FICS Theses and Dissertations
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Theses and dissertations by graduate students from the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies.
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ItemVerifiable Academic Records for ISM (VERACISM) : A Permanent, Decentralized, Blockchain-Backed Storage for Immutable Reports( 2026)International School Manila (ISM) has extensive collection of Academic and Administrative Reports that are crucial for accreditation, audits and external verification, and the authenticity and integrity of these reports is critical. Currently, no cryptographic bindings exist between the reports and their metadata in centralized storage systems, which can be modified without being detected, and which have no IT-independent audit trails or slow verification. This project suggests a hybrid platform called VERACISM (Verifiable Academic Records for ISM) that will allow to attach finalized reports to decentralized content-addressed storage while maintaining identity, access control, and operational monitoring within the governance of ISM. Reports are created with the existing ISM applications are uploaded via api integreation. In VERACISM,scanned files were validated using ClamAV and YARA, and by MIME type and file size, then hashed with SHA-256, and written to IPFS with Filecoin-backed deals, using Lighthouse. The file is given a unique Content Identifier (CID) and is stored with report metadata and immutable audit events in MSSQL under strict RBAC/ABAC rules. Both a web