• Journal of Public Diplomacy
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.35-52
• /
• 2023

Korea has developed as an influential country over Asia and all over the world based on remarkable economic development. And the background of this development was possible due to the existence of those who sacrificed precious lives and contributed to the nation's existence in the past crisis. Every year, Korea holds an annual commemorative event with people of national merit, Korean War veterans, and their families, expressing gratitude for sacrifices and contributions at home and abroad, and providing economic support. The tragedy of the Korean War and the pro-democracy movement in Korea over the past half century will one day become a history of the distant past over time. As generations change and the purpose and method of exchange by region change, the tragic situation that occurred earlier and the way people sacrificed for the country are expected to be different from before. In particular, it is true that the number of Korean War veterans and their families is gradually decreasing as they are now old. In addition, due to the outbreak of global infectious diseases such as COVID-19, it is difficult to plan and conduct face to face events as well as before. Currently, Korea's digital technology is introducing various methods. 5G communication networks, smart-phones, tablet PCs, and smart devices that can experience virtual reality are already used in our real lives. Business meetings are held in a metaverse environment, and concerts by famous singers are held in an online environment. Artificial intelligence technology has also been introduced in the field of human resource recruitment and customer response services, improving the work efficiency of companies. And it seems that this technology can be used in the field of veterans. In particular, there is a metaverse technology that can vividly show the situation during the Korean War, and a way to digitalize the voices and facial expressions of currently surviving veterans to convey their memories and lessons to future generations in the long run. If this digital technology method is realized on an online platform to hold a veterans' celebration event, veterans and their families on the other side of the world will be able to participate in the event more conveniently.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.127-139
• /
• 2023

During the process of preparing for and initiating a startup, startup entrepreneurs allocate a significant amount of time to developing a business plan. Within this process, the documented business plan serves not only as a roadmap for the venture but also as a communication tool for capital acquisition and internal team collaboration. However, is the business plan, meticulously crafted by entrepreneurs, actually effective in generating startup performance? To answer this question, this study empirically analyzed the impact of a business plan on startup performance. Additionally, it examined how the relationship between the business plan and performance changes based on the satisfaction levels of entrepreneurs regarding the business plan. Through the analysis, the study validated the influence of the completeness of the business plan and entrepreneurial satisfaction on startup performance, and derived implications. To conduct the empirical analysis, a survey was conducted among 150 entrepreneurs. Regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and performance, and the sample was further divided into two groups: startups with less than three years of operation and startups with three or more years of operation, for secondary analysis. The analysis results revealed that the completeness of the startup's business plan has a positive impact on both financial and non-financial performance. Furthermore, it is observed that the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan had a moderating effect on the relationship between the business plan and financial performance. Moreover, for startups that are less than three years old, the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan exhibits a moderating effect on the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and non-financial performance. This study holds significance as it reaffirms the importance of business plan development as a means to achieve sustainable growth for early-stage startups and empirically validates its significance. It is expected that this study will provide valuable insights for future startup entrepreneurs to better understand the importance of business planning and contribute to reducing the failure rate of early-stage startups.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.79-89
• /
• 2023

Background and Objectives: The prevalence of dementia is steadily increasing each year, and preceding studies continue to explore the association between dementia and oral health. Dental hygienists require specialized competencies to provide appropriate dental healthcare services, necessitating the development of a tool for the objective measurement of their knowledge levels. This study aimed to develop a knowledge assessment tool for dental hygienists concerning considerations for dental care for patients with dementia. Methods: The study constructed preliminary items based on a literature review and then conducted expert validation, a pilot survey, and the main survey. The main survey was conducted among 220 dental hygienists. Validity and reliability analyses were conducted with the collected data to select the final items, and the correctness rates for each selected item were verified. Results: As a result of the analysis of the collected data, 18 items were eliminated out of a total of 40 preliminary items, leaving a total of 6 factors and 22 items. The Cronbach's α value for the selected items was 0.791. The six factors are as follows: 'Considerations during dental treatment for dementia patients' (5 items), 'medication side effects in dementia patients' (4 items), 'oral care methods for dementia patients' (4 items), 'communication with dementia patients' (4 items), 'psychological reactions of dementia patients' (3 items), and 'guidance for dementia patients' (2 items). The item with the highest correctness rate was item 2 of the 'guidance for dementia patients' category at 98.6%, while the item with the lowest correctness rate was item 2 of the 'psychological reactions of dementia patients' category at 5.9%. Conclusion: This study validated the reliability and validity of the knowledge assessment tool, which lays the foundation for future research on dental hygienists and dementia. It contributes essential data for ongoing education, development of educational programs, and establishing operational guidelines in healthcare institutions.

