Nancy is a 41-year-old married white housewife with three children (ages 15, 17, and 19) who lives with her husband and children in a single family home they own in a predominately white, middle class neighborhood in Washington Township, New Jersey. Nancy has completed her bachelor's degree in English and works full-time as a residential real estate broker, primarily in the Philadelphia maket. She has also begun selling antiques and collectibles via ebay in March 2000.

Free Time: In her free time Nancy enjoys playing tennis ("I enjoy the physical and mental challenge of the game, plus it's something my husband and I enjoy doing together without the kids"), sewing ("I feel creative and practical at the same time") and reading ("it's a good escape"). Her favorite television programs include Once and Again ("the life situations are very realistic and Sela Ward is fabulous"), Will and Grace ("it's hilarious"), and A Baby Story

"you get to meet a couple who's about to have a baby and get to know them and watch their baby be born; it reminds me of when we had our kids; it's always amazing."

Nancy reports a moderate social network including approximately 25 people. She keeps in touch with all of them by telephone while seeing more than half socially. She emails about ten of them and writes to only a few. She does not see any of them at meetings. Nancy does not use chat rooms or instant messaging.

Internet: Nancy accesses the Internet both at home and at work. She has two computers at home which are connected to the Internet via a cable service line. She first used the Internet in 1992 at work.

Nancy estimates that she uses the computer for email about five hours per week. In an average day she sends along about six personal one-to-one messages, and receives about ten. She has not changed the number of people with whom she is in touch ("I still keep in touch with the same people as before, but I just use the phone less now for business contacts with other agents; I email them instead.") But it has greatly increased the quality of her contacts as

"I have a written record of my correspondence via email. I just save my emails to files and I never need to file real paper. I don't have to take notes from telephone messages and conversations to back-up my correspondence anymore."

Nancy views the Internet as a "tool" while she says her children and other young people view it as a "toy". She accesses mls.com("the multi-listing service, real estate listed for sale to see available listing and shop the market"), phiareb.org ("real estate news, continuing education requirements, functions and scheduled events"), and ebay.com ("I sell antiques and collectibles online. I buy designer clothing at big discounts.") She feels that visiting these sites has changed her life a great deal.

"Accessing mls online has made real estate sales even more fast-paced and competitive than it was before. Your clients can be as informed as you are. And forget about your competitors! You have to stay up to date, up to the minute!"

Nancy is particularly excited about ebay. "I really enjoy ebay.com, both buying and selling. I like the auction style, the thrill of getting a good buy, of selling at a good profit with very little effort."

She gets upset when she "sees competitors posting listing that I had been working on signing, there's nothing worse than losing the chase." Nancy describes feeling "very clever" when she "figured out how to post sale items and photos on ebay and started my antiques business without any real capital investment."

Nancy seemed as knowledgeable as she needs to be about the Internet to suite her purposes. She is adept at using her Internet "tool" and is amused by people who spend excessive amounts of time using the Internet for entertainment.

Interviewer: Yvonne Shands