Abstract
Both my technical project and my STS topic live at the intersection of design and human behavior. My technical project, Hotshot Platforms, is a logistics web application that is designed for independent "hotshot" truckers to find and claim freight contracts that would minimize deadhead miles, miles driven with no cargo, by matching loads to the trucker's pre-existing route. Although unrelated to my technical project, my research paper analyzed the effects of social media algorithms on user behavior and their resulting social behavior as well. Both my technical project and research paper explore how users engage with systems designed by engineers, and they both raise a similar question: Who are these systems benefitting? While my technical project is a tool that is designed to optimize for trucker profit and efficiency, my research paper delves deeper into what happens when the system begins to serve the platform rather than the user, oftentimes without the user even knowing what's happening. This reveals the main relevance to STS showcasing that engineers are not simply neutral actors. Every design choice carries real consequences for the people inside the system.
My technical project produced a full-stack web application built with React, Next.js, FastAPI, and Supabase. Hotshot Platforms used a route based search engine, powered by the Google Maps API, to match available shipping contracts to a pre-existing route. A key feature that we created was a profit calculator that would calculate the total profit by automatically subtracting fuel costs, tolls, and other operational expenses, giving drivers a better picture for what a contract is actually worth before they accept it. We kept the dispatcher and driver interfaces separate. Because many truckers search for contracts while on the road, the dispatcher view consolidates critical information so it can be relayed quickly and safely as seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Example of load details for a lumber shipment from Shreveport to Memphis
In my STS Research, I argued that algorithm-driven personalized content on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels should be regulated as a public health concern because these systems are deliberately engineered to exploit user's attention in ways that replicate behavioral addiction. I used an ANT analysis to reveal that the network of platforms, engineers, and advertisers are structurally resistant to change and it is up to regulators to enact meaningful restrictions on these addictive design features. Applying Kantian ethics showed that treating the user's attention as a monetizable commodity is a categorical moral wrong. Finally, I applied a "Engineering as a Social Experiment" framework to illustrate that once it became clear that excess social media usage caused social and psychological harm to its users, the continued deployment of these addictive features within these social media platforms was an informed choice. A recent $6 million ruling against Meta and Google confirms that these addictive features can represent a product liability harm, but any actual meaningful change would have to come from further regulation, rather than simply litigation.
The act of building my technical project, Hotshot Platforms, required countless design decisions such as: what to optimize for, what information to show the driver, how to calculate "true yield", and whether or not to show the driver's live location. STS 4600 was the class that taught me the tools and frameworks to ask myself, "who benefits from the choices that I make and who bears the cost?" If I had fallen into the same trap that the social media engineers had fallen into, I would have approached the technical project as a contract board that would prioritize platform revenue rather than driver safety and profit. This could have included numerous features that would endanger countless truck drivers as well as other vehicles on the road. Considering the technical, organizational, and cultural impacts is what separates engineering that serves the people from engineering that takes from them. This is something that I intend to carry forward in my engineering career.
