Bekir Kemal Ataman's Involvement in Publishing

My first encounter with the publishing world goes back to the time I was translating articles on computers and computing for Cagdas Buro and Egitimde Bilgisayar, and on Business Management for Karizma, published by Ronesans Reklam, Yayin, Fuarcilik.

However, the time I learnt most about publishing was when I translated part of a book on journal publishing and printing, in July 1984, for Karacan group of publishers. Unfortunately, the book was never printed and was used in-house all this time.

So I had to rely on what I could remember when I published, edited—with the help of students and graduates, and personally financed the bi-monthly Archimedia—the first and the only Archives and Records Management Journal/Newsletter in Turkey until recently; distributed free of charge to 350 subscribers—from May 1993 to May 1998 almost without interruption.

In the spring of 1995 my motorbike was stolen. Having recovered its cost from the insurance company, I decided to invest the money in publishing two books I had prepared and had been waiting to be published by the University, one of them for seven years and the other for five years. So, I asked a close friend to be the "official" publisher for tax purposes and settled in getting the books ready for printing. My colleagues at the Department requested me to help in getting their books to be published, too. So, I ended up financing five books. The investment turned into a dead one for various reasons (mainly because the books of my colleagues did not sell) but I had a good chance to learn how the publishing world worked in practice.

When the managing editor of Macworld Turkiye suggested to divide the booklet I had written on modems and bulletin board systems and to publish it as a series of articles in the journal, my carrier as a journal editor began. For four full years after that, I stayed on the editorial board of the journal, suggesting topics to be covered, helping select articles, commenting and criticizing on the articles and translations as well as the layout, in addition to authoring my "Electronic Communications School" pages.

My involvement in publishing is carried through my web site nowadays. Although the basic idea is the same—conveying ideas—I find web publishing a brand new world, where I learn something new everyday.