• The Korean Journal of Coaching Psychology
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.153-196
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study is to development and validate kkondae tendency scale. Kkondae tendencies are defined as "a response pattern to others in a way that values authority in social relationships, is self-centered, and does not accept other people's opinions," and the subjects of the study are workers aged 19 or older who act as seniors, seniors, and bosses in the workplace. In Study 1, 65 preliminary questions were produced with 7 factors for the compositional concept of kkondae tendency through literature review, expert interviews, and open questionnaire survey. In Study 2, a preliminary survey was conducted with 65 questions derived from Study 1. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted based on the responses of a total of 395 people, and 22 items for 4 factors were derived. In Study 3, this survey was conducted with 22 questions derived from Study 2. A total of 880 responses were analyzed, and cross-validation verification was conducted by dividing the data into two groups (Group 1 and Group 2). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on Group 1 (N=429) to derive 19 items with 4 factors. The four factors are authoritarianism(3 items), egocentrism (5 items), inertial thinking (5 itemss), and one-sided communication (6 items). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on 19 questions obtained from Group 1 for Group 2 (N = 451), and 19 questions of four factors were accepted due to the good fit of the model. To verify the convergent validity of the Kkondae tendency scale, the correlation with the Kkondae scale was examined, and to verify the criterion-related validity, the relationship between self-reflection, relationship conflict, social connectedness was examined. All were statistically significant, and convergence validity and criterion-related validity were verified. Finally, discussions on the process and results of this study, differences from related measures, academic significance, practical implications, limitations of the study, and future research directions were presented.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.67-96
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale that can grasp the reality of the three systems of action for middle and high school students in home economics. For this purpose, a total of 105 questions, 35 questions for each systems of action, were developed as a 5-point Likert scale in order to measure technical action, communicative action, and emancipative action as preliminary questions by reviewing domestic and international literature related to the three systems of action. The procedure for revising and supplementing the developed preliminary questions by reviewing the content validity of the home economics education expert was executed twice. A preliminary survey was conducted on middle and high school students with 70 developed preliminary questions, and 166 copies were collected. As a result of exploratory factor analysis of the collected questionnaires to test the validity of the scale, it was found that 38 questions 7 factors were appropriate. After constructing this survey based on the results of exploratory factor analysis, this survey was conducted on middle and high school students, and 548 copies were collected and a confirmatory factor analysis was performed. A total of 38 questions were finally selected through confirmatory factor analysis, including basic living ability 5 questions, self-management ability 4 questions, information processing ability 4 questions, communication/interpersonal ability 12 questions, critical thinking ability 3 questions, decision-making ability 7 questions, empowerment 3 questions. The Model Fit was χ²=1846.741(p<.001), CFI=0.865, TLI=0.853, RMSEA=0.058, and the Standardized Regression Weights for each question was more than 0.5, so it can be seen as a suitable measurement instrument for measuring the status of the three systems of action of middle and high school students in home economics. The three systems of action scales were found to have significant correlations with self-acceptance, future planning, intimacy, uniqueness, which are sub-factors of the self-identity scale, and social participation scales therefore confirmed that they have recognized concurrent validity.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.123-145
• /
• 2008

Recently, as the information communication technology develops, the discussion regarding the ubiquitous environment is occurring in diverse perspectives. Ubiquitous environment is an environment that could transfer data through networks regardless of the physical space, virtual space, time or location. In order to realize the ubiquitous environment, the Pervasive Sensing technology that enables the recognition of users' data without the border between physical and virtual space is required. In addition, the latest and diversified technologies such as Context-Awareness technology are necessary to construct the context around the user by sharing the data accessed through the Pervasive Sensing technology and linkage technology that is to prevent information loss through the wired, wireless networking and database. Especially, Pervasive Sensing technology is taken as an essential technology that enables user oriented services by recognizing the