ISO7010-a-Day

A bot that posts warning pictograms

  • posted:

A (Twitter Fediverse) bot which posts an entry from the International Standards Organisation technical standard 7010 for graphical hazard symbols on hazard and safety signs.

A screenshot of a tweet in the Twitter web app. The tweet is of a triangular yellow warning sign which has a graphic showing a toxic environment. The text reads 'W072 - substance of mixture that can cause an environmental hazard' and includes source link, author and license attribution.
  • The last post the Twitter incarnation of the bot made (F) before Twitter performed a textbook self-own and stopped bot owners posting via the free API

History

Honestly, can’t really remember. I think I just thought it would be a fun bot.

Implementation

Bot source code
It’s written in Rust, and when run scrapes the wikipedia page for ISO 7010 (which, fortunately for us, includes a comprehensive gallery of SVGs of the safety signs contributed by WikiMedia users1), picks a random one, downloads and renders the SVG in a timeline-friendly aspect ratio, and posts it (with image credits of course!).

Thoughts

My favorite interactions from followers with the bot were when they’d quote tweet a post with their own interpretation of what the pictogram depicted. With no quote posts in the fediverse it’s a bit of a shame this won’t be possible in the same way…

Federate with me!

You can follow the bot at @iso7010@hacksrus.xyz

  1. Myself among them ↩︎