Research

2026

Laba N (2026) Beyond magic: Prompting for style as affordance actualization in visual generative media. New Media & Society 28(1): 148-168. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241286144

Bouko C and Laba N (forthcoming in 2026) (eds) Six Critical Lenses on AI-Generated Images. Routledge.

Johnson C and Laba N (forthcoming in 2026) Gendered imaginations: Critical prompting and decoding bias in text-to-image generative AI. In: Lind R (ed) Race, Gender, Class, Media (6th ed). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003537601 

Laba N and Bouko C (2026) Introduction: Making sense of AI-generated images. In Bouko C and Laba N (eds) Six Critical Lenses on AI-Generated Images. Routledge. Preprint at: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.32134.23369 

Thomson TJ, Bouko C, Laba N and Wildfeuer J (forthcoming in 2026) On machines, users, and the politics of visual style in AI-generated images. In Bouko C and Laba N (eds) Six Critical Lenses on AI-Generated Images. Routledge.

2025

Laba N (2025) AI is not a tool. AI & Society. Epub ahead of print 29 Dec 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02784-y 

Laba N (2025) Whose imagination? Conflicting narratives and sociotechnical futures of visual generative AI. AI & Society. Epub ahead of print 13 Oct 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02675-2 

Laba N, Roman N and Parmelee JH (2025) Memory of the multitude and representation in AI-generated images of war. Memory, Mind & Media 4(e14) (AI and Memory special collection). https://doi.org/10.1017/mem.2025.10011  

Laba N (2025) Beyond magic: Prompting for style as affordance actualization in visual generative media. Acume, 3 Oct. https://www.acume.org/r/beyond-magic-prompting-for-style-as-affordance-actualization-in-visual-generative-media/ 

Thomson TJ, Pfurtscheller D, Lobinger K, Laba N and Christ K (2025) Visual literacies in transition: Multimodal co-production with generative AI. Journal of Visual Literacy 44(4): 384–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/1051144X.2025.2566592 

Thomson TJ, Pfurtscheller D, Christ K, Lobinger K and Laba N (2025) We teach young people to write. In the age of AI, we must teach them how to see. The Conversation. 1 Oct. https://doi.org/10.64628/AA.vycmyjppk 

2024

Laba N (2024) Engine for the imagination? Visual generative media and the issue of representation. Media, Culture & Society 46(8): 1599–1620. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241259950

Laba N (2024) From image to identity icon: Discourses of organizational visual identity on Australian university homepages. Discourse & Communication 18(5): 768­–788. https://doi.org/10.1177/17504813241241662

Laba, N. (2024). Book review: Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. Visual Communication 23(4): 758–761. https://doi.org/10.1177/14703572211069606

2023

Laba N (2023) Organizational identity design: The evolution of a university web homepage. In: Ravelli L, van Leeuwen T, Höllerer MA and Jancsary D (eds) Organizational Semiotics: Multimodal Perspectives on Organization Studies. Oxon: Routledge, pp.73–98. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003049920-4

Laba N (2023) Organizational identity design: A multimodal discourse analysis of Australian university homepages. PhD Thesis. University of New South Wales, Australia. https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/24896