For this exercise we will make use of Mastodon instances in the Fediverse. We briefly unpacked what the Fediverse is in track 4: Bot Logic (Read this track again by clicking here).

To dive into bot making, we will go through a simple bot template that is specially prepared for this module. It is written in the programming language Python and is saved as a Jupyter Notebook. The latter makes it possible to run this code from the web! These Jupyter Notebooks furthermore allow the combination of text and executable code into one document.

We registered an account on botsin.space that can be used in this example script. botsin.space is a Mastodon instance "for bots and bot allies"¹ administered by Colin Mitchell (@muffinista@botsin.space)². The instance is introduced as follows:

This instance exists for people who want to run Mastodon bots, but you are welcome to join if you are a human. Both bots and humans are expected to follow this Code of Conduct. You can learn more about ways to support the costs of this instance.

We would like to use this opportunity to send you off to another infrastructure, a community-led, public hosting service called MyBinder, where you are invited to work with the example script of a Mastodon bot.

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Please follow the link to proceed:

https://mybinder.org/v2/git/https%3A%2F%2Fgit.vvvvvvaria.org%2Fmb%2Fbots-as-digital-infrapunctures/master?filepath=content%2Fbot-example%2Fmastodon-bot.ipynb

Footnotes