  Bots have become increasingly prevalent in the digital sphere and have taken
up a proactive role in shaping democratic processes. While previous studies
have focused on their influence at the individual level, their potential
macro-level impact on communication dynamics is still little understood. This
study adopts an information theoretic approach from dynamical systems theory to
examine the role of political bots shaping the dynamics of an online political
discussion on Twitter. We quantify the components of this dynamic process in
terms of its complexity, predictability, and the remaining uncertainty. Our
findings suggest that bot activity is associated with increased complexity and
uncertainty in the structural dynamics of online political communication. This
work serves as a showcase for the use of information-theoretic measures from
dynamical systems theory in modeling human-bot dynamics as a computational
process that unfolds over time.
