How Computer Jagat remains the longest-running IT magazine in the country

A green map of Bangladesh looks like a horse with a computer riding it and a wicked man cutting the end of the reins as if to impede the speed of the country. In May 1991, the first edition of the monthly Computer Jagat magazine appeared with this cover designed by prominent cartoonist Ahsan Habib. 

The slogan was 'Jonogoner Haatey Computer' or computer in the hands of common people. It was also the cover story, written by prominent journalist Nazim Uddin Mostan, who reported on ICT in Bangla in the 1990s.  

Envisioned and founded by Professor M A Kader, Computer Jagat is the country's longest-running IT magazine in Bangla. In the 1980s, a Bangla IT magazine titled 'Karigor' gained fame in the market but it couldn't create as much of an impact as Computer Jagat. 

During the pandemic, advertisement revenues stopped flowing in and in April 2020, the last printed copy of the magazine was published from its office in Dhanmondi. 

At present, Computer Jagat is operated by a 16-member team and runs only online. 

"You will get the PDF copy of the magazine in our archive section, free of cost. We also have an app where you will get the copies," said Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu, Executive Editor of Computer Jagat. 

The magazine started for Tk10 in 1991, which rose to Tk70 in 2020. That year, circulation was 15,000.  

"You could say that we are running on a subsidiary basis. We get a couple of small advertisements, but other than that, the magazine doesn't have any revenue. Every day, we upload up to 20 content, totalling more than 600 content [monthly] and attracting over 500,000 visitors and over 200,000 Facebook engagements every month.  

Their content includes product reviews, company openings, IT development, apps, new software and hardware etc. 

In 2010, the magazine team conducted a survey where they saw that 70% of their main customer base was the youth, 15% the business community and the rest were policy makers etc. 

According to the 2023 report of DFP (Department of Film and Publication), there are 13 fortnightly, 16 monthly magazines and one quarterly published in Bangladesh. Also, 63 weekly newspapers and magazines are published all over the country, although the report does not distinguish which ones are newspapers and which are magazines.  

Some of the magazines and publications have been running for the longest period. For example, Krira Jagat (1982), Desh (1977), Nirikkha (1980) and Robbar (1979) among others. 

That being said, Computer Jagat remains the longest-running IT magazine in the country. 

1996-2000: The golden years

Starting in 1991, Computer Jagat has seen its bad days, so much so that the current publisher of the magazine Nazma Kader, wife of the founder Professor Abdul Kader, had to sell her jewellery to pay the bills. 

"We didn't have many advertisements back then. Also, we had a policy that we would not publish advertisements of companies that are not IT or computer-related," Anu said.   

If you scroll through the pages, you won't actually find any commercial advertisements. For example, the June 1994 edition of the magazine had seven advertisements by Micrologist Systems and Solutions, Ananta Jyoti- a compose, laser printing and data entry shop, Computer Centre, Maple Computers, Infotech Limited, Bangladesh Computers and Engineers and Computerline.   

In 1996, the government announced that there would be no tax on computers. That is when the magazine started getting huge advertisements from international computer brands like HP. 

"Those who could invest in a computer didn't have the manual to operate one. So, other than CSE students and teachers, people had no instructors to teach them. Since Computer Jagat wrote about programming, software, databases, policies regarding ICT etc, people subscribed to this magazine, especially because there was no Google back then to search for tutorials," said Anu.  

Photo: Noor A Alam

"By the mid-1990s, the combined efforts of young people from middle- and lower-middle-class families expanded the business of computers and its components in the country, with the direct and indirect influence of the magazine Computer Jagat. 

Early on, a few computer dealers were involved in the distributor business. But in the history of information technology development in this country, the initiative to bring computer parts to the country, which is built around the Elephant Road, has no chance of being overlooked. Computer Jagat printed those store ads cheaply, even for free," Reza Selim, director of the Amader Gram project wrote in one of his articles published in 2018.

In 2010, the government announced that the subject of communication and information technology would be mandatory in the school and college curriculum. 

"What happened is while people living in the urban areas had access to technology and the internet, students in the rural areas did not. Internet was not so available. Then they started to subscribe to our magazine. We started including question solutions for school and college students," Anu said.   

In 2010, the magazine started publishing content on outsourcing and freelancing. There was a customer base who subscribed to it only to learn outsourcing. The cover story of the April 2011 edition was on outsourcing opportunities in the telecom and VOIP industry.             

According to the team, the magazine was not just an information-providing publication, it was more than that. "We organised roundtables with policymakers, e-commerce fairs and trades to encourage IT companies and entrepreneurs," Anu said.   

Pre-Google information sourcing

The pool of writers and contributors who contributed to the first edition in May 1991 included Md Azizur Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Computer Council, Md Ibrahim, professor of the department of physics at Dhaka University, Dr Syed Mahbub Rahman, head of the CSE department at Buet, Nirmal Chandra Chowdhury, head of a computer instructing organisation, CSE students who were pursuing their higher education abroad, and dealers and distributors of international brands like Samsung etc. 

"Professionals, teachers and students were the only source of information for us who knew about the [IT] sector. Other than that, we didn't have options to search for content ideas," Anu said.

But then a source was found. Professor Abdul Kader had a friend who worked for the World Bank (WB) in Bangladesh. "The WB office subscribed to international magazines such as  PC Magazine, PC Quest, PC World, Business Week, Times etc. Mr Kader used to borrow these for a week every month and we had to study them. 

There was so much content that we could not finish reading in just a week. So, we used to make copies of those magazines and that's how we got information about the industry," said Anu.      

When they finalised the content list for the month's edition, they would go to Ahsan Habib for the cover art. He would listen to their ideas and create the designs. 

