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Psychonaut (talk | contribs) Psychonaut moved page Christopher Dunn to Christopher Dunn (engineer): restore to original title, and to make room for an article on another, more notable Christopher Dunn |
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{{short description|British writer and computer enthusiast}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Christopher Dunn
| other_names = Chris Dunn, Chrisdos
| image =
| image_size =
| caption = Christopher Dunn and Pamela Jensen, shown here in a dot-matrix printout of a [[run-length encoding|CompuServe RLE]] graphic
| birth_date = ca. 1956<ref name="tribune1983" />
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Computer technician
| spouse = Pamela Jensen
| parents =
}}
'''Christopher Dunn''' is a computer enthusiast noted for his involvement with [[CompuServe]], and for the first high-profile [[online dating service|online courtship]] leading to marriage in the United States.
== CompuServe contributions ==
Around 1980, Dunn discovered [[CompuServe]], an early [[online service]] popular with owners of [[8-bit]] [[microcomputer]]s.<ref name="tribune1983" /> He served as the [[sysop]] of CBIG, a [[special interest group]] for users of CompuServe's [[CB Simulator]] chat service, where he went by the [[pseudonym|handle]] "Chrisdos".<ref name="transactor7_3" /><ref name="glossbrenner" /> Dunn was the author of MU, an unofficial menu and [[e-mail|mail]] notification program that ran on CompuServe's [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[Programmed Data Processor|PDP]] servers. (By 1984, it was no longer possible for customers to install and run server-side programs; MU was the sole exception.)<ref name="glossbrenner" /> In 1985, Dunn authored [[CBterm/C64]], a [[terminal emulator]] for the [[Commodore 64]] noted for its ability to directly display CompuServe's [[run-length encoding|RLE]] graphics.<ref name="run" />
== 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]]'', 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.<ref name="tribune1983" />
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]]'', ''[[The Phil Donahue Show]]'', and ''[[20/20 (U.S. TV series)|20/20]]'', and were the subject of articles in several newspapers and magazines, including ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name="tribune2008" /><ref name="nyt" /> "Cupid and Computers Conquer All", a biographical article in the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', was released on the [[Associated Press|AP wire]] and widely reprinted in the American and international press.<ref name="paperclips" />
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.<ref name="nyt" /><ref name="tribune2008" /> 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]].<ref name="nyt" /><ref name="tribune2008" /> Though commentators—including Dunn's father—were initially sure that the marriage wouldn't last, the couple celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2008.<ref name="tribune2008" />
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]], held on CompuServe's CB channel 14 for George "Mike" Stickles and Debbie "Silver" Fuhrman.<ref name="infoworld" /><ref name="people" />
== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="glossbrenner">{{cite magazine |author-last=Glossbrenner |author-first=Alfred |title=Tricks of the On-line Trade |magazine=[[PC Magazine]] |date=October 16, 1984 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=msSKK7cn2K4C&q=%22chrisdos%22&pg=PA179 |access-date=2015-12-11 |pages=177–192}}</ref>
<ref name="transactor7_3">{{cite journal |author=<!-- Staff writer; no byline --> |title=News BRK |pages=77–80 |journal=[[The Transactor]] |volume=7 |number=3 |access-date=2015-12-06 |url=https://csbruce.com/cbm/transactor/pdfs/trans_v7_i03.pdf |publisher=[[Transactor Publishing]] |date=1987}}</ref>
<ref name="run">{{cite journal |author-last=Lovhaug |author-first=Loren |title=Telecomputing Workshop |journal=[[Run (magazine)|Run]] |date=1989 |volume=6 |number=5 |pages=67–68 |publisher=[[IDG Communications]] |issn=0741-4285 |url=https://archive.org/details/run-magazine-65 |access-date=2015-12-06}}</ref>
<ref name="infoworld">{{cite journal |author=<!-- Staff writer; no byline --> |title=The CompuServe Wedding Ceremony |pages=8 |journal=[[InfoWorld]] |volume=5 |number=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-i8EAAAAMBAJ&q=chrisdos&pg=PA8 |date=1983}}</ref>
<ref name="people">{{cite magazine |last=Hart |first=Lianne |date=June 20, 1983 |title=A Computer Wedding |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085317,00.html |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |access-date=2015-12-06 }}</ref>
<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |last=Lasden |first=Martin |title=Of Bytes and Bulletin Boards |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 4, 1985 |access-date=2015-12-06 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/04/magazine/of-bytes-and-bulletin-boards.html}}</ref>
<ref name="tribune1983">{{cite news |last=Lipinski |first=Ann Marie |title=Cupid and computers conquer all |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=January 26, 1983 }}</ref>
<ref name="tribune2008">{{cite news |last=Stevens |first=Heidi |title=Chicago couple among the first to connect via the Internet |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=May 18, 2008 |access-date=2015-12-06 |url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-05-18/features/0805140486_1_25th-computer-met|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511225031/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-05-18/features/0805140486_1_25th-computer-met|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 11, 2014}}</ref>
<ref name="paperclips">{{cite web |title=Chrisdos Zebra3 Paper Clips |website=centaur.org |url=https://www.centaur.org/chrisdos/paperclips.html |access-date=2015-12-06}}</ref>
}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.centaur.org Centaur of the Universe], Dunn's personal website
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Christopher}}
[[Category:American computer programmers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Queens, New York]]
[[Category:People from Chicago]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:CompuServe]]
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