> From: Cyberspace and Society
> [mailto:CYBERSPACE-AND-SOCIETY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK]On
> Behalf Of Rebecca Ellis
> Sent: 23 February 2005 14:56
> To: CYBERSPACE-AND-SOCIETY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> Subject: Re: CFP: Cultures of eBay conference,
> University of Essex,
> 24th-25th August 2005
>
>
> Apologies for cross-posting. Please disseminate
> widely.
>
> This is a call for papers, posters, and expressions
> of interest in
> attending a two-day conference at the University of
> Essex, UK:
>
>
***************************************************************************
>
> Cultures of eBay: making sense of social and
> economic aspects of the
> eBay 'phenomenon'
>
> August 24th-25th 2005, Colchester, University of
> Essex
>
> http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/culturesofebay.html
>
>
***************************************************************************
>
>
> Conference background
>
> This is the first independent UK conference which
> aims to look at the
> cultural, social and economic aspects of eBay. As
> such, this e-mail asks
> for early expressions of interest in attending, as
> well as being a call
> for papers and posters, in order to gauge the demand
> for this one-off
> conference. The idea for this conference originated
> from an ongoing ESRC
> project (RES-000-23-0433) at Chimera, a department
> of the University of
> Essex, which began in February 2004 and is due to
> end in January 2006.
> Results of this research project will be
> disseminated at the conference.
>
> The overall aim of this conference is to bring
> together academics, and
> practitioner groups from both business and the
> voluntary sector, to
> explore and 'make sense' of the cultural, social and
> economic aspects and
> implications of eBay, the Internet auction site.
>
>
> Background to eBay
>
> This conference explores a phenomenally successful
> form of e-commerce, the
> Internet auction. Specifically, the conference
> will concentrate on one
> such Internet auction site, eBay - chosen for its
> market dominance. With
> 70% of all online auctions currently taking place
> through its site
> (Rowley, 2000), eBay represents 'the world's
> largest personal online
> trading community'. Initially set up in 1995 with
> collectors in mind, eBay
> enabled easier access to collectibles (vid. Bunnel
> and Luecke, 2000) -
> where the traditional inefficiencies of
> person-to-person trading such as
> geographical fragmentation and imperfect knowledge
> (ibid.) could be offset
> through computer-mediated communication (CMC).
> Dubbed "the perfect store"
> (Cohen, 2002), its success has been phenomenal both
> in financial terms and
> in the number of users it has attracted. Indeed,
> eBay is fast becoming an
> e-commerce mainstay and household name with 125
> million registered users
> worldwide (eBay, 2004), and it is now the UK's
> number one e-commerce site
> (Nielsen Net Ratings, May 2003 cited eBay, 2004).
> Online auction sites
> have revolutionised the way we browse and shop for
> second-hand, antique
> and collectible items. However, they also provide
> new ways and new spaces
> to perform and display knowledges and 'knowingness,'
> particularly in
> relation to material culture.
>
> eBay differs substantially from almost every other
> 'virtual store' or e-
> commerce site in carrying a stock of mostly
> second-hand items, which are
> described and loaded on to a database by thousands
> of individual sellers
> themselves. Accordingly, very contrasting consumer
> and collecting
> knowledges are brought to bear on such items than
> for mainstream new goods
> e-tailing. eBay is also a highly unusual site in
> the way
> that 'communities' are enabled and identities
> performed through the site's
> own community spaces (discussions around topic
> threads and asynchronous
> chat boards) - mediated by material culture in
> buying, selling and
> browsing practices. Yet eBay remains largely
> unexplored by the academic
> literature beyond its reputation (feedback) system,
> particularly in terms
> of the key issues it raises around knowledge,
> identity, community and
> collecting practices in an e-society. This
> conference seeks to redress
> these gaps in the literature. But eBay also has
> considerable relevance
> for government and practitioner groups. The
> research will raise key
> issues for government and policy surrounding the
> potential for eBay to be
> a source of self-employment, particularly for
> 'disadvantaged' groups or
> those requiring flexible work, and increasingly
> important consumer issues
> such as the misselling of goods and the growing
> problem of fraudulent
> behaviour over the Internet. eBay additionally has
> significant
> implications for UK economic competitiveness in
> terms of the practices,
> structures and systems architecture of e-commerce,
> which include web site
> design and the distribution systems for both goods
> and money in an
> Internet era.
