Fresh off the Boat is a cartographic storytelling project that explores the experiences of immigrants who arrived at New York City Port by boat. The project involves scraping data from ancestry.com to build a comprehensive database of immigrant journeys, challenging the walled ownership of data, and weaving it into a narrative about immigrants in 1945 towards the conclusion of World War II.
The project challenges the walled ownership of data by advocating for open access to data commodified by private companies like ancestry.com. The narrative thread of the project centers on the Queen Mary Boat, which was initially a passenger ship but was converted into a troop boat during WWII. By focusing on the Queen Mary Boat, the project aims to highlight the diverse experiences of immigrants who arrived in the US during the post-WWII period.
Through cartographic storytelling, Fresh Off the Boat will create a visual representation of the immigrant experience that is often overlooked in mainstream historical narratives. By bringing together data, historical context, and personal stories, the project aims to create a nuanced and complex understanding of immigration and its impact on the US.
