He was an active participant in the Bulletin Board System (BBS) communities in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area in Michigan where his family had moved.

He was all that time an active employee of the CU Academic Information Systems (AcIS), serving for one year as a Postmaster and Consultant for Electronic Mail.

Hauben was co-author of the book Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet, a draft of which was put online in 1994.

In the Preface to Netizens, Hauben wrote: My initial research concerned the origins and development of the global discussion forum Usenet....I wanted to explore the larger Net and what it was and its significance.

[4]His 1993 article "Common Sense: The Impact the Net Has on People's Lives"[5] was an analysis of responses Hauben received to questions he posted on newsgroups and mailing lists.

While still an undergraduate, Hauben began to develop a theoretical framework for his vision of the social impact of the net and the netizens.

"[7] Using a similar method of analysis, Hauben found insights about the Internet in the understandings of the 19th Century Scottish philosopher James Mill about the importance of "liberty of the press".

Hauben was invited to Japan in 1995 by Shumpei Kumon, sociology professor and director of GLOCOM (the Japanese Center for Global Communication).

[9] In Japan, Hauben was welcomed in Tokyo at GLOCOM and then in Oita by members of COARA,[10] the computer network community in Beppu.

Throughout his stay in Japan, Hauben met Japanese computer and network enthusiasts to discuss the growing importance of this new medium and his vision of netizenship.

He studied the Port Huron Statement created in 1962 by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and other sources to see what lessons he could learn about the 1960s that would help to understand the importance of the Internet and the emergence of the netizens.

Hauben's conclusion was that "the development of the Internet and emergence of the netizens is an investment in a strong force towards making direct democracy a reality.

Boldur Barbat, a Romanian scientist, reviewed Netizens concluding it is a catalyst for the continuing of information technology and an optimistic future.

[20] Citing Hauben's work, Cameroonian sociologist Charly G Mbock[21] saw netizenship as a necessary component of any fight against corruption and as a sign of hope for "a more equitable sharing of world resources through efficient interactions."

Turkish educator Dr. E. Özlem Yiğit and Palestinian scholar Khaled Islaih also referred to Hauben as a source of their understandings of the importance of netizenship for their respective communities.

The second usage is closer to my understanding,... people who care about Usenet and the bigger Net and work towards building the cooperative and collective nature which benefits the larger world.

As more and more people join the online community and contribute towards the nurturing of the Net and towards the development of a great shared social wealth, the ideas and values of Netizenship spread.

He called on scholars, "to look back at the pioneering vision and actions that have helped make the Net possible and examine what lessons they provide."

"[25] After sustaining injuries resulting from an accident where he was hit by a taxi,[26] Hauben died in New York City on June 27, 2001,[27] a victim of suicide.

[citation needed] At the time of his death, he had lost a job, accumulated a large credit card debt, and was about to lose his apartment.

[26] The significance of Hauben's contribution to the appreciation of the emergence of the netizen is a deeper sense that the Internet is accompanied by an expansion of the fullness of human empowerment.