needs of the users even before the users inquire. There are lots of characteristics of ubiquitous environment through the technologies mentioned above such as ubiquity, abundance of data, mutuality, high information density, individualization and customization. Among them, information density directs the accessible amount and quality of the information and it is stored in bulk with ensured quality through Pervasive Sensing technology. Using this, in the companies, the personalized contents(or information) providing became possible for a target customer. Most of all, there are an increasing number of researches with respect to recommender systems that provide what customers need even when the customers do not explicitly ask something for their needs. Recommender systems are well renowned for its affirmative effect that enlarges the selling opportunities and reduces the searching cost of customers since it finds and provides information according to the customers' traits and preference in advance, in a commerce environment. Recommender systems have proved its usability through several methodologies and experiments conducted upon many different fields from the mid-1990s. Most of the researches related with the recommender systems until now take the products or information of internet or mobile context as its object, but there is not enough research concerned with recommending adequate store to customers in a ubiquitous environment. It is possible to track customers' behaviors in a ubiquitous environment, the same way it is implemented in an online market space even when customers are purchasing in an offline marketplace. Unlike existing internet space, in ubiquitous environment, the interest toward the stores is increasing that provides information according to the traffic line of the customers. In other words, the same product can be purchased in several different stores and the preferred store can be different from the customers by personal preference such as traffic line between stores, location, atmosphere, quality, and price. Krulwich(1997) has developed Lifestyle Finder which recommends a product and a store by using the demographical information and purchasing information generated in the internet commerce. Also, Fano(1998) has created a Shopper's Eye which is an information proving system. The information regarding the closest store from the customers' present location is shown when the customer has sent a to-buy list, Sadeh(2003) developed MyCampus that recommends appropriate information and a store in accordance with the schedule saved in a customers' mobile. Moreover, Keegan and O'Hare(2004) came up with EasiShop that provides the suitable tore information including price, after service, and accessibility after analyzing the to-buy list and the current location of customers. However, Krulwich(1997) does not indicate the characteristics of physical space based on the online commerce context and Keegan and O'Hare(2004) only provides information about store related to a product, while Fano(1998) does not fully consider the relationship between the preference toward the stores and the store itself. The most recent research by Sedah(2003), experimented on campus by suggesting recommender systems that reflect situation and preference information besides the characteristics of the physical space. Yet, there is a potential problem since the researches are based on location and preference information of customers which is connected to the invasion of privacy. The primary beginning point of controversy is an invasion of privacy and individual information in a ubiquitous environment according to researches conducted by Al-Muhtadi(2002), Beresford and Stajano(2003), and Ren(2006). Additionally, individuals want to be left anonymous to protect their own personal information, mentioned in Srivastava(2000). Therefore, in this paper, we suggest a methodology to recommend stores in U-market on the basis of ubiquitous environment not using personal information in order to protect individual information and privacy. The main idea behind our suggested methodology is based on Feature Matrices model (FM model, Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003) that uses clusters of customers' similar transaction data, which is similar to the Collaborative Filtering. However unlike Collaborative Filtering, this methodology overcomes the problems of personal information and privacy since it is not aware of the customer, exactly who they are, The methodology is compared with single trait model(vector model) such as visitor logs, while looking at the actual improvements of the recommendation when the context information is used. It is not easy to find real U-market data, so we experimented with factual data from a real department store with context information. The recommendation procedure of U-market proposed in this paper is divided into four major phases. First phase is collecting and preprocessing data for analysis of shopping patterns of customers. The traits of shopping patterns are expressed as feature matrices of N dimension. On second phase, the similar shopping patterns are grouped into clusters and the representative pattern of each cluster is derived. The distance between shopping patterns is calculated by Projected Pure Euclidean Distance (Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003). Third phase finds a representative pattern that is similar to