Project Information

This project is a historical mapping of the Boston Elevated Railway, the company that would turn into the Metropolitan Transit Authority and then eventually the Massachussetts Bay Transportation Authority. The primary map has been assembled to see the expansion and evolution of the company from an independent collection of rail and coach lines into a unified body that would provide affordable intercity transport for the citizens of Boston. In addition to having a visualization of Boston’s Rail history, There is also an accompanying sentiment analysis of news articles written about the transporation system to get an idea of the opinions held about the system. In doing this, I hoped to not only provide a visual history of Boston’s public transportation system, but also a deeper view into how it affected the people of Boston.

In addition to providing Sentiment Analysis for the entire period of time, three specific events were covered to provide snapshots to give better context and insight into turning points of opinion towards the transportation network.

Who am I?

I am Alexander Zhu, A second year MA student at Boston College. I’m an Asian American from the New England Area living between Massachussetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. I did my undergraduate studies at Brandeis University. My two primary interests coming into this program are Digital Humanities and Contemporary literature, specficically fiction.