Editing Datamation

{{Short description|American computer magazine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title           = 
| logo            = 
| logo_size       = <!-- default is 180px -->
| image_file      = Datamation1998February.jpg
| image_size      = <!-- default is 180px -->
| image_alt       = 
| image_caption   = February 1998, the final print edition of ''Datamation'' magazine
| editor          = <!-- up to |editor6= -->
| editor_title    = <!-- up to |editor_title6= -->
| previous_editor = 
| staff_writer    = 
| photographer    = 
| category        = [[Computer magazine]]
| frequency       = 
| format          = Online magazine
| circulation     = 
| publisher       = 
| paid_circulation   = 
| unpaid_circulation = 
| circulation_year   = 
| total_circulation  = 
| founder         = 
| founded         = 1957
| firstdate       = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| finaldate       = {{End date and age|1998|02}} (print)
| finalnumber     = 
| company         = TechnologyAdvice 
| country         = United States
| based           = 
| language        = English
| website         = {{URL|datamation.com}} 
| issn            = 0011-6963
| eissn           =
| oclc            = 
}}

'''''Datamation''''' is a [[computer magazine]] that was published in print form in the [[United States]] between 1957<ref name=CompuDecisions.NYTlist>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/29/business/computing-s-lusty-offspring.html
|title=Computing's Lusty Offspring
|quote=Thus was Datamation born in October 1967. With a circulation of 145,000, Datamation now ranks as the oldest publication |author=N. R. Kleinfield |date=August 29, 1981}}</ref> and 1998,<ref>Roy A. Allan [https://books.google.com/books?id=FLabRYnGrOcC&pg=SA1-PA14&lpg=SA1-PA14&dq=Datamation+magazine+1957 A History of the Personal Computer: The People and the Technology], 2001, {{ISBN|0-9689108-0-7}}. page 1/14 "A popular data processing magazine called Datamation started in October 1957 as ''Research and Engineering (The Magazine of Datamation)''."</ref><ref name="shutdown confirmed1998CW">[https://books.google.com/books?id=hmADtY_o5HsC&pg=PT15&lpg=PT15&dq=Datamation+magazine& Venerable IS Journal Shuts Down], Sharon Machlis // ComputerWorld, page 15, 19 January 1998</ref> and has since continued publication on the web. ''Datamation'' was previously owned by [[QuinStreet]] and acquired by TechnologyAdvice in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Staff |first1=eWeek |title=eWEEK Moves to New Publisher, TechnologyAdvice.com |url=https://www.eweek.com/innovation/eweek-moves-to-new-publisher-technologyadvice-com/ |website=eweek.com |access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref> Datamation is published as an online magazine at Datamation.com.

==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.

==Computer humor==
Traditionally, an April issue of ''Datamation'' contained a number of spoof articles and humorous stories related to computers.

However, humor was not limited to April. For example, in a spoof ''Datamation'' article<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fortran.com/fortran/come_from.html |title=Comefrom Statement |access-date=2004-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716171336/http://www.fortran.com/fortran/come_from.html |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (December 1973), R. Lawrence Clark suggested that the [[GOTO]] statement
could be replaced by the [[COMEFROM]] statement and provided some entertaining examples. This was actually implemented in the [[INTERCAL programming language]], a language designed to make programs as obscure as possible.

''[[Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal]]'' was a letter to the editor of ''Datamation'', volume 29 number 7, July 1983, written by Ed Post, [[Tektronix]], [[Wilsonville, Oregon]], USA.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html |title = Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal}}</ref>

Some of the [[BOFH]] stories were reprinted in ''Datamation''.

The humor section was resurrected in 1996 by editor in chief Bill Semich with a two-page spread titled "Over the Edge" with material contributed by ''[[Annals of Improbable Research]]'' editor [[Marc Abrahams]] and MISinformation editor Chris Miksanek. Semich also commissioned BOFH author [[Simon Travaglia]] to write humor columns for the magazine. Later that year, Miksanek became the sole humor contributor (though in 1998 "Over the Edge" was augmented with an online weblinks companion by Miksanek's [[alter-ego]] "The Duke of URL"). The column was dropped from the magazine in 2001 when it was acquired by Internet.com.

A collection of "Over the Edge" columns was published in 2008 under the title "Esc: 400 Years of Computer Humor" ({{ISBN|1434892484}}).

== Notes ==
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|www.datamation.com}}
*[https://archive.org/details/pub_datamation?tab=collection Archived Datamation magazines] on the Internet Archive

[[Category:Online magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct computer magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1957]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1998]]
[[Category:Magazines published in California]]
[[Category:Online magazines with defunct print editions]]