ABSTRACT
It is not recommended research practice to seek physical identification with the subject of one’s research. I’ve just never been able to compartmentalize myself: I generally find my research echoed in the bits and pieces of my daily life, the patterns of my thoughts overlapping with patterns I discern in physical and social spaces around me. Shopping on eBay makes real the dissolve between my private and professional selves, and this chapter can be read as a case study of how eBay enriched an academic’s understanding of her research practice.