>
>
>
> Who should attend
>
> Academics in the fields of (but not exclusively):
> new media, e-commerce,
> cultural studies, sociology, human geography, HCI
>
> Practitioners in relevant fields
>
> Research students
>
> Industry consultants
>
>
>
> Keynote speakers:
>
> Dr Rebecca Ellis and Anna Haywood, University of
> Essex
> http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/team/beckye.html
> http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/team/annah.html
>
> Mr Will Davies, IPPR
> http://www.ippr.org.uk/about/staff.php?id0
>
> Dr Tim Dant, UEA (tbc)
> http://www.uea.ac.uk/psi/people/dant_t.htm
>
> Others tbc.
>
>
>
> Conference themes
>
> The conference themes have been written in order to
> accommodate the
> interests of both academics and practitioner
> groups. Although papers and
> presentations could address the following themes,
> submissions should not
> be limited to the themes suggested. See the
> conference website (Conference
> themes and scope section) for an outline of
> potential research questions
> that could be addressed under each theme.
>
>
> eBay and identity: the presentation of self/ others
> and knowledge
> performance
>
> * Significance (or not) of members' eBay user
> names.
> * Presentation of self through item
> description, photography and
> buying/ selling practices
> * eBay 'claims to status' and
> disidentification practices
> * Knowledge performance and presentation
> * Knowledge giving
> * 'Unknowingness'
> * How do eBay sellers present themselves, others
> and material
> culture in terms of discourses of 'race,' nation or
> Diaspora?
>
> eBay and social capital
>
> * eBay and 'community'
> * eBay and the development of social capital
> * eBay & trust
>
> eBay, consumption and consumer lifestyles
>
> * eBay and its effects on other disposal routes:
> charity shops,
> throwing away, relegating to the attic
> * eBay as a place to get rid of unwanted
> gifts
> * eBay and 'minimalist living' - e.g.
> de-junking one's life
> * eBay as ethical consumption? 'Recycling'
> to second owners.
> * eBay as a 'weird' or spectacular site of
> alternative
> consumption
> * eBay as a societal mirror in terms of what
> is being bought and
> sold
> * eBay as a store of social memory in material
> culture -
> e.g. 'memory artefacts,' nostalgia
>
> Collecting in an e-society
>
> * The impact of eBay on offline collecting
> practices/ rituals
> * eBay and globalised collecting - the world of
> goods
> * eBay and the ease of 'armchair collecting'
> * The effect of eBay on specific collecting
> cultures and communities
>
> eBay and employment effects
>
> * What impact is eBay having on self-employment
> in the UK?
> * Who does an eBay living appeal to?
> * What impact is eBay having on other forms of
> employment?
> * Is eBay creating new types of jobs?
> * Is eBay a good place to start trading for the
> newly self-
> employed?
> * eBay as a supplementary source of income
> * Is eBay a good medium for selling services?
>
> eBay, competition and the 'perfect market'
>
> * Does eBay really constitute the economists'
> 'perfect market'?
> * Is eBay creating new markets?
> * eBay and competition
> * eBay's business model
>
> eBay and the 'real' economy
>
> * Money flows
> * National postal services and other goods
> distribution networks
> * Internet infrastructure - Broadband vs.
> dial up
>
> eBay and website design
>
> * Designing e-commerce sites: what makes eBay
> sticky?
> * Designing e-commerce sites to support
> trustworthiness
> * How effective is eBay's feedback system?
>
> eBay and the consumer
>
> * eBay and consumer privacy
> * eBay and consumer protection issues
>
> Representations of eBay
>
> * How has eBay been represented in the media?
> * How do eBay's customers perceive it -
> through practice and media
> representation?
>
>
>
> Guidance for authors of papers
>
> It is not intended for authors to submit full
> papers for the conference.
> Presenters will be chosen by a panel on the basis
> of their submitted
> abstracts. Abstracts should be no more than 400
> words. If you are
> interested in participating, please email your
> abstract to the conference
> administrator by 31st March, 2005. Please e-mail
> Mr Martin Hicks (hicksm
> and add @essex.ac.uk to create full e-mail address)
> using the title 'eBay
> Conference.'
