She had a lot to do in episode 2. Probably more than the whole of TOS. I mean there were times they could have used those awesome language skills during Kirk's command. Especially deciphering alien artifacts... But except for a couple episodes she was mostly on the bridge or jamming with Mr. Spock in the rec room. Lol
If Hoshi's arc in Enterprise is any indication, we'll get to see Uhura's journey to becoming stuck on the bridge with nothing much to do over the next four years.
She led a Section 31 mission on the Klingon homeworld posing as an Augment virus Klingon to rally the other Augment virus Klingons to overthrow Chancellor L'Rell and bring Augment virus Klingons into power. Starfleet believed this would lead to a more Federation friendly Klingon government run by Klingons who look like humans. As it was, the Augment virus Klingons weren't any friendlier than the regular ones, and Starfleet Command blamed Uhura.
If the show lasts long enough, we'll see what Uhura was up to on the days she wasn't on the bridge with nothing much to do.
The novels rounded her out very nicely, especially "Tears of the Singers" and "Uhura's Song", which both delved into her interest in music as language.
It was the 60s uhura was still limited by racism. Kelvin films and snw seem to have progressed since then.
Fun fact, Uhura wasn't even a linguist in TOS, she was just the switchboard operator. The languages thing came about in the series bible for the unmade Phase II TV series (the pilot of which eventually became The Motion Picture), in order to give Nichelle more to do. It subsequently became a staple of the novels and part of the character in the 2009 reboot. IIRC, Nichelle wasn't happy in STVI that her character didn't know Klingon (something Into Darkness explictly fixed) Growing up reading old novels, I had no idea Uhura didn't start off as a linguist until certain fans cried foul in '09.
I point out Uhura did often go on a few landing party missions. Mirror Mirror, City on the Edge of Forever, Gamemasters, I, Mudd, and the time she went after the space vampries in the animated series
Oh yeah. She knows 37 languages but didn't know Klingon. Also she used actual books instead of a computer pad. Well actually that was kind of impressive using books to talk Klingon. At that point she was in her 60s but she manged it pretty well and got the message mostly right. Lol
The book thing was pretty stupid. They did it for laughs. People today barely use books to look up something in the fly anymore......
Well, I never realized I don't count as a person until just now... Caboose: Well, I didn't realize how much words could hurt until it was my turn. I don't think I want to play this honesty game anymore.
In TOS she was seen repairing her panel when it blew up and Spock said there was no one better suited to do it. She sat in the captain's chair in another episode too. It wasn't very well developed, but she wasn't supposed to a linguist but an engineer.
I think there are likely to be people who enjoy the sensory pleasures of books, the feel, smell, sight made from different materials. Physical books will be around for the experience of somatic interaction with the information inside. Folks can enjoy leafing through the things, feeling for the right pages in their favorite books. I doubt Sam Cogley is alone in having a library but there won't be many people using them for full on research except in very specific instances.
When communications officer, Uhura had a cryptography section to decipher stuff for her. You don't have a Caitian and meow yourself.