Dodson to Receive Bob Williams History Fund Best Paper Award
The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) is delighted to announce that Samuel Dodson has been awarded a 2026 Bob Williams History Fund Award for his research paper titled "The paper behind the program: a documentary history of FORTRAN.” The Bob Williams History Fund was created for the purpose of supporting and encouraging research and publication in the history of information science and technology.
Samuel Dodson is an Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo Department of Information Science. He earned his degrees from Lewis & Clark College and University of British Columbia. Dodson was selected from among a pool of outstanding candidates who were judged based on the relevance of a central topic or question to be researched within the history of information science and technology.
In nominating Dodson, Dan Albertson, Chair of the Department of Information Science at the University at Buffalo, wrote that “this study reflects on our field’s intellectual foundations through an examination of how documentation shaped the development and use of FORTRAN, one of the earliest widely adopted high-level programming languages. The authors analyze distinct documentation types – proposals, technical reports, scholarly articles, textbooks, and standards – in order to frame how these materials structured knowledge, aligned practices, and supported consistency across computing environments. Introducing the concept of “collective documentality,” they provide a framework for understanding how networks of documents influence both technical and social practices, with implications extending beyond this case to broader societal and technological contexts.”
Upon learning of his selection as the award winner, Dodson wrote, “It is an honor to receive this award, and I extend my gratitude to Jane Bartley, my co-author, Dan Albertson for his nomination, and the members of the jury for their service. I also thank Ron Day for his encouragement of this research project.”
Dodson will receive the award during the 2026 meeting of ASIS&T which will be held 6-10 November 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand.
About ASIS&T
The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) is the only professional association that bridges the gap between information science practice and research. For nearly 90 years, ASIS&T has been leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.