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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/30/technology/30CARE.html?tntemail0

Survey Cites Use of Internet to Gather Data

By REUTERS

ASHINGTON, Dec. 29 — The Internet has become a staple source of information for American households about health care, government services and potential purchases, a survey to be issued on Monday finds.

About 60 percent of 2,000 people surveyed in the Pew Internet and American Life Project study said they used the Web regularly. Two-thirds of those had been online for three or more years.

At least 80 percent of the Internet users questioned in September and October said they expected to find reliable news, health care information and government services information on the Web.

Almost as many Internet users, 79 percent, said they expected to find a business with a Web site that will give them information about a product they are considering buying.

"With the passage of time, people are gaining more experience and comfort with the Internet and what it offers," the report's author, John Horrigan, said.

"People value the vast array of information online," Mr. Horrigan said, "and new search engines give them the ability to noodle along and find what they want."

The "network of networks" has become an integral part of the daily routines of millions of North Americans, said Barry Wellman, a University of Toronto professor and an author of the book "The Internet and Everyday Life" (Blackwell Publishers, 2002).

"Even five years ago the Internet was seen as very special, a privileged and very unique thing," Mr. Wellman said. "Now it is routinely accepted into people's lives, especially younger folks."

Although Internet penetration remains low in some countries, particularly where telephone access is limited, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Mr. Wellman's co-author and a University of Illinois professor, said public expectations were spurring the technology's continued expansion.

"We now expect the physical hardware to be there, in hotels, in schools," she said. "There's a certain seamlessness to it. In many ways, it is integrated into everything we do."

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