The eBay Reader

Editors: Ken Hillis, Michael Petit, Nathan Epley

This anthology, under contract with Routledge and scheduled for Spring
2006 publication, is the first book-length academic inquiry within the
humanities into the cultural implications of eBay. The essays collected
analyze specific socio-economic, cultural and political practices
engendered by eBay; the site's structural organization, material/technical
interface, and cultural appeal; the "experience economy" eBay has been
central in developing and promoting; and the kinds of cultural changes
this has wrought to aspects of everyday life.The collection is
accessible for a range of readers (including literate lay readers) and
includes shorter critical and historical essays that set the context and
develop a single point as well as longer, more complex theoretical
analyses and arguments.

To compliment the essays already selected, we seek four to five additional
pieces that specifically focus on the following aspects of eBay:

1. eBay folklore. There are countless stories of oddities being bought,
sold and banned on eBay, from an individual's soul to parts of crashed
aircraft to kidneys available for sale. We seek work from any theoretical
point of view that examines eBay folklore and myth.

2. Political-economy approaches. For example, eBay as "perfect market,"
eBay as a post-crash surviving remnant of the "new economy." We
especially seek work with an international scope, including the global
reach of eBay, international transactions, and eBay-owned auction sites
based in different countries and contexts than the United States.

3. eBay camp and kitsch any aspect.

4. Short (3,000 word) case studies of individuals using eBay for academic
or professional purposes such as data collection or gathering artifacts
for research.

5. Short (3,000 word) analytic essays on specific eBay fandom/collecting
cultures, eBay's relation to other sites of internet culture, or eBay's
individuating address and user feedback system.

We welcome email enquires. We need proposals of approximately 500 words
(in MS Word, Word Perfect, or RTF format) sent to Michael Petit at
mepetit@duke.edu by 20 December 2004. Drafts of accepted essays due 1
Feb, 2005.