QUT Research Infrastructure

We tackle the data so you can focus on the research.

A facility within QUT's Research Infrastructure portfolio dedicated to supporting inquiry into public discourse on important societal issues. Our computational expertise and HASS understanding deliver cost-effective, bespoke project support.

3
databanks
AusReddit, Australian Twittersphere, NewsTalk
21
publications enabled
DO attribution or co-authorship
4
national funded projects
in partnership with ARDC, AIO, and LDaCA
01 — Services

What we do

01

Data Infrastructure & Development

Design and implement research data workflows from collection through to analysis-ready output.

  • Data collection, processing, and storage pipelines
  • Open-source and bespoke data tooling
  • Agentic AI and LLM integration
Learn more
02

Data Science

End-to-end analytical support for researchers working with complex, large-scale datasets.

  • Tidying, preprocessing, visualisation
  • Text analysis - topic modelling, sentiment, networks
  • AI-augmented qualitative analysis
Learn more
03

Databanks & Governance

Curated, longitudinal social media archives and practical guidance on ethical digital data use.

  • Curated archives of Reddit, Twitter/X, and news commentary
  • Digital data governance and ethics consulting
Learn more
02 — Resources

Featured resources

dataset

AusReddit

A research databank of Reddit posts and comments from Australian-related subreddits.

collect · analyse
dataset

Australian Twittersphere

A longitudinal collection of tweets from ~1M identified Australian accounts, 2018–2023, at 22–41M tweets per month before API changes ended collection.

explore · collect
software

youte

youte is a command-line tool that collects and tidies YouTube video metadata and comments from YouTube Data API v.3. At the moment, the tool supports collecting public data that does not require OAuth 2.0.

collect · tidy and model
Explore all resources →
03 — Testimonials

From researchers

"

The Digital Observatory has been collaborative and proactive in meeting with OREI to discuss topics concerning the collection and analysis of human data from social media, providing advice for data-specific queries that arise during study design and ethics preparation.

Dr Linda DunnOffice of Research Ethics and Integrity
"

This is amazing — it has incredible applications for us here in DMRC. The current Python libraries and approaches are incredibly limited in our neck of the woods. I can think of at least a dozen students, postdocs and faculty with immediate need for a support tool like this.

Professor Daniel AngusFaculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice — on NewsTalk
"

Everyone at the Digital Observatory is always so proactive and helpful when I cross paths with them. It's such a pleasure to work with you.

A/Prof Angela RomanoFaculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
"

Very helpful in scoping out my research project and responsive to my needs, ensuring the research question I was exploring was answered. For any researcher considering using social media data, I would recommend getting in contact.

Chris EdwardsPostdoctoral Researcher, Aspect Research Centre for Autism Practice

Have a specific project in mind?

Read our Researchers' Guide to Working with Digital Observatory to understand how to engage our services — or reach out directly.

Start here