This project is building a major extension and reconstruction of The Dictionary of Australian Artists Online (DAAO), which will result in a new comprehensive arts research database, Design and Art of Australia Online. The DAAO (daao.org.au) was established as major infrastructure for online dissemination and generation of research on Australian artists. Created under two LIEF grants (2005 & 2007) the DAAO launched in November 2007 and currently operates under a sustainable service model with financial and in-kind support, via a collaboration between the University of NSW and the University of Sydney.

The DAAO is a model of innovative digital research infrastructure that will draw strength from interoperability with related datasets and its grounding in the Australian scholarly community. Having achieved initial objectives of delivering a flexible and sustainable open access biographical resource, the next phase of the DAAO seeks to provide a comprehensive contextual framework for investigators to interpret its biographical data, integrating disparate information into a dynamic, accessible and highly searchable environment.