Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA)

The Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA) makes nationally significant language data available for academic and non-academic use and provides a model for ensuring continued access with appropriate community control.

Australia is a massively multilingual country in one of the world’s most linguistically diverse regions. Significant collections of this intangible cultural heritage have been amassed, including collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, regional languages of the Pacific, Australian English and migrant languages, and sign languages of Australia and its region, as well as collections important for cyber-security and for emergency communication.

LDaCA will integrate this existing work into a national research infrastructure, while also securing collections which remain under-utilised or at risk. LDaCA will thus ensure long-lasting access for analysis and reuse of these invaluable data, and will manage the data in a culturally, ethically and legally appropriate manner guided by FAIR and CARE principles.

The LDaCA project receives investment from the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), previously through its Australian Data Partnerships program (DP768) and now through its HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons program (HR001). The ARDC is funded by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

About the Project Team

The project is being led by staff at The University of Queensland in collaboration with researchers and eResearch professionals across partner institutions, in conjunction with the ARDC:

AARNet (2021–2028)
Australian National University (2021–2028)
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (2024–2028)
First Languages Australia (2021–2028)
QUT Digital Observatory (2024–2028)
The University of Melbourne (2021–2028)
The University of Sydney (2021–2028)
The University of Western Australia (2024–2028)

LDaCA team members based in the UQ School of Languages and Cultures are:

Chief Investigators

Professor Michael Haugh (Project Direct and Lead Chief Investigator)
Dr Martin Schweinberger
Dr Rose Barrowcliffe

Project Management

Research Technology

Dr Peter Sefton
Moises Sacal Bonequi
- Dr Alvin Sebastian
- Mark Raadgever
- Rosanna Smith

Research Support and Training

Dr Simon Musgrave
- Teresa Chan

Data, Collections and Licencing

Dr Ben Foley

Research Analytics

Dr Sam Hames
- Ruby Baird

Industry Engagement and Communications

Chenoa Pettrup
- Bridey Lea

Australian Text Analytics Platform (ATAP) and Language Technology and Data Analysis Laboratory (LADAL)

The Australian Text Analytics Platform (ATAP) is an open source, collaborative cloud-based workbench that provides researchers in the humanities and social sciences with tools and training for text analytics, that is, using computational methods to process, explore and analyse text. These methods enable data-driven research, giving researchers the capability to extract machine-readable information from within unstructured text. Due to the increasing availability of large amounts of unstructured text, such techniques are becoming more and more important across diverse research disciplines.

The platform will be accessible to researchers with a broad range of experience and skills (including beginners) and across a range of disciplines. Support provided by the platform will include hands-on workshops, online training modules, as well as advice and collaboration in selected partnerships.

ATAP also includes the Language Technology and Data Analysis Laboratory (LADAL), a school-based, collaborative support infrastructure for digital and computational humanities established in 2019.

ATAP previously received dedicated investment from the ARDC. It is now part of the broader LDaCA project.

Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)

The ARDC enables the Australian research community and industry access to nationally significant, data intensive digital research infrastructure, platforms, tools, skills and collections of high quality data.

As a national research infrastructure provider, the ARDC facilitates partnerships to develop a coherent research environment that enables researchers to find, access, contribute to and effectively use services to maximise research quality and impact.