Thomas Daniel Jennings (born 1955) is a Los Angeles-based artist and

computer programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles ''software developer'' and ''software engineer'' are used for jobs that require a progr ...

, known for his work that led to

FidoNet __ / \ /, oo \ (_, /_) _`@/_ \ _ , , \ \\ , (*) , \ )) ______ , __U__, / \// / FI ...

(the first message and file networking

bulletin board system A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running list of BBS software, software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user perfor ...

, or BBS), and for his work at Phoenix Software on

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

integration and

interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader de ...

Work

In 1983, Jennings created the Fido program, which spawned

FidoNet __ / \ /, oo \ (_, /_) _`@/_ \ _ , , \ \\ , (*) , \ )) ______ , __U__, / \// / FI ...

, the first message and file networking

(BBS). The FidoNet protocols were authored by Jennings in the Fido program, and they were ultimately implemented by numerous authors in other software to create the full BBS, network using a multiplicity of platforms. Aside from creating the protocol for networking BBSes, Jennings: built ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

''s first internet presence; wrote the portable

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is a type of firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization d ...

that led to

Phoenix Technologies Phoenix Technologies Ltd. is an American company that designs, develops and supports core system software for personal computers and other computing devices. The company's products commonly referred to as BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) or fir ...

BIOS, contributing to on

integration and

; ran an early regional internet service providerThe Little Garden (later incorporated as TLGnet, Inc); and maintains an informal archive of

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

science and technology. From 1988 until 1991, while he lived in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, Jennings was the publisher and co-editor, with

Deke Nihilson Daniel "Deke" Frontino Elash (born January 2, 1968) is an American zine editor, musician, actor, activist and historian. In 1988, Nihilson and Tom Jennings met at the Anarchist Survival Gathering in Toronto. Shortly thereafter they began publishing ...

, of '' Homocore'', one of the earliest

Queercore Queercore (or homocore) is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically ...

zines A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

. The name came from the pages of ''

J.D.s ''J.D.s'' was a Canadian queer punk zine which started in 1985 and ran for eight issues until 1991. The zine was co-authored by G.B Jones and Bruce LaBruce and is credited as being one of the first and most influential queer zines. The zine's co ...

'' zine, and featured musicians and writers such as The Apostles, Steve Abbott,

Donna Dresch Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch. Dresch has been actively involved in the queercore scene since the 1980s, as the creator of the fanzine ''Chainsaw'' and ...

Larry Livermore Lawrence Hayes (born October 28, 1947), better known by his stage name Larry Livermore, is an American singer, musician, record producer, and author, best known as the co-founder of Lookout Records. Biography In 1977, Hayes began to attend punk ...

Daniel Nicoletta Daniel Nicoletta (born December 23, 1954) is an Italian-American photographer, photojournalist and gay rights activist. Biography Daniel Nicoletta was born in New York City and raised in Utica, New York. In his late teens he left New York to at ...

and G. B. Jones. The co-editors' other activities, such as organizing ''Homocore'' shows where bands such as

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They were noted for their style-transc ...

and

Beat Happening Beat Happening was an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-f ...

appeared, and writing for and creating other publications, helped popularize the Queercore movement in the United states and internationally.

Popular culture

In 2002, Jennings was interviewed for the series '' BBS: The Documentary'', released online (partial content) and to

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

format (full content) in 2005.

Personal life

In a 1996 Wired article he was described as a "homo punk activist" and "anarchist". In a 1993 issue of FringeWare Review interview, he described himself as "a fag anarcho nerd troublemaker/activist".

References

External links

* *
"The Anarchist"
by Paulina Borsook. ''Wired.com''. (April 1, 1996) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Tom 1955 births Living people Queercore FidoNet University of California, Irvine people LGBTQ people from California LGBTQ people from Massachusetts People from Boston People from Los Angeles Internet pioneers American anarchists