Thanks to Luke for pointing this out: a new memo from Pew Internet & American Life titled Do-it-yourself information online.
Some 55% of adult internet users have looked for “how-to,” “do-it-yourself” or repair information online and roughly 1 in 20 internet users — about 7 million people — search for help on a typical day. …
More internet users seek do-it-yourself information online than participate in chat rooms (17% say they have done that) or online auctions (24% say they have done that). However, seeking do-it-yourself information online is a less common activity than getting news (72% of online Americans have done that) and doing research on products and services (78% have done that).
… while 5% of all internet users will search online for do-it-yourself advice on a typical day, 11% of those who have high-speed connections all around them will seek some type of instructional information on an average day. That compares to 4% of home dial-up users and 7% of home broadband users.