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.

Yet despite the vast quantities of social data now circulating, our capacities to analyse large-scale social data are still very limited. There is also a need to develop new skills in digital research and data analysis among researchers in Australia.

The Australian Internet Observatory will address this challenge and provide world leading research facilities for the Australian community. Using innovative methods of collecting and analysis data, such as data donations and crowdsourcing, combined with machine learning, natural language processing and other tools, the Australian Internet Observatory will support research on critical national issues from the distribution of misinformation to the patterns of everyday engagement with business, culture and science, the flows of communication in emergencies and humanitarian crises, and the dynamics of political conflict and consensus.