News & Events
To view past newsletters, click here.
Explore the AIReD dashboard: Real-time massive social media data in action
Whilst major platforms like FaceBook, Instagram and X/Twitter no longer provide programmatic access to their data, a key highlight of AIReD is the rapid increase in activity for BlueSky, which has now surpassed 76 million recorded interactions often with over 500k posts made every day across Australia. These numbers are updated continuously, providing a near real-time view of the information flow across the Australian social media landscape.
Building global connections for national research infrastructure
Queensland University of Technology partner lead, Professor Daniel Angus, is currently spending time as a visiting fellow at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Germany. During his visit, Daniel has already contributed to a workshop on data quality hosted by the KODAQS team, collaborating alongside colleagues from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Social Media Lab.
Work with us: Program Manager
AIO is seeking a Program Manager to lead the delivery of a national research infrastructure program based at RMIT’s Melbourne CBD campus. This full-time, fixed-term role (till June 2028) offers HEW 9 salary + 17% superannuation and flexible working arrangements. The position will oversee project planning, governance, stakeholder engagement, and technical delivery across six partner universities.
AIO at IAMCR 2025: Advancing platform observability research
Dr Amanda Lawrence will present the paper ‘Towards Large-Scale Research Infrastructure' for Digital Platform Observability’, co-authored with Professor Julian Thomas. This contribution outlines emerging approaches to developing robust, scalable infrastructure for independent monitoring and analysis of digital platforms.
Studying digital platforms? Tell us what data and tools you need
AIO survey 2025 - The aim is to understand the needs and priorities of researchers and data users across sectors—academia, government, civil society, and industry—who are working with (or want to work with) digital platforms and data.
Explore Data Donation and Web Archiving tools @ ResBaz 2025
AIO was at the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Moreton Bay campus for this year’s ResBaz. We hosted workshops on data donation and web archiving, introducing researchers to new tools and methods for studying digital platforms. AIO also ran a stall throughout the event, engaging with researchers about how our infrastructure can support innovative digital research.
Join the AIO team
This position is located within the Queensland University of Technology and is a key role in leading the design and development of the AIO infrastructure, working in collaboration with the NCRIS funded Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) and other key national partner institutions.
Partnering for public data literacy: QUT DMRC at Woodford Folk Festival 2024
Festival-goers at Woodford Folk Festival 2024 piloted AIO’s new tool for discovering their digital identities — meme maven or nostalgic navigator. QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC) created “Data Mystics”—a public-facing activation designed to foster digital self-awareness, and ethical data literacy.
What political ads are Australians seeing online?
A new mobile advertising observation toolkit is now being utilised as a key platform to research on “What political ads are Australians seeing online?” by the Australian Ad Observatory project. This interesting piece of researcher insights informs you that why tools like ADMS Centre and AIO’s mobile advertising observation toolkit build digital trust, and contribute to a more transparent internet ecosystem.
What is your ‘TikTok personality’? A new Citizen Science project can tell you
Our QUT partners, along with USyd, have launched the ARC Discovery Project on using data donation for studying TikTok experiences of Australian users.
2025 Federal Election: Insights from Australian Reddit users
As Australia prepares to vote in the upcoming Federal Election 2025, we at AIO are working with our partners to present public attitudes and sentiments from Reddit users.
‘Dark ads’ challenge truth and our democracy
Political inaction and big tech’s reluctance to protect users leave Australians vulnerable to a murky world of digital misinformation going into the election write Dan Angus and Mark Andrejevic in 360info.
Wrapping Up 2024: AIO’s Year in Review and Exciting Plans for 2025
Wrapping Up 2024: AIO’s Year in Review and Exciting Plans for 2025
QUT Digital Media Research Centre @ the 2024 Woodford Folk Festival
QUT Digital Media Research Centre an interactive stall focusing on “Data Donation”.
Research Infrastructure for ADM and digital platforms Workshop
This workshop is designed to introduce and showcase a range of tools, infrastructure, data sources and methodologies for research on automated decision-making and digital platforms from across ADM+S projects. Participants will learn about and explore major new infrastructure such as the Australian Internet Observatory’s data donation tools, as well as Large Language Models (LLMs), national survey instruments and datasets, and various small scale open source software and research methodologies.
Algorithms dictate everything we see. Time to crack them
PODCAST
The algorithms that decide what we experience on social media, and on the internet in general, have a profound impact on the way we see the world.
Daniel Angus joins Bension Siebert on this episode of The Briefing podcast to unpack how they're beginning to crack the social media code.
Social media algorithms are shrouded in secrecy. We’re trying to change that
To understand the impact social media platforms are having on society they must provide access to crucial data writes Prof Dan Angus in The Conversation.
The Australian Ad Observatory summative webinar event
Australian Ad Observatory team present the findings from their first phase of work.
11 am -1pm Thursday 11 July 2024
Online
AIO Presentation at ARDC Symposium 2024
Watch a recording of the presentation by Dr Damiano Spina (RMIT) and Prof Patrik Wikstrom (QUT) introducing the Australian Internet Observatory at the ARDC HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons Symposium, Melbourne, June 2024
New research facility to uncover how internet algorithms and AIs shape our world
Announced today, the Australian Internet Observatory (AIO) is a major new research infrastructure initiative that will open up the ‘black box’ of digital platforms and their algorithms.