a target customer, and at the same time, the shopping information of the customer is traced and saved dynamically. Fourth, the next store is recommended based on the physical distance between stores of representative patterns and the present location of target customer. In this research, we have evaluated the accuracy of recommendation method based on a factual data derived from a department store. There are technological difficulties of tracking on a real-time basis so we extracted purchasing related information and we added on context information on each transaction. As a result, recommendation based on FM model that applies purchasing and context information is more stable and accurate compared to that of vector model. Additionally, we could find more precise recommendation result as more shopping information is accumulated. Realistically, because of the limitation of ubiquitous environment realization, we were not able to reflect on all different kinds of context but more explicit analysis is expected to be attainable in the future after practical system is embodied.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.3-33
• /
• 1971

Nursing of today has as one of its objectives the solving of problems related to human needs arising from the demands of a rapidly changing society. This nursing objective, I believe, can he attained by the appropriate application of scientific principles in the giving of comprehensive nursing care. Comprehensive nursing care may be defined as nursing care which meets all of the patient's needs. the needs of patients are said to fall into five broad categories: physical needs, psychological needs, environmental needs, socio-economic needs, and teaching needs. Most people who become ill have adjustment problems related to their new situation. Because patient teaching is one of the most important functions of professional nursing, the success of this teaching may be used as a gauge for evaluating comprehensive nursing care. This represents a challenge foe the future. A questionnaire consisting of 67 items was distributed to 200 professional nurses working ill direct patient care at Yonsei University Medical Center in Seoul, Korea. 160 (80,0%) nurses of the total sample returned completed questionnaires 81 (50.6%) nurses were graduates of 3 fear diploma courser 79 (49.4%) nurses were graduates of 4 year collegiate nursing schools in Korea 141 (88,1%) nurses had under 5 years of clinical experience in a medical center, while 19 (11.9%) nurses had more than 5years of clinical experience. Three hypotheses were tested: 1. “Nurses had high levels of concept and knowledge toward patient teaching”-This was demonstrated by the use of a statistical method, the mean average. 2. “Nurses graduating from collegiate programs and diploma school programs of nursing show differences in concepts and knowledge toward patient teaching”-This was demonstrated by a statistical method, the mean average, although the results showed little difference between the two groups. 3. “Nurses having different amounts of clinical experience showed differences in concepts and knowledge toward patient teaching”-This was demonstrated by the use of a statistical method, the mean average. 2. “Nurses graduating from collegiate programs and diploma school programs of nursing show differences in concepts and knowledge toward patient teaching”-This was demonstrated by a statistical method, the mean average, although the results showed little difference between the two groups. 3. “Nurses having different amounts of clinical experience showed differences in concepts and knowledge toward patient teaching”-This was demonstrated by the use of the T-test. Conclusions of this study are as follow: Before attempting the explanation, of the results, the questionnaire will he explained. The questionnaire contained 67 questions divided into 9 sections. These sections were: concept, content, time, prior preparation, method, purpose, condition, evaluation, and recommendations for patient teaching. 1. The nurse's concept of patient teaching: Most of the nurses had high levels of concepts and knowledge toward patient teaching. Though nursing service was task-centered at the turn of the century, the emphasis today is put on patient-centered nursing. But we find some of the nurses (39.4%) still are task-centered. After, patient teaching, only a few of the nurses (14.4%) checked this as “normal teaching.”It seems therefore that patient teaching is often done unconsciously. Accordingly it would he desirable to have correct concepts and knowledge of teaching taught in schools of nursing. 2. Contents of patient teaching: Most nurses (97.5%) had good information about content of patient teaching. They teach their patients during admission about their diseases, tests, treatments, and before discharge give nurses instruction about simple nursing care, personal hygiene, special diets, rest and sleep, elimination etc. 3. Time of patient teaching: Teaching can be accomplished even if there is no time set aside specifically for it. -a large part of the nurse's teaching can be done while she is giving nursing care. If she believes she has to wait for time free from other activities, she may miss many teaching opportunities. But generally proper time for patient teaching is in the midmorning or midafternoon since one and a half or two hours required. Nurses meet their patients in all stages of health: often tile patient is in a condition in which learning is impossible-pain, mental confusion, debilitation, loss of sensory perception, fear and anxiety-any of these conditions may preclude the possibility of successful teaching. 