Observatory on Immigration Discourses (IDIO)

The goal of the Observatory on Immigration Discourses (IDIO) is to study immigration discourse in a real-time environment using AI methods. The IDIO will be a large-scale social data observatory gathering news, social media, government documents and other public documents around immigration to allow researchers to gain data-driven insights into social phenomena.

The core of the IDIO is to provide the means for researchers to tackle evidence-based, data-driven research questions. Spanning the full length of the Bridging Divides program, this projects brings together collaborators across the four main thematic areas and working groups.

1. How can AI tools be used to compile a repository of documents related to immigration discourse?
2. What can the creation of an Immigration Observatory tell us about Canadian immigration discourse?

The project employs a methodology focused on quantitative research using two main approaches: observational and causal studies. AI-driven tools will be developed to aid researchers in analyzing data from IDIO, facilitating both observational and causal studies. The technological stack for IDIO will include tools for qualitative and quantitative research, emphasizing privacy-preserving AI techniques to support large-scale online social data analysis and transdisciplinary collaborations.

This project is active, with multiple teams carrying out different activities at the same time. Recent progress reflects a strong commitment to advancing annotation methodologies through cutting-edge AI techniques. The team is working to further enhance the model’s capabilities and real-world applicability, as well as improving the user interface.

Expected completion: First version of the Observatory ready to use by December 2026

AI; artificial intelligence; IDIO; immigration observatory; Observatory on Immigration Discourses