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In 1964, Ball changed the name of her marriage bureau to the St. James
Computer Dating Service, and the bureau ran its first set of computer match ups in 1964. Ball used a time-shared computer and acquired a matching program that would pair couples based on questionnaire responses. This made Ball's
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In 1961, she met a man she refers to in her memoir as
Kenneth. Kenneth later became her romantic and business partner, though they were never married. After the launch of Com-Pat ll, the two struggled financially and personally and ultimately separated after eight years together.
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In 1965, Ball merged her company with another marriage bureau to form Com-Pat, or
Computer Dating Services Ltd. Shortly after the merger, Ball bought out her co-owner's shares, making her sole owner. Ball advertised in
212:." Ball's company focused on long term match-ups and relationships—primarily trying to achieve marriages for clients—and catered to an older crowd who were looking to settle down or who had been previously
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176:(although not diagnosed until she was 39) and struggled in school. In 1949, Ball finished her last year of school and got a job as a shop assistant at The
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to the countryside to escape the aerial bombardments. Joan was sexually harassed by one of the foster families with whom she lived in the countryside.
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Joan Ball, born in 1934, was the 6th child in her working-class family. She was abandoned by her mother when she was very young. During
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In 1970, Com-Pat Two was launched. The system used a questionnaire, and gave a list of four of the top matches at the end.
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In 1971, a Post Office strike halted all mail and prevented business operations for almost eight weeks. The
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attempt, after which she lived with her aunt and uncle. The same year, at the age of 19, she was hired at
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At this time Ball was running both Com-Pat and Eros, ultimately selling Eros to focus on Com-Pat.
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service the first commercially successful computer dating service in either the UK or the US.
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in 1964. Notably, it also pre-dated the earliest
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from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially
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142:(born 1934) is a British businesswoman who started the first
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Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and
Technology
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