USF Department of English Associate Professor, Nathan Johnson, PhD. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Johnson)
Dr. Nathan Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of English at the 91社区 College of Arts and Sciences, was recognized with the National Communication Association鈥檚 2022 Distinguished Book Award for the Philosophy of Communication Division. recognizes philosophical works that better illuminate human communication.
Johnson鈥檚 book, Architects of Memory: Information and Rhetoric in a Networked Archival Age, details key moments in the 20th century when a handful of intelligence agents worked with librarians to create the foundations of major modern information systems.
He argues that to understand how modern information systems transform human memory, it is important to better understand human memory as part of a vast material infrastructure consisting of historical technologies that transform the way we remember and forget today.
His book was also recognized by the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine as an honorable mention for its .
鈥淚 appreciate being nationally recognized by my peers,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥�Architects of Memory 鈥痶ook years to research and write. When it was published, I wasn't certain how many people would read it.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to know that not only was it read, it was recognized with not just one but two awards identifying it as one of my discipline's best books!鈥�
Johnson鈥檚 research focuses on the history of data infrastructures, institutional rhetorics, and rhetorical theory. He is specifically interested in how data collection procedures become part of the built environment and change economic conditions for residents.
鈥淚've felt a renewed motivation to continue my work,鈥� he shared.
鈥淢y next project is a co-authored book with Meredith A. Johnson called A Sense of Place: The Affective Dimensions of Urban Planning and Public Debate. The project continues themes from Architects of Memory, as it analyzes鈥痯ublic dialogue about urban development in Tampa, FL.鈥�
Other future projects will continue to explore the traffic between data infrastructures and public rhetoric. Rhetoric鈥檚 Sensorium is a study of how city zoning ordinances and policies affect public discourse about the future. Rhetorics of Hate: Data Infrastructures and Crime Reporting details how federal and state hate crime reporting protocols marginalize vulnerable publics.
(2020) is available for purchase from the University of Alabama Press.