Picture of Nathan R. Johnson

I am an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida.* My PhD was awarded by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Information School, and my research focuses on the history of information infrastructures, institutional rhetorics, and rhetorical theory. I teach courses on rhetorical theory, science and technology studies, and rhetorical history.

Book cover for "Architects of Memory" by Nathan R. Johnson

My first book, Architects of Memory, identifies key turning points during the 20th century when mnemonic concepts were built into new information technologies and modern memory infrastructures took hold. My book makes a case for the significance of rhetoric’s art of memory for developing long-term information infrastructures. The National Communication Association has recognized it with the Philosophy of Communication Division’s Distinguished Book Award. The Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine recognized Architects of Memory as an honorable mention for their 2021 Book Award.

I am a recipient of the Rhetoric Society of America’s Fellows’ Early Career Award, the 2018 Alice G. Smith Lecturer, and a winner of the National Communication Association’s Distinguished Book Chapter Award for Philosophy of Communication. I have been honored as one of USF’s Outstanding Undergraduate Teachers and recognized by the American Society for Engineering Education for my co-authored scholarship on diversity and inclusion. My work has appeared in Rhetoric Society Quarterly, enculturation: a Journal of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture, Poroi, and the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, among numerous other venues.