When we say bots, we refer to software agents which automatise certain actions and can run autonomously or semi-autonomously. [perhaps provide an example to make it more concrete to the reader]
The particular bots we are interested in for this online module are those that act as an interface between the digital platform and human users, or what [Andreas] Hepp calls communicative robots[^hepp], robots that "are defined as autonomously operating systems designed for the purpose of quasi-communication with human beings to enable further algorithmic-based functionalities – often but not always on the basis of artificial intelligence" [page numbers].
In this section, we will introduce Darius Kazemi, a computer programmer and artist, and Andreas Hepp, a professor of media and communications [replace with [professor of media and communications at the ZeMKI, University of Bremen]]
[^hepp]: Hepp, Andreas. "Artificial companions, social bots and work bots: communicative robots as research objects of media and communication studies"
