To broadband or not to broadband: the relationship between high-speed Internet and knowledge and participation.

Rapid diffusion of the World Wide Web in past decades has apted a number of scholars and pundits to inquire about the impact this of recent origin technology has on society (Norris, 2001) Researchers have tried to strip various political and civic effects of the Internet by focusing chiefly on diverse aspects of user characteristics, including time wearied online, frequency of Internet use, duration of Internet experience, information processing, and patterns of Internet activities (Bimber, 2001; Kwak, Williams, Joo & Wang, 2003; Nie & Erbring, 2000; Shah, Kwak, & Holbert, 2001; Tewksbury & Althaus, 2000)

Interestingly, however, there is relatively little empirical