April 23, 2026
Despite having recently completed a three-year term as the Chair of the Information and Library Science Department, Professor Noriko Hara has maintained an active program of research. Her work in CMC focuses on public engagement with science, knowledge sharing, and communities of practice in mediated environments.
She is currently working on a book based on interviews with scientists about lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding public engagement with science on social media. The book, which has been accepted for publication by Cambridge University Press, is coauthored with CCMC Affilate Seung Woo Chae, an assistant professor of Journalism & Creative Media Industries at Texas Tech University. Hara and Chae also have chapter in the collection Social informatics, edited by Hara and Center Fellow Pnina Fichman and published by Routledge in 2025.
Professor Hara has also been analyzing public discourse on social media about generative-AI between experts and laypeople with Student Fellow Shohana Akter, resulting in a journal and conference publication. Additionally, she has a forthcoming article in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications in which she lays out a theoretical framework for technology-mediated public engagement with science.
Follow this link to see Professor Hara's publications