02576cam a2200325 i 4500 a38973837 SIRSI 20250702100849.0 210810t20222022enk b 001 0 eng d 9781509543588 (OCoLC)1263257944 YDX eng rda YDX BDX UKMGB OCLCO OCLCF CDX YDX QGK CIA TOH SHS OCL UtOrBLW eng P96.D36 M66 2022 Monaco, Nick author 25615 Bots / Nick Monaco, Samuel Woolley. Cambridge, MA : Polity Press, 2022. viii, 198 pages ; 22 cm. Digital media and society series Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-187) and index. What is a bot? — Bots and social life — Bots and political life — Bots and commerce — Bots and artificial intelligence — Theorizing the bot — Conclusion: The future of bots. Bots – automated software applications programmed to perform tasks online – have become a feature of our everyday lives, from helping us navigate online systems to assisting us with online shopping. Yet, despite enabling internet users, bots are increasingly associated with disinformation and concerning political intervention. In this ground-breaking book, Monaco and Woolley offer the first comprehensive overview of the history of bots, tracing their varied applications throughout the past sixty years and bringing to light the astounding influence these computer programs have had on how humans understand reality, communicate with each other, and wield power. Drawing upon the authors' decade of experience in the field, this book examines the role bots play in politics, social life, business, and artificial intelligence. Despite bots being a fundamental part of the web since the early 1990s, the authors reveal how the socially oriented ones continue to play an integral role in online communication globally, especially as our daily lives become increasingly automated. This timely book is essential reading for students and scholars in Media and Communication Studies, Sociology, Politics, and Computer Science, as well as general readers with an interest in technology and public affairs. Mass media Technological innovations 25616 Human-computer interaction 25617 Artificial Intelligence 14147 Application software 25618 Generators (Computer programs) 25619 Woolley, Samuel C. author 25620 lcc 0 0 lcc 0 0 TBS TBS 2025-07-02 0 P96.D36 MON B05803 2025-07-02 1 2025-07-02 1 4806 4806