Tools > AIReD

AIReD

Analysing large-scale social media datasets often requires significant coding skills, creating a barrier for many researchers in the humanities and social sciences. AIReD, the Australian Internet Observatory Research Dashboard, is a powerful, web-based platform designed to break down that barrier. AIReD makes large-scale data exploration accessible to all researchers, regardless of their technical expertise.

The platform provides a suite of advanced visualisation and analysis tools — including topic modelling and trend exploration — for a range of rich datasets. It offers access to historical data from Twitter (2018-2023), Reddit, YouTube, Mastodon, and Flickr, all within a single interface.

How does AIReD work?

AIeD is a multi-functional dashboard that allows you to explore, search, and analyse massive datasets through a simple point-and-click interface. Its core features are designed to help you discover and investigate online conversations.

  1. Unified Data SearchThe main advantage of AIReD is its ability to search across multiple platforms from one central location. You can construct a single query and run it across the Twitter, YouTube, and other available datasets without needing to learn the specifics of each one. The search is highly customisable, allowing you to filter by keywords, authors, hashtags, and date ranges. You can also download your search results as a dataset for further, more detailed analysis.
  2. Trend and Keyword ExplorerThis feature is a powerful discovery tool for understanding what people were talking about at a specific point in time. You select a date, and the dashboard generates a visual representation of the most prominent keywords. From there, you can drill down into a specific term to see its usage frequency over time and a semantic cloud of related words that appeared alongside it, allowing you to quickly uncover the context of a conversation.
  3. Topic Network VisualisationGoing beyond simple keywords, this advanced tool automatically identifies the major themes of conversation within a dataset for a given period. The platform analyses which words were most frequently used together and presents these topics in a visual network graph. You can click on any topic in the network to see a sample of the actual posts that make up that conversation, giving you direct insight into the specific discussions driving the theme.

What are the advantages of AIReD?

AIReD provides an entry point for researchers looking to work with large-scale digital data.

  • No Coding Required: Its primary advantage is providing access to sophisticated analysis techniques like topic modelling without needing to write a single line of code.

  • Unified Cross-Platform Analysis: Save time and effort by exploring multiple datasets through a single, consistent interface.

  • Powerful Exploratory Tools: The keyword and topic network tools help you discover patterns, narratives, and emerging trends that you might not have known to search for.

  • Direct Access to Rich Historical Data: The dashboard provides access to millions of historical posts from key social media platforms that can be further exported and rehydrated.

What research does AIReD support?

AIReD is a general-purpose platform for a wide range of research projects, including:

  • Tracking and analysing public discourse around major political and social events.

  • Identifying the key themes and narratives emerging from online conversations on a specific topic.

  • Conducting preliminary exploratory analysis to discover trends and refine research questions before undertaking a deeper, more targeted study.

  • Comparing how a single event or issue was discussed across different platforms, such as Twitter and YouTube.

Who can access AIReD?

AIReD is available to academic researchers and staff at most Australian universities and many affiliated research organisations.

How do I get started?

You can access AIRD using your standard institutional login credentials via the Australian Access Federation (AAF) / CI Logon service. Simply navigate to the AIReD website and select your institution to sign in.

Please note: Your institution must be a subscriber to the CI Logon service for access to work. If you encounter issues, it may be because your institution has not yet enabled it.

If you would like to learn more about AIReD, please also check out additional information available at .aio.eresearch.unimelb.edu.au. There you can find AIReD and more detailed documentation and tutorials on how to access and work with the dashboard. This part of the project is managed by our University of Melbourne team. If you have any questions, contact us using the button below.

Contact Us

The platform is still under active development, and we welcome feedback from researchers to help steer its future direction. If you want to learn more about AIRD or provide input on its features, please contact us.