4. Prior preparation for patient teaching: The teaching aids, nurses use are charts (53.1%), periodicals (23.8%), and books (7.0%) Some of the respondents (28.1%) reported that they had had good preparation for the teaching which they were doing, others (27.5%) reported adequate preparation, and others (43.8%) reported that their preparation for teaching was inadequate. If nurses have advance preparation for normal teaching and are aware of their objectives in teaching patients, they can do effective teaching. 5. Method of patient teaching: The methods of individual patient teaching, the nurses in this study used, were conversation (55.6%) and individual discussion (19.2%) . And the methods of group patient teaching they used were demonstration (42.3%) and lecture (26.2%) They should also he prepared to use pamphlet and simple audio-visual aids for their teaching. 6. Purposes of patient teaching: The purposes of patient teaching is to help the patient recover completely, but the majority of the respondents (40.6%) don't know this. So it is necessary for them to understand correctly the purpose of patient teaching and nursing care. 7. Condition of patient teaching: The majority of respondents (75.0%) reported there were some troubles in teaching uncooperative patients. It would seem that the nurse's leaching would be improved if, in her preparation, she was given a better understanding of the patient and communication skills. The majority of respondents in the total group, felt teaching is their responsibility and they should teach their patient's family as well as the patient. The place for teaching is most often at the patient's bedside (95.6%) but the conference room (3.1%) is also used. It is important that privacy be provided in learning situations with involve personal matters. 8. Evaluation of patient teaching: The majority of respondents (76.3%,) felt leaching is a highly systematic and organized function requiring special preparation in a college or university, they have the idea that teaching is a continuous and ever-present activity of all people throughout their lives. The suggestion mentioned the most frequently for improving preparation was a course in patient teaching included in the basic nursing program. 9. Recommendations: 1) It is recommended, that in clinical nursing, patient teaching be emphasized. 2) It is recommended, that insertive education the concepts and purposes of patient teaching he renewed for all nurses. In addition to this new knowledge, methods and materials which can be applied to patient teaching should be given also. 3) It is recommended, in group patient teaching, we try to embark on team teaching.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2011

The research was aimed to verify the feasibility of the model of Park-Based Mixed-Use Districts(PBMUD) around urban large park to secure private-based urban parks through the revision of the urban zoning system. The PBMUD is a type of urban zoning district in which park-oriented land use is mixed with the urban land uses of residents, advertising, business, culture, education and research. The PBMUD, delineated from and based on a new paradigm of landscape urbanism, is a new urban strategy to secure urban parks and to cultivate urban regeneration around parks and green spaces to enhance the quality of the urban landscape and to ameliorate urban environmental disasters like climate change. This study performed a questionnaire survey and analysis after a review of literature related to PBMUD. The study looked for specialists in the fields of urban planning and landscape architecture such as officials, researchers and engineers to respond to the questionnaire, which asked about degree of preference. The conclusions of this study were as follows. Firstly, specialists prefer the PBMUD at 79.3% for to 20.7% against ratio, indicating the feasibility of the model of PBMUD. The second, the most preferable reasons for the model, were the possibility of securing park space around urban parks and green spaces that assures access to park and communication with each area. The third, the main reason for non-preference for the model, was a lack of understanding of PBMUD added to the problems of unprofitable laws and regulations related to urban planning and development. These proposed a revision of the related laws and regulations such as the laws for planning and use of national land, laws for architecture etc. The fourth, the most preferred type of PBMUD, was cultural use mixed with park use in every kind of mix of land use. The degree of preference was lower in the order of use of commercial, residential, business, and education(research) when mixed with park use. The number of mixed-use amenities with in the park was found to be an indicator determining preference. The greater the number, the lower was preference frequencies, especially when related to research and business use. The fifth, the preference frequencies of the more than 70% among the respondents to the mixed-use ratio between park use and the others, was in a ratio of 60% park use and 40% other urban use. These research results will help to launch new future research subjects on the revision of zoning regulations in the laws for the planning and uses of national land and architectural law as well as criteria and indicators of subdivision planning as related to a PBMUD model.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.69-94
