Wrapping Up 2024: AIO’s Year in Review and Exciting Plans for 2025
As 2024 comes to a close, the Australian Internet Observatory has much to celebrate and share. In just a few short months, we’ve made incredible progress, built a growing team, and established meaningful partnerships to address the challenges of a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Growing the AIO Team
Our team is expanding! We’re currently recruiting for two exciting roles at The University of Queensland (Applications close 20 January 2025):
Principal Software Developer: Lead the design and development of AIO’s systems in collaboration with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC).
Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Join the Centre for Digital Cultures and Societies to help develop AIO’s research.
Research Training Manager: Will support design, development and implementation of comprehensive programs as part of The Australian Internet Observatory initiative.
Events and Workshops
AIO is gearing up for a busy start to 2025 with workshops and presentations at three summer schools:
ARDC Summer School (3–6 February, University of Queensland): Tools and methods for digital research.
DMRC Summer School (5–9 February, QUT, Brisbane): Interactive sessions showcasing digital humanities and social science research methods.
ADM+S Summer School (11–13 February, Melbourne): Workshops on data donation methods for digital platforms.
But first, we’re heading to the Woodford Folk Festival 2024 (27 December – 1 January), where we’ll invite festival-goers to explore their digital lives at the Data Donation Stall, in collaboration with QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre.
Research Highlights
Our recent research has focused on the intersections of AI, democracy, and targeted advertising:
New Videos: Explore critical discussions on elections, democracy and AI, and targeted advertising to vulnerable communities.
New Report: A collaboration with FARE and AIO research lead Assoc Prof Nic Carah highlights how alcohol and gambling companies use targeted dark ads to exploit vulnerable audiences. The study utilises a novel data collection method developed by the Australian Ad Observatory project.
Journal Article: Prof Daniel Angus and colleagues contributed to a special issue of The Journal of Advertisingwith insights on computational methods to improve the observability of platform-based advertising.
Check out our video, The Australian Ad Observatory: A web of invisible influence, for a comprehensive overview of these methods.
Welcome to Our New Team Members
We’re thrilled to welcome several talented professionals to the AIO team:
Anish Mathew, DevOps Software Engineer: Strengthening our technical capabilities with expertise in AWS, CI/CD, and cloud-native solutions.
Luke Munn, Research Fellow: Bringing research expertise in digital cultures and visualisation to the University of Queensland.
Mike Wang, Machine Learning Engineer: Driving advancements in trustworthy AI and machine learning at The University of Melbourne.
Yong-Bin Kang, Data Governance Manager: Leveraging AI technologies to solve real-world challenges at Swinburne University of Technology.
AIO’s Vision
The Australian Internet Observatory is committed to developing tools and methods to understand and respond to the challenges posed by a rapidly changing digital landscape. Our work wouldn’t be possible without the support of our colleagues, partners, and the wider community.
As we prepare for 2025, we extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to our success so far. Your support is invaluable, and we look forward to continuing this journey with you.
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Wishing you all a joyful festive season and a very happy New Year!
