I’m an applied social scientist with a passion for researching and developing the next generation of social technologies. I can be reached by email at noraha at uw dot edu. Currently, I’m a Senior Program Manager at the Microsoft Learning Innovation Studio where I lead all UX Research and ethical AI efforts. I work within a cross-functional team of PMs, UX Researchers, Designers, and Software Engineers to build the future of seamless learning experiences, leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence. This website provides an overview of my work; my CV has a lot more details. If you would like to read any of my publications or conference papers, please don’t hesitate to email me.
Background
In 2017, I finished my PhD degree in Information Science at the University of Washington Information School where I arrived as a Fulbright scholar. During my time there, I was a member of the Value Sensitive Design Research Lab, a co-founder of the Political Bots.org project, a co-founder of the HCI across the Arab World initiative. I also spent 6 months as a Research Associate with the Social Computing group at the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI).
Research
In my research journey, I focus on two areas: In the first one, I examine the information practices and behaviors of Arab social media users with the goal of informing global technology design and policy. In the second, I research the use and influence of social and political bots on social computing systems during political events with the goal of informing automation policy.
My work reflects my strong passion for understanding people’s social and collaborative interactions in their everyday digital and physical contexts with the goal of designing and evaluating collaborative, social, and inclusive technologies. In doing so, I combine my experience conducting research studies, my expert knowledge of qualitative and human-centered design methods, and my multilingual and cross-cultural background to engage with stakeholders empathetically.
My research can be applied across both industry research and academia. I publish my research in venues like ACM CSCW(Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing) ACM SIGCHI(Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) and ACM DIS (Designing Interactive Systems). Numerous outlets have also featured my research, such as the Pew Research Center, CNN, New York Post, Commondreams, Desmogblog, and the University of Washington news site. You can find my published research in my Google Scholar page.
PhD Dissertation Research
In my dissertation project, I investigated the use of social media (i.e., Facebook, Instagram and Snap Chat) by young adults from the Arab Gulf states (e.g., Saudi Arabia) to understand how youth conceptualize privacy and identity. In general, my research reflects my strong interest in a broader research agenda that advocates for culturally-inclusive design and research by applying qualitative, quantitative, visual and human-computer interaction methods, and on understanding the implications of emerging technologies used by people in different contexts.
Norah Abokhodair 