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current status of the records management science education in Japan, and to examine the implications of the rapid growth of this filed while noting some of its significant issues and problems. The goal of records management science education is to improve the quality of information services and to assure an adequate supply of information professionals. Because records management science programs prepare students for a professional career, their curricula must encompass elements of both education and practical training. This is often expressed as a contrast between theory and practice. The confluence of the social, economic and technological realities of the environment where the learning takes place affects both. This paper reviews the historical background and current trends of records management science education in Japan. It also analyzes the various types of curriculum and the teaching staff of these institutions, with focus on the status of the undergraduate program at Surugadai University, the first comprehensive, university level program in Japan. The Faculty of Cultural Information Resources, Surugadai University, a new school toward an integrated information disciplines, was opened in 1994, to explore the theory and practice of the management diverse cultural information resources. Its purpose was to stimulate and promote research in additional fields of information science by offering professional training in archival science, records management, and museum curatorship, as well as librarianship. In 1999, the school introduced a master program, the first in Japan. The Faculty has two departments and each of them has two courses; Department of Sensory Information Resources Management; -Sound and Audiovisual Information Management, -Landscape and Tourism Information Management, Department of Knowledge Information Resources Management; -Library and Information Management, -Records and Archives Management The structure of the entire curriculum is also organized in stages from the time of entrance through basic instruction and onwards. Orientation subjects which a student takes immediately upon entering university is an introduction to specialized education, in which he learns the basic methods of university education and study, During his first and second years, he arranges Basic and Core courses as essential steps towards specialization at university. For this purpose, the courses offer a wide variety of study topics. The number of courses offered, including these, amounts to approximately 150. While from his third year onwards, he begins specific courses that apply to his major field, and in a gradual accumulation of seminar classes and practical training, puts his knowledge grained to practical use. Courses pertaining to these departments are offered to students beginning their second year. However, there is no impenetrable wall between the two departments, and there are only minor differences with regard requirements for graduation. Students may select third or fourth year seminars regardless of the department to which they belong. To be awarded a B.A. in Cultural Information Resources, the student is required to earn 34 credits in Basic Courses(such as, Social History of Cultural Information, Cultural Anthropology, History of Science, Behavioral Sciences, Communication, etc.), 16 credits in Foreign Languages(including 10 in English), 14 credits on Information Processing(including both theory and practice), and 60 credits in the courses for his or her major. Finally, several of the issues and problems currently facing records management science education in Japan are briefly summarized below; -Integration and Incorporation of related areas and similar programs, -Curriculum Improvement, -Insufficient of Textbooks, -Lack of qualified Teachers, -Problems of the employment of Graduates. As we moved toward more sophisticated, integrated, multimedia information services, information professionals will need to work more closely with colleagues in other specialties. It will become essential to the survival of the information professions for librarians to work with archivists, record managers and museum curators. Managing the changes in our increasingly information-intensive society demands strong coalitions among everyone in cultural Institutions. To provide our future colleagues with these competencies will require building and strengthening partnerships within and across the information professions and across national borders.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.231-238
• /
• 2010

