot makers often spoke of bots as a "tool" and compared them to "paintbrushes" or "instruments. Intention and attention make bots more than a tool or set of commands; it makes them exceed their automation.