But the view of humans as information processing systems is widely held in the society at large, not only within the expert systems community. Consequently, we also have to revise our concepts of human expertise. We will proceed in three steps. Firstly, we will reconsider the computer's data processing capabilities by capitalizing on the difference between data and information. In what follows, we will use the more general term representation instead of data.
Data are specific instances of representations.
The distinction between representation and information has to be made with reference to our socio-cultural world. This sets the scene of the second step. Here, our goal is to emphasize that our expertise is strongly based on our ability to communicate. If we are not told what a red traffic light means, we are not able to use it as a decision aid when crossing a street. There are a number of reasons why change in current practice of work place design by means of computer technology is badly needed.