THE REPUBLICAN National Convention this week stood as a proving ground of sorts for technology and the Internet, which have moved from being a novelty in the 1996 race to becoming a critical tool in the 2000 elections.

Since the last general election, more voters have moved online and toward broadband hookups, a fact that has led to a fundamental change in the way campaigns are run. Likewise, technology is affecting the way politics is covered by the media and perceived by the public. "There were a lot of people talking about the intersection between democracy and the Internet," said Alex Sheshunoff, president of the New York-based Web site E-thepeople.com. "There were not a lot of people writing the code to make that happen. We and others sat down and talked about how to do that." The mere existence of Sheshun-off's grass roots political site -- which bills itself as a "virtual town hall" where users can sign petitions, contact elected officials, and discuss issues -- points to the degree to which Internet technology has entwined itself with the needs of users, and vice versa. To keep its users happy, E-thepeople.com has had to beef up its political content. The site offered ongoing coverage of the GOP convention and plans to do the same for the Democratic gathering in two weeks, while continuing to feed its site with real-time information right through the Nov. 7 election. This kind of demand for quick information from new-media sources has, for many vendors, helped fuel a new market developing around the political process. According to a study by E-advocates and Juno Online Services, almost half of all voters intend to use the Internet to help make their choice this November. And public awareness sites such as E-thepeople.com and Grassroots.com will continue to add users and services.