Arranging for photographs was a bit difficult because it was the pre-Google period. The magazine team used to visit computer shops, distributors, university labs etc to take photographs of the devices. 

March 1993 edition was the last edition where the magazine used regular Bangla fonts for its name. The April edition featured their present logo, which was created by a designer called Nirjhor. "Kader Sir wanted the adjacent letters Ma and Pa to be separated so that it is easier to type," Anu said.  

"In the beginning, when we adapted to international writing, we struggled with vocabulary. The IT-related words are all in English and there have been so many discussions on whether we should keep the original word in Bangla or translate it. We wanted people to become familiar with the industry so we avoided translating and using the word as it is," he added. 

He said that the struggle has only deepened over time. "With the advancement of technology and speed of information, we are constantly asking ourselves how we can stay relevant. We have several plans and ideas. Hopefully, we will be able to execute them next year, when we bring our magazine in print version again."  

The beginning

Professor Mohammad Abdul Kader was a government college teacher. But he was passionate about science and technology. In 1964, when he was in school, he brought out a science magazine for the children named 'Tore Tokka' (resembling the Morse code). 

In 1987, Professor Kader participated in a computer course and gradually became interested in computers and related areas. It was around that time he had an idea of publishing a computer magazine in Bangla.

Photo: Noor A Alam

The basic idea was to make people aware of information and communication technology (ICT) and educate future generations on computers and related areas, in Bangla. 

In May 1991, the first edition of the monthly 'Computer Jagat' was published. The publisher was Nazma Kader as Professor Kader was a government employee.

Using the magazine as a platform, he initiated the country's first computer programming contest, the first internet fair and several other firsts of the same kind. He was made the project director when the Ministry of Education took up the initiative of distributing computers in schools across the country. 

Computer Jagat is associated with several well-known IT personalities in the country like Mustafa Jabbar, Dr Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Professor Mohammad Kaykobad and Nazim Uddin Mostan among many others.

"One of Kader Bhai's most interesting works was how to bring this technology to the common man. And Mostan Bhai was beside him. Bhuiyan Inam Lenin, who later started a publication called 'Computer Bichitra,' became popular with us for his introductory writings on computers. In my view, Lenin bhai and Mostan Bhai took Kader Bhai's dream a long way," said Reza Selim in the 2018 published article.

After Professor Kader's demise in 2003, Nazma Kader got fully involved with the magazine. During the initial years of the magazine, she was involved in the management of the magazine, overseeing its business aspects. But when Professor Kader became ill in 1999, she had to take over completely.

Nazma Kader had the constant support of a team comprising former editor Golap Munir, former assistant editor Moinuddin Mahmud Swapan, and the current executive editor Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu. 

"Moreover, a great many well-wishers that Professor Kader brought together in his lifetime did not want the magazine to be shut down. Some of the industry's leading personalities like Mustafa Jabbar, Dr Jamilur Reza Choudhury and Professor Mohammad Kaykobad extended their support to keep the magazine operational," said Muhammed Abdul Wahed Tomal, son of Abdul Kader and Nazma Kader and the current managing director and CEO of the magazine.  

He joined the team in 2007. "His first initiative for the magazine was to digitalise the previous editions. It took us three years to complete the archiving," Anu said. 

In 2010, the Computer Jagat team completed the online archive of all its 360 editions of 30 years. 

On the archive, Anu said, "It is an asset, a historical recording. Because Computer Jagat is the only magazine that has been documenting the evolution of the IT industry in Bangladesh for the last 30 years."  

Currently, they are trying to make revenue from online and they also have a plan to resume the print versions in March next year. Tomal said, "We ventured into live broadcasting service way back in 2009 when even Facebook was comparatively new in Bangladesh."

The same year, they also formed Comjagat Technologies Ltd, offering tech solutions in areas such as fintech, e-learning etc, which was awarded the Monthon Award in 2009. Later on, they also received the Service Innovation award from A2i.

In 2013, the Computer Jagat team organised the country's first-ever e-commerce fair, along with the ICT Division and the Office of the District Commissioner in Dhaka. Later on, they organised e-commerce fairs in other districts.  

E-Cab, the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh, started from the Computer Jagat office in 2014 before getting government registration in 2015. Tomal was the founder general secretary of the association with Razib Ahmed being its founder president.  

Print vs online

The 'print versus online' is a classic question that the publication industry has been grappling with since the late 1990s. The pandemic made it more prominent than ever before. 

"Yet, I see a lot of optimism around the print media. Although we had to stop the printed edition, we have a plan to resume it next year," Tomal said. 

Anu agreed and said, "The current market situation is a bit tense due to inflation. We will not get the revenue from advertisements to run the prints. We are waiting for the election and the economy to be a bit stable. After that, we would decide the time to resume." 

They have a plan to circulate printed copies to different institutions including schools, colleges and universities. The duo agrees on the fact that online media has created new windows for monetising content which, in turn, can patronise the print media. 

"Speaking of our own experience with Computer Jagat, I can tell you that we had far more challenges to overcome in the 1990s to make it financially sustainable than what we face today. This is all about striking the right chord at the right time to balance between print and online," they said.  

Computer Jagat – a magazine and an IT firm?

"You can call it both. First and foremost, it is an IT magazine, currently operating online. Besides we have two other business initiatives that come under Comjagat Technologies Ltd," Tomal said. 

One is Gocon which provides live streaming and live webcast solutions, such as virtual AGM, EGM, Townhall, Earning Disclosure etc for big companies listed in the stock exchange commission. The other is Brandella, which offers complete digital marketing solutions to business enterprises.

"Basically, we are trying to develop a revenue model with which we can ensure the sustainability of the magazine, especially the print version, in the years to come. We do have a few other ideas in the pipeline that we are going to work on," he further added.