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Social media pioneer Ward Christensen dies

Considered one of the architects of social networks as we know them today, Ward Christensen died at the age of 78.

The co-inventor of the Computer Bulletin Board System, considered the first social network, died at the age of 78 after a heart attack. Ward Christensen died on October 11, 2024 at his home in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, his brother announced.

While he was an engineer at IBM in 1975 – a company where he worked until his retirement in 2012 – he began working on a solution to send information between two computers over telephone lines. But it was in 1978 when everything accelerated.

As the New York Times reports, it was the snow storm in January of the same year, which affected Chicago and its surroundings, that motivated Ward Christensen and his friend Randy Suess to design a messaging system, in the style of a notice board in town halls. .

The creator of the ancestor of the forums.

In the ancestor of the Internet, the activity this will create will be significant enough for the project to evolve. “BBS” ​​​​will very quickly become essential places on the Web, gaining in functionality over the years. In particular, we can exchange documents, share videos or even have fun with friends in role-playing games.

Before forums, before MSN, long before Messenger or Whatsapp, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess were pioneers of a new way of sharing, no matter where you live.

Ward Christensen also received three awards. The first two times, in 1992, for his “outstanding contribution to the telecommunications machinery”, and in 1993, a Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, for having imagined a means of information exchange on the Internet.

A documentary chronicling their adventure was published and can be seen on YouTube. After retiring from IBM, he joined the nonprofit Build-a-Blinkie to teach soldering techniques to repair electronic components.

Author: Sylvain Trinel
Source: BFM TV

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