《臺灣鐵道史》數位人文系統設計之研究

Abstract

數位人文的興起，為人文研究方法帶來了創新機會，透過資訊科技的輔助，人文研究學者得以在龐雜的文獻資料中，挖掘更多值得關注的研究議題，並提升研究過程中的效率，為人文研究提供新的視角。而本研究旨在建置一套針對《臺灣鐵道史》所設計的數位人文系統，了解系統架構並探討數位人文工具在鐵道歷史研究中的應用與成效。臺灣的鐵道發展自19世紀末以來，對社會、經濟、區域發展及文化的影響深遠。鐵道不僅是一種交通運輸，更是促進地方發展與文化交流的重要媒介。鐵道歷史研究有助於理解臺灣的現代化進程，並揭示其背後的社會變遷與文化脈絡。然而，傳統的研究方法常面臨資料量龐大、資料來源分散及分析工具不足等問題，限制了研究學者在資料整理與分析時的效率。本研究重視數位人文工具在鐵道人文領域中的應用與發展，針對臺灣日治時期所出版之《臺灣鐵道史》，以該書譯本《新編臺灣鐵道史全文譯本》為主要參考文本進行系統建置。該書涵蓋從清代至日治前期的臺灣鐵道建設與運營歷史，本研究期望透過數位工具的設計與建置，輔助鐵道歷史的研究，提供資料的瀏覽、檢索及分析應用。鐵道作為一種附著於地表空間的基礎交通建設，不僅受地形特徵影響而建，亦因其興建而影響往後的區域發展，而鐵道文獻資料的內容也因此兼具時間與空間之特性；本研究基於這樣的基礎，著重於地理及日期資訊相關的系統功能之規劃，以助於分析鐵道歷史，並期盼能揭示鐵道在地理環境中的變遷，幫助人文學者進行兼具時空特性之研究。在系統建置過程中，首要進行資料的結構化，透過鐵道文獻資料的整理與形式的轉換，並以JSON格式紀錄，使各項文本資料得以被系統所使用。除了文本內容的呈現與檢索等基礎功能外，系統針對鐵道文本內容的特性，以時空為主軸進行功能設計，包含了站名標亮及古今車站資料的延伸查詢、跨章節註釋提示、日期擷取與紀元轉換、古今距離單位轉換等功能，並應用於主要文本中進行使用。系統的設計讓使用者能夠以更直觀的方式探索與分析鐵道歷史文獻，幫助人文研究學者梳理臺灣鐵道歷史文獻，清楚了解文本中橫跨臺灣南北的大量地名資料，並挖掘傳統閱讀紙本文獻的方式所無法呈現的深層資訊。The rise of digital humanities has introduced innovative opportunities for research methods in the humanities. By leveraging information technology, researchers can extract more research-worthy topics from vast amounts of literature, enhancing research efficiency and providing new perspectives for humanities studies. This study aims to develop a digital humanities system specifically designed for"Taiwan Railway History," understanding its framework and exploring the application and effectiveness of digital humanities tools in railway history research. Since the late 19th century, railway development in Taiwan has profoundly impacted its society, economy, regional development, and culture. Railways have not only been a primary mode of transportation but also a crucial medium for promoting regional development and cultural exchange. Railway history research helps in understanding Taiwan'smodernization process and unveils the social changes and cultural contexts behind it. However, traditional research methods often face challenges such as large volumes of data, scattered sources, and insufficient analytical tools, which limit researchers' efficiency in data organization and analysis. This study emphasizes the application and development of digital humanities tools in the field of railway humanities. It focuses on "Taiwan Railway History," published in Japanese during Taiwan's period under Japanese rule, and uses the Chinese translation, "Taiwan Railway History: A New Full Translation Edition," as the main reference for system development. This book covers the history of Taiwan Railways’ construction and operations from the QingDynasty period to the early Japanese rule period. Through the design and construction of digital tools, the study aims to assist railway history research by providing browsing, retrieval, and analytical applications of data.Railways, as a fundamental transportation infrastructure attached to the surface space, are influenced by topographical features and, in turn, impact regional development. The content of railway documentary materials, therefore, possesses both temporal and spatial characteristics. This study focuses on planning system functions related to geographic and date information, aiming to analyze railway history and reveal changes in the railway's geographical environment, thus aiding scholars in conducting research that incorporates both temporal and spatial characteristics. In the process of system development, data is structured through the organization and transformation of railway documentary materials and recorded in JSON format to allow the system to utilize the text data. Besides presenting and retrieving text content, the system designs functions centered on temporal and spatial axes based on the characteristics of railway texts, including station name highlighting, extended queries of historical and contemporary station data, cross-chapter annotation prompts, date extraction and era conversion, and historical and contemporary distance unit conversion. These functionalities are applied to the main text for usage. The system's design enables users to explore and analyze railway history documents in a more intuitive way, helping humanities researchers organize Taiwan's railway history literature, clearly understand the extensive geographic names across Taiwan, and uncover deeper insights that traditional reading of printed documents cannot reveal.