Collecting and the Internet : essays on the pursuit of old passions through new technologies

The Internet has had a profound effect on collecting - because of the Web, collectibles are now more readily available, collections more easily displayed for a wider audience, and collectors' online communities are larger and often quite intimate. In addition, the Web has added new items to the pantheon of collectibles, including digital bits that, whether considered virtual or material, are nevertheless collectible. In this work, essays discuss the age-old habit of collecting and its modern relationship with the Internet. Topics covered in this title include individually authored websites, online auctions, watches, eye-ware, Kelly dolls, the gambler's rush of online acquisition, mp3s, collecting friends via online social networking sites, and online museums, among others.

Collecting the Internet : how individually authored websites have generated nostalgia and a desire to collect the Internet / Kelley C. Smith Feranec -- Collecting materials born digital / Marilyn A. Dunn -- Collecting watches on the Internet / Dennis Mills -- Collecting eyewear on eBay / Jeffrey Kessler -- The konnection of the Kelly kollection : Kelly doll collectors and the Internet / Jo Ann Kelly Graham -- Gambler's rush : all that glitters, etc. / Julia Penelope -- On collecting "La vie en rose" / Terry Evers -- I want my mp3s : music collecting in the digital age / Annelise Sklar -- Trading online objects on friendster.com : cyber collecting as socialization / Carson Metzger -- Tales from the thrift : thrift-shopping enthusiasts tell their stories online / Alison Franks -- The Venus of Willendorf project / Brenda Oelbaum -- Grandmom's collection / Elana C. Hurwitz -- Being collected : selling art on the Internet / Harold Smith -- The past is always on sale : revisiting culture as commodity : Internet auctions and Judaica collecting / Emily Alice Katz -- Online museums, exhibits, and archives of American disability history / Penny L. Richards -- Online therapy, obsession, and entertainment : adventures in the international cyber bazaar / Susan Koppelman.