• Information Systems Review
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.137-159
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• 2004

The next generation information appliances are those that can be connected with other appliances through a wired or wireless network in order to make it possible for them to transmit and receive data between them and to be remotely controlled from inside or outside of the home. Many electronic companies have aggressively invested in developing new information appliances to take the initiative in upcoming home networking era. They require systematic methods for developing new information appliances and sharing the knowledge acquired from the methods. This paper stored the knowledge acquired from developing the information appliances and developed a knowledge management system that supports the companies to use the knowledge and develop their own information appliances. In order to acquire the knowledge, this paper applied two methods for User-Centered Design in stead of using the general ones for knowledge acquisition. This paper suggested new product ideas by analyzing and observing user actions and stored the knowledge in knowledge bases, which included Knowledge from Analyzing User Actions and Knowledge from Observing User Actions. Seven new product ideas, suggested from the User-Centered Design, were made into design mockups and their videos were produced to show the real situations where they would be used in home of the future, which were stored in the knowledge base of Knowledge from Producing New Emotive Life Videos. Finally, data on present development states of future homes in Europe and Japan and newspapers articles from domestic newspapers were collected and stored in the knowledge base of Knowledge from Surveying Technology Developments. This paper developed a web-based knowledge management system that supports the companies to use the acquired knowledge. Knowledge users can get the knowledge required for developing new information appliances and suggest their own product ideas by using the knowledge management system. This will make the results from this research not confined to a case study of product development but extended to playing a role of facilitating the development of the next generation information appliances.