Datamation

Datamation is a computer magazine that was published in print form in the United States between 1957 and 1998, and has since continued publication on the web. Datamation was previously owned by QuinStreet and acquired by TechnologyAdvice in 2020. Datamation is published as an online magazine at Datamation.com. It started as a trade/engineering magazine called Research & Engineering (1955–1957). In 1957 rebranded to The Magazine of Datamation (from the issue no. 7), in 1959 the name finally changed to Datamation (from the issue no. 3). When Datamation was first launched in 1957, it was not clear there would be a significant market for a computer magazine given how few computers there were. The idea for the magazine came from Donald Prell who was Vice President of Application Engineering at 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. Thompson Publications of Chicago agreed to publish the magazine. It was later acquired by Technical Publications. In 1970, The New York Times referred to "12-year-old Datamation, the acknowledged leader in the field." 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), terminated print publication of Datamation 41 years after its first issue went to press, the online version, Datamation.