Liveware or Real People? Using Human Resources in Information Handling

Information handling systems of all kinds are created by people, operated by people, and dedicated to serving people. Some systems make it hard to believe this proposition, and indeed, the use of human abilities has generally not received the same attention as either system analysis and design, or the development of information technologies. The term “liveware” which has recently appeared as a companion to “hardware” and “software” is a symptom of the poverty and naivete of thinking that too often prevails. Paradoxically, the more sophisticated the information technology used, the more important it becomes to use human abilities properly. Technology, no matter how advanced, cannot of itself improve poor information; and the “data capture” of high‐grade information is usually the activity in a computerised system which costs most because it demands the thinking power of highly qualified staff.