Johnson to Receive 2026 Bob Williams History Fund Research Grant
The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) is delighted to announce that Nathan Johnson is the recipient of the 2026 Bob Williams Research Grant. The Grant is awarded to an outstanding research proposal exploring the history of information science and technology. Johnson’s grant proposal is titled, “Where We Forget: Information Systems and the Redistribution of Memory in the 20th Century.” This project focuses on an ongoing issue by investigating how information systems shift key responsibilities for human remembering into information systems.
Nathan R. Johnson is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida. He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Information School. His research examines the history of information with a focus on the development of the 20th century information professions. His first book Architects of Memory examined how World War II technologies fundamentally reshaped public memory.
In assessing the proposal, one jury member wrote, “I think that most people realize that they remember fewer facts because they have offloaded memory to Google, but Johnson's book looks a the bigger picture - as he says, ‘By foregrounding the relationship between information systems and memory, it provides a framework for analyzing how decisions about classification, metadata, and system design influence what is preserved, made accessible, or lost. This perspective supports more reflective approaches to the ethical responsibilities of information professionals working within institutional systems that shape public knowledge.’ He used syllabi from mid-20th-century rhetoric curricula, a time when information science was emerging, to examine how information science supplanted memory as a central focus in traditional rhetoric education. This is novel, and his request is modest - to cover indexing and permissions. I highly recommend providing the funding for this work!”
Upon learning of his selection as winner of the grant, Johnson responded, “This is fantastic news, and I am over the moon! This award will make a huge difference for my book project. Thank you so much to ASIS&T, SIG-HFIS, and the memory of Bob Williams, who I did have the honor of meeting many years ago. He was such a wonderful person.”
Johnson will receive the grant 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.