About AIO
What AIO is
The Australian Internet Observatory is a national research infrastructure facility established in 2024 through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and supported through co-investment from our partners.
Our mission is to build an interconnected ecosystem of people, data, and tools that enables research on digital platforms, applications and emerging technologies in the public interest.
AIO works with Australian and international partners to deliver on four core pillars: a research platform, data collection tools and methods, data governance and outreach.
Why AIO exists
The next decade will see a new wave of digital transformation and many challenges in the way data, communication and digital platforms operate. Large-scale online data has the potential to substantially contribute to the capacity of business, government and the community to understand and address Australia’s major social, economic and public policy challenges.
The Australian Internet Observatory is developing the tools and capabilities required to gather and analyse online user experience data, algorithms, and interactions. It supports innovative approaches to the collection and analysis of digital social data and internet platforms and the analytical tools and governance required to support cutting-edge research on social, economic, health and environmental issues.
AIO addresses this through four core pillars
Digital Research Platform
A full research workflow platform — manage your project end-to-end, from participant recruitment through data collection and analysis.
Data Collection Tools
An integrated suite of data collection tools and methods — including data donation, download packages, mobile streaming capture, browser extensions, APIs and large language models
Data governance and management
Ethical and legal frameworks and guides for working with digital research methods and social data, including guidance for Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) applications.
Outreach and training
Supporting research training and engagement through workshops, events, training and online resources.
Introduction to the Australian Internet Observatory
Meet Our Team
The AIO is governed by a Steering Committee and built by a team based across our partner organisations
The HASS & Indigenous RDC includes 6 focus areas across Indigenous data capabilities, social science, creative arts, languages and data integration, along with the Australian Internet Observatory.
