Harvard Computer Society Plays Cupid

Love bytes, technology helps. This week, the Harvard Computer Society (HCS) launched the latest edition of Datamatch, an online survey that finds compatible mates for lovelorn Harvard students.

On Valentine’s Day, participants will receive an e-mail containing a list of students to whom they are well-suited.

Datamatch has been a perennial favorite since 1996, with over 1,000 students participating each year, according to the former president of HCS, Greg N. Price ’06-’07.

This year’s survey features 31 quirky questions that force lonely hearts to choose whether they prefer Shrek to Roald Dahl’s “BFG” or “savage poking” to news feed voyeurism.

But HCS hasn’t lost sight of its scientific foundation. Respondents are also asked about their favorite e-mail program and the solution to “U + ME.”

Responses are processed through a computer algorithm that measures compatibility between students.

“We tweak the algorithm every year based on our collection of thousands of students’ data,” Price said.

According to Price, Datamatch traces its lineage back to 1965, when the world’s very first computer dating service, Operation Match, was founded at Harvard.

Datamatch differs from Operation Match in both its scope and levity.

In its first year, over 7,800 New England college students paid to have Operation Match pair them up, according to a Crimson article at the time. Datamatch’s predecessor also strived to make lasting pairs based on traits like prestige, security, power, and IQ.

Jeff C. Tarr ’96, the son of one of Operation Match’s founders, helped launch the venture that has become Datamatch, said Price. HCS has been running the program since 1996.

While Datamatch’s popularity is evident, its success rate is undocumented. Though Price surmises that most people don’t act on their results, he added that every year he hears about people who do contact their suggested soulmates and even venture on a date.

Regardless of whether their end is humor or love, “people find some value in us,” Price said.

Datamatch will be open until midnight on Valentine’s Day.

—Staff writer Jillian M. Bunting can be reached at jbunting@fas.harvard.edu.