Hoo-Rizon 1: Subscale Sounding Rocket; Actor-Network Theory and The Evaluation of Media Bias on X

Many universities do not prepare students for the complex and ambiguous problems in the workplace. To help simulate such workplace environments, capstone projects are used as a substitute for real-world experiences. For this capstone project, a subscale, subsonic sounding rocket was built to collect various types of data at different altitudes. Considering both human and social dimensions of technology in general allows for technologies to more effectively serve people of different social and economic backgrounds. One technology that has a strong impact on many different people is social media. Social media is now at the forefront of communication among individuals, with more than half of adults reportedly using it. X, formerly known as Twitter, is one of the larger platforms in the social media sphere and was recently acquired by Elon Musk in 2022. With many individuals reportedly gathering news from these sources, it is important to understand possible sources of bias in these platforms. This can be done by analyzing the X platform as an actant, as seen in Actor Network Theory (ANT). By analyzing the X platform as an actant, its program of action can be analyzed.

To perform this analysis, five X accounts were created in three different states: Arizona, Michigan, and North Carolina. For each of these accounts, the first thirty tweets were categorized into three categories: left-leaning, right-leaning, and apolitical. These states were selected as they were identified as swing states in the 2024 US presidential elections. The results of this study corroborated the findings of previous research, which found a significant boost in right-leaning tweets. As a result, the program of action of the X platform is to enforce right-leaning talking points. When considering this research and the capstone project together, it is quite apparent that sounding rockets do not have as much influence on the general public as social media does. However, the rocket itself has had large impacts on many societies and people since its inception during the Cold War. Rockets have been used as a means to enforce the program of action of their possessors. As a result, many devastating attacks on countries have been carried out, which have uprooted an innumerable number of lives. This prompts further questions about the programs of action of many technologies we use in our daily lives, such as: Who stands to gain through the use of a technology? Who has access to the technology? And who controls the technology?

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Technical Advisor: Haibo Dong, Chen Cui, J Guo

STS Advisor: Rider Foley

Technical Team Members: Ben Cohen, Ethan Fouch, George Hubbard, Nikita Joy, Youchan Kim, Jacob Lewis, Tyler MacFarlane, Connor Owens, Luke Pritchard, Omid Sayyadli, Kushi Sethuram, Swedha Skandakumar, Laurel Supplee, Christian Vergason