Christopher Dunn is a computer enthusiast noted for his involvement with

CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...

, and for the first high-profile online courtship leading to marriage in the United States.

CompuServe contributions

Around 1980, Dunn discovered

, an early online service popular with owners of

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...

s. He served as the

sysop A sysop (; an abbreviation of system operator) is an administrator of a multi-user computer system, such as a bulletin board system (BBS) or an online service virtual community.Jansen, E. & James,V. (2002). NetLingo: the Internet dictionary. Netl ...

of CBIG, a special interest group for users of CompuServe's CB Simulator chat service, where he went by the handle "Chrisdos". Dunn was the author of MU, an unofficial menu and mail notification program that ran on CompuServe's DEC PDP servers. (By 1984, it was no longer possible for customers to install and run server-side programs; MU was the sole exception.) In 1985, Dunn authored

CBterm/C64 CBterm/C64, commonly referred to as CBterm, is a terminal emulator for the Commodore 64, authored by Christopher "Chrisdos" Dunn. CBterm bears a copyright date of 1985; version 5.0 of the software was released in early 1987 and is coded entirely ...

, a terminal emulator for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

noted for its ability to directly display CompuServe's RLE graphics.

Online dating

In 1982, Dunn met Pamela Jensen through the CB Simulator. At the time, the 26-year-old Dunn lived in Queens, where he dialled into CompuServe using a Heathkit CRT terminal and a Teletype Model 33. Jensen, whose handle " Zebra 3" was borrowed from ''

Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...

'', was 30 years old and working in Chicago as an animal keeper at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The two soon hit it off and began exchanging private messages. They met in person for the first time on April 23, 1982, when Dunn flew to Chicago to attend a house party hosted by Jensen. Both were immediately smitten, and on their next visit, Dunn proposed. At the time, online dating was in its infancy, and the pair's online courtship caused a nationwide media sensation. The couple appeared on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'', '' The Phil Donahue Show'', and ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

'', and were the subject of articles in several newspapers and magazines, including '' The New York Times''. "Cupid and Computers Conquer All", a biographical article in the '' Chicago Tribune'', was released on the AP wire and widely reprinted in the American and international press. The couple married in April 1983, a year after their first real-life meeting, in a small civil ceremony attended by three friends and five television news crews. Dunn left his job with a security firm in New York City and moved in with Pam in Chicago, where he became the technical operations manager of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Though commentators—including Dunn's father—were initially sure that the marriage wouldn't last, the couple celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2008. Though Dunn and Jensen's online courtship was the first to receive widespread media coverage in the United States, the couple did not exchange vows electronically. Shortly before his own real-life wedding, however, Dunn attended what may have been the world's first

online wedding Something most often seen in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), online weddings date all the way back to the beginning of online communities and early online games such as MUDs. Two people who wish their avatars, or characte ...

, held on CompuServe's CB channel 14 for George "Mike" Stickles and Debbie "Silver" Fuhrman.

References

External links

Centaur of the Universe
Dunn's personal website {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Christopher American computer programmers Living people People from Queens, New York People from Chicago Year of birth missing (living people) CompuServe