>
> The submission must include:
>
> * A title and abstract (400 words) outlining the
> work to be
> presented
> * Name(s) & contact details for each of the
> author(s)
> * Whether work is completed or on-going
> * Whether partly or wholly a student project
> * If work is subject to external constraints,
> (e.g. commercial
> sensitivity)
>
> Authors of accepted submissions will be notified by
> 22nd April 2005.
> PowerPoint presentations will be required by 29th
> July 2005.
>
>
> Guidance for poster submission
>
> Poster submissions addressing any of the areas
> identified in the
> conference topics are invited. The poster sessions
> are an ideal venue for
> presenting recent research results or ongoing
> research projects that might
> not yet be complete, but whose preliminary results
> are interesting
> nonetheless. Although poster authors do not
> formally present their work,
> the session allows for informal open-ended
> questions and discussion as
> attendees explore the topic with the presenter(s),
> who can convey their
> ideas without the requirements of a written paper.
> Unfortunately, as
> poster sessions afford opportunities for
> interaction with other attendees,
> poster submissions cannot be made without
> attendance.
>
> If you would like to present a poster, please send
> details to Mr Martin
> Hicks (hicksm and add @essex.ac.uk to create full
> e-mail address) using
> the title 'eBay Conference poster.' The deadline
> for poster submission is
> 31st March, 2005.
>
> The submission must include:
>
> * A title and brief abstract (250 words)
> describing the contents of
> the poster
> * Name(s) & address(es) of author(s)
> * Name of presenter of the poster, address,
> email, telephone and fax
> number (if available)
> * Whether work is completed or on-going
> * Whether partly or wholly a student project
> * If work is subject to external constraints,
> (e.g. commercial sensitivity)
> * A brief note indicating how the space
> afforded for display of the
> poster will be used, including any innovative
> suggestions for
> display or observer involvement.
>
> Authors of accepted submissions will be notified by
> 22nd April 2005.
>
> There is no predefined layout and content format
> for poster presentations.
> A standard A1 poster board (approx 23 x 33 inches
> or 61 x 45.7cm) will be
> provided to display your work. For additional
> information on poster
> presentations, please refer to the conference
> website.
>
>
> Conference location
>
> The conference will be held at the campus of the
> University of Essex in
> Colchester, UK (see http://www.essex.ac.uk/about/
> ). The University is
> situated in a landscaped parkland campus on the
> outskirts of Colchester,
> the oldest recorded town in Britain. Colchester is
> served by excellent
> transport links, with the A12 running into London
> and trains to the
> capital taking 45 minutes. Stansted Airport, the
> home of many of
> the 'budget' airlines is easily accessible.
> Colchester is also linked from
> the north with Ipswich and via the A14 to
> Birmingham, the M1/M6 to the
> Midlands and the north of England. Accommodation is
> available on the
> campus.
>
>
>
> Important dates
>
> Expressions of interest in attending (for
> non-presenters only), no later
> than: 21st March 2005
>
> Abstracts and posters no later than: 31st March
> 2005
>
> Acceptance notification: 22nd April 2005
>
> PowerPoint presentations no later than: 29th July
> 2005
>
> Formal registration for all no later than: 16th May
> 2005
>
> Conference dates: 24th and 25th August, 2005.
>
>
>
> More information
>
> For more information on any aspects of the
> conference, please see the
> conference website:
>
> http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/culturesofebay.html
>
> Additionally, please e-mail Mr Martin Hicks (hicksm
> and add @essex.ac.uk
> to create full e-mail address) using the title
> 'eBay Conference' for early
> expressions of interest, or any queries you may
> have. To go to this e-
> mail address automatically, please go to the
> conference
> website.
>
> ____________________________________________
>
> Rebecca Ellis
>
> Chimera
>
> http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/index.html
>
> Institute for Socio-Technical Research & Innovation
>
> University of Essex
>
> ________________________________________
>
> Adastral Park, PP1 Ross Building,
>
> Martlesham Heath, Ipswich IP5 3RE
>
> _________________________________________
>
>
******************************************************************************
> ******
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>
******************************************************************************
> *******
>
>

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