Editing Datamation (section)

==History and profile==
Its predecessor started as a trade/engineering magazine called ''Research & Engineering'' (1955–1957).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/12078986 |title=Research & engineering |publisher=Stanford Library |location=}}</ref><ref name="CompuDecisions.NYTlist" /> In 1957 it was rebranded to ''The Magazine of Datamation'' (from the issue no. 7),<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/12079009 |title=The Magazine of datamation |date=1958 |publisher=Stanford Library |location=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_datamation_1957-10_3_7 |title=Datamation 1957-10: Vol 3 Iss 7 |date=1957-10-01 |publisher=Reed Business Information |language=English}}</ref> and in 1959 the name was finally changed to ''Datamation'' (from the issue no. 3).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/486456 |title=Datamation |publisher=Stanford Library |location= |oclc=945019}}</ref><ref group="note">The ''Datamation'' on the cover was exposed starting from 1957; Until the 1959 there were two names inside the magazine (''The Magazine …'' and ''Research …'' on bottom of the pages).</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_datamation_march-april-1959_5_2 |title=Datamation March-April 1959: Vol 5 Iss 2 |date=1959-03-01 |publisher=Reed Business Information |language=English}}</ref>

When ''Datamation'' as such was first launched in 1957,<ref name=CompuDecisions.NYTlist/> it was not clear there would be a significant market for a computer magazine given how few [[computer]]s there were. The idea for the magazine came from [[Donald Prell]] who was [[Vice President]] of Application Engineering at [[Benson-Lehner Corporation]], a Los Angeles computer input-output company.  In 1957, the only place his company could advertise their products was in either ''[[Scientific American]]'' or ''[[Business Week]]''.  Prell had discussed the idea with [[John Diebold]] who started "Automation Data Processing Newsletter", and that was the inspiration for the name ''DATAMATION''.  F.D. Thompson Publishing, Inc., agreed to publish the magazine with its owner, Frank D. Thompson, as the New York City-based publisher, but with its editorial operations in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.datamation.com/about/ |title = Technology News: Latest IT and Tech Industry News| date=20 May 2024 }}</ref><ref name="Trademark Filing for Datamation">{{cite web |url=https://uspto.report/TM/72079534 | title = Trademark Filing for Datamation}}</ref><ref name="Biographies">{{cite journal |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/586075 |title = Biographies  |date = April 1997 |doi = 10.1109/MAHC.1997.586075 |last1 = Forest |first1 = R. B. |journal = IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume = 19 |issue = 2 |pages = 70–73 |url-access = subscription }}</ref>

After leaving Benson-Lehner, Prell served as the magazine's technical consultant and later, while based in London, its European editor.  Sandy Lanzarotta served as the magazine's first editor,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.palipost.com/sandy-lanzarotta-78-pr-exec-at-ibm-xerox/ |title = Sandy Lanzarotta, 78; PR Exec at IBM, Xerox |date= September 12, 2007 | website= Palisadian-Post}}</ref> then Harold Bergstein moved from managing editor to editor when Lanzarotta joined [[IBM]]'s marketing department.  Robert B. Forest succeeded Bergstein as editor in 1963 and remained in that role for over a decade.<ref name="Trademark Filing for Datamation"/><ref name="Biographies"/>  The magazine was later acquired by Technical Publications, and subsequently that entity was acquired by [[Dun and Bradstreet]].

In 1970, ''[[The New York Times]]'' referred to "12-year-old Datamation, the acknowledged leader in the field."<ref>{{cite news
     |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
     |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/29/archives/advertising-publishers-zero-in-on-computer-industry.html
     |title=Advertising |author=Philip H. Dougherty  |date=March 29, 1970}}</ref>

In 1995, after rival CMP Media Inc.'s 1994 launch of its TechWeb network of publications, ''Datamation'' worked in partnership with [[Bolt Beranek and Newman]] (BBN) and launched one of the first online publications, Datamation.com. In 1996, ''Datamation'' editors Bill Semich, Michael Lasell and April Blumenstiel, received the first-ever  Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Award for an online publication. The Neal Award is the highest award for business journalism in the U.S.

In 1998, when its publisher, [[Reed Business Information]] (who had earlier acquired Technical Publications in 1986<ref>{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/188ba10361825d9c4e1d4593f6633965 | title=Dun & Bradstreet to Sell Technical Publishing Concerns | website=[[Associated Press]] }}</ref>), terminated print publication of ''Datamation'' 41 years after its first issue went to press,<ref name="shutdown confirmed1998CW"/> the online version, Datamation.com, became one of the first online-only magazines. In 2001, Internet.com ([[WebMediaBrands]]) acquired the still-profitable Datamation.com online publication. In 2009, Internet.com (and Datamation.com) were acquired by [[Quinstreet]], Inc.