Aim

Evaluate the use of APIs (Application Programming Interface) as a method of data collection.


Scope

APIs for data collection

While humans can easily interpret information the displayed on a web page, computers need more help. APIs provide a way to share data in a digital format that computers can understand across the internet (often referred to as machine-readable data).

Not all APIs work the same way and the use of data is strictly regulated by policies of the API provider. The results are sent back as data in a standard data format like XML or JSON.

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare API. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/myhospitals/content/api

What is an API? (video)


APIs used in this resource

The following APIs have been tested for respective research questions.