Public opinions of light rail service in Los Angeles, an analysis using Twitter data

Luong, Thuy T.B.; Houston, Douglas

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/73771 Copy

Description

Title

Public opinions of light rail service in Los Angeles, an analysis using Twitter data

Author(s)

• Luong, Thuy T.B.
• Houston, Douglas

Issue Date

2015-03-15

Keyword(s)

• information visualization
• social media
• text/data/knowledge mining

Abstract

Understanding commuters’ perceptions, attitudes, and behavior is an important component of transportation planning and management. Collecting such information using traditional survey or interview methods is costly and burdensome, but mining attitudinal data from social networking media could potentially provide insights into the temporal alignment of public opinion with transportation system dynamics. We demonstrate this potential by examining facets of public posts on Twitter about light rail transit services in Los Angeles in terms of sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and the interaction between posters and retweeters. Results provide new insights into how transit users present themselves and their opinions, engage with government agencies, react to events/policies, and share information with others on social media. We also demonstrate an interactive online interface that transit service providers could use to display and monitor real-time feedback and sentiment along different lines in the area’s light rail system.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2015 Proceedings

Type of Resource

text

Language

English

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73771

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Copyright 2015 is held by the authors. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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