Special Issue 5/1/02                                      Volume 11 No. 1
           In Memory of Michael Hauben: Discoverer of Netizens
 
[4] [Editor's Note: The following is taken from a longer Eulogy
in TELEPOLIS at: http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/9180/1.html ]

    An Introduction to the Work And Life of Michael Hauben
                        (1973-2001)
                                      by John Horvath
                                      h8801joh@helka.iif.hu
                                                                         

Outside the community of netizens, Michael Hauben was not very well
known. His name was not splashed across the front pages of newspapers
or propagated through mainstream broadcast media. Even in "cyberspace"
he was relatively unknown, like most of us. Nevertheless, his words
and ideas have had a profound effect on all those who regularly use
the Internet, whether they realise it or not. Indeed, in Europe it was
the foundation to what is now commonly referred to throughout member
states and accession countries, not to mention the European Commission
itself, as the "information society".

In a 1992 article entitled "The Net and Netizens: The Impact the Net
Has on People's Lives", Michael Hauben wrote the following:
   Welcome to the 21st Century. You are a Netizen (a Net
   Citizen), and you exist as a citizen of the world thanks to
   the global connectivity that the Net makes possible. You
   consider everyone as your compatriot. You physically live in
   one country but you are in contact with much of the world via
   the global computer network. Virtually, you live next door to
   every other single Netizen in the world. Geographical
   separation is replaced by existence in the same virtual space.

With these words the concept of a "Netizen" was introduced and quickly
spread into popular use. Later, in a book called Netizens: On the
History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet, co-authored by Ronda
Hauben, herself a renown Netizen and ardent critic of ICANN, Michael
Hauben elaborated his concept:
   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. This is
   when my research uncovered the remaining details that helped
   me to recognize the emergence of Netizens. There are people 
   online who actively contribute towards the development of the
   Net. These people understand the value of collective work and
   the communal aspects of public communications. These are the
   people who discuss and debate topics in a constructive manner,
   who e-mail answers to people and provide help to new-comers,
   who maintain FAQ files and other public information
   repositories, who maintain mailing lists, and so on. These are
   people who discuss the nature and role of this new
   communications medium.
   
   These are the people who act as citizens of the Net.
   
Although in global terms Michael Hauben may be relatively unknown, the
words and ideas he introduced, embodied in the term Netizen, is
something which in retrospect seems as a matter of course and a
natural part of our language and civic discourse (other such concepts
include the Cold War, for instance, which was coined by a French
journalist). The ability to develop such a concept and introduce it
into daily use, which then remains as an integral part of our
intellectual heritage, betrays an insight akin to that of what we
generally consider to be a great thinker.

Despite not being a pop-icon, Michael Hauben's influence extended far
and wide. He was invited to Japan to speak about his ideas, and he
appeared in documentaries about the Internet on TV Tokyo. He also was
frequently consulted to comment on the growing importance of the
Internet as a new democratic communications medium. Not surprisingly,
his co-authored book "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet
and the Internet" is published not only in an English but in Japanese
as well.

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Reprinted from the Amateur Computerist Vol 11 No 1, May 1, 2002. 
The whole issue or a subscription is available for free via email. 
Send a request to jrh@ais.org  or see  http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/
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