The anthropomorphism of brands, defined as seeing human beings in brands (Puzakova, Kwak, and Rosereto, 2008) is the focus of this study. Specifically, the research objective is to understand the ways in which brands are rendered humanlike. By analyzing consumer readings of stories found on food product packages we intend to show how marketers and consumers humanize a spectrum of brands and create meanings. Our research question considers the possibility that a single brand may host multiple or single meanings, associations, and personalities for different consumers. We start by highlighting the theoretical and practical significance of our research, explain why we turn our attention to packages as vehicles of brand meaning transfer, then describe our qualitative methodology, discuss findings, and conclude with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future studies. The study was designed to directly expose consumers to potential vehicles of brand meaning transfer and then engage these consumers in free verbal reflections on their perceived meanings. Specifically, we asked participants to read non-nutritional stories on selected branded food packages, in order to elicit data about received meanings. Packaging has yet to receive due attention in consumer research (Hine, 1995). Until now, attention has focused solely on its utilitarian function and has generated a body of research that has explored the impact of nutritional information and claims on consumer perceptions of products (e.g., Loureiro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer, 2002; Mazis and Raymond, 1997; Nayga, Lipinski and Savur, 1998; Wansik, 2003). An exception is a recent study that turns its attention to non-nutritional packaging narratives and treats them as cultural productions and vehicles for mythologizing the brand (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). The next step in this stream of research is to explore how such mythologizing activity affects brand personality perception and how these perceptions relate to consumers. These are the questions that our study aimed to address. We used in-depth interviews to help overcome the limitations of quantitative studies. Our convenience sample was formed with the objective of providing demographic and psychographic diversity in order to elicit variations in consumer reflections to food packaging stories. Our informants represent middle-class residents of the US and do not exhibit extreme alternative lifestyles described by Thompson as "cultural creatives" (2004). Nine people were individually interviewed on their food consumption preferences and behavior. Participants were asked to have a look at the twelve displayed food product packages and read all the textual information on the package, after which we continued with questions that focused on the consumer interpretations of the reading material (Scott and Batra, 2003). On average, each participant reflected on 4-5 packages. Our in-depth interviews lasted one to one and a half hours each. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed, providing 140 pages of text. The products came from local grocery stores on the West Coast of the US and represented a basic range of food product categories, including snacks, canned foods, cereals, baby foods, and tea. The data were analyzed using procedures for developing grounded theory delineated by Strauss and Corbin (1998). As a result, our study does not support the notion of one brand/one personality as assumed by prior work. Thus, we reveal multiple brand personalities peacefully cohabiting in the same brand as seen by different consumers, despite marketer attempts to create more singular brand personalities. We extend Fournier's (1998) proposition, that one's life projects shape the intensity and nature of brand relationships. We find that these life projects also affect perceived brand personifications and meanings. While Fournier provides a conceptual framework that links together consumers’ life themes (Mick and Buhl, 1992) and relational roles assigned to anthropomorphized brands, we find that consumer life projects mold both the ways in which brands are rendered humanlike and the ways in which brands connect to consumers' existential concerns. We find two modes through which brands are anthropomorphized by our participants. First, brand personalities are created by seeing them through perceived demographic, psychographic, and social characteristics that are to some degree shared by consumers. Second, brands in our study further relate to consumers' existential concerns by either being blended with consumer personalities in order to connect to them (the brand as a friend, a family member, a next door neighbor) or by distancing themselves from the brand personalities and estranging them (the brand as a used car salesman, a "bunch of executives.") By focusing on food product packages, we illuminate a very specific, widely-used, but little-researched vehicle of marketing communication: brand storytelling. Recent work that has approached packages as mythmakers, finds it increasingly challenging for marketers to produce textual stories that link the personalities of products to the personalities of those consuming them, and suggests that "a multiplicity of building material for creating desired consumer myths is what a postmodern consumer arguably needs" (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). Used as vehicles for storytelling, food packages can exploit both rational and emotional approaches, offering consumers either a "lecture" or "drama" (Randazzo, 2006), myths (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007; Holt, 2004; Thompson, 2004), or meanings (McCracken, 2005) as necessary building blocks for anthropomorphizing their brands. The craft of giving birth to brand personalities is in the hands of writers/marketers and in the minds of readers/consumers who individually and sometimes idiosyncratically put a meaningful human face on a brand.