Data Access

Documentation is open to everyone. The controlled data (annotations and audio) are available for non-commercial research after we approve an application and the researcher’s institution signs the data use agreement.

Why controlled access

CQC uses recordings that were published openly. That a video is public does not mean its speaker agreed to every research use, or that it can be redistributed without limits. Bringing recordings from different channels together and linking them to identity information can make speakers easier to find, recognize, or misuse. This is why CQC controls access to its data, restricts how the data may be used, and lets speakers ask for removal.

Who can apply

Researchers at universities and non-profit research institutions, in linguistics and in fields such as sociology, gender and sexuality studies, anthropology, psychology, and communication. Students apply with their supervisor as principal investigator.

How to apply

1. Read the agreementRead the CQC Data Use Agreement, in particular the prohibited uses.
2. Email usSend the application below to chinesequeercorpus@outlook.com from your institutional email address.
3. ReviewWe review applications on a rolling basis and may ask follow-up questions or suggest a short call. We check that the purpose is permitted, that the plan involves no identity inference, and that the data requested are no more than the project needs.
4. SignIf approved, the PI and an institutional official sign the agreement.
5. DownloadYou receive a personal download link, and we notify you of updates and removals.

Application template

The button above opens your email program with this template. You can also copy it.

Dear CQC team,

I would like to request access to the Chinese Queer Corpus.

1. Name, position, institution:
2. Institutional email:
3. Supervisor / PI (if you are a student):
4. Other team members who will access the data:
5. Research question and project description (up to 300 words):
6. Data needed (transcripts / TextGrids / metadata / timestamps / audio), and why each is needed:
7. Does the project need speaker-level identity information? If so, why?
8. Will any data be used in machine learning, or uploaded to cloud or AI services?
9. Ethics approval (IRB number, or why none is required):
10. Where the data will be stored and who controls access:
11. Expected outputs (papers, theses, tools):

I have read the CQC Data Use Agreement.

Best regards,

Agreement at a glance

• Non-commercial research only, for the project described in the application.
• No inference of gender identity, sexual orientation, or other identity attributes.
• No attempt to identify or contact speakers, and no linking with other data.
• No voice cloning, speech synthesis, or training of generative speech models.
• No redistribution, including uploads to public repositories or AI services that keep data.
• Secure storage; aggregate results may be published; individual audio, spectrograms, and long quotations need permission.
• Delete removed material within 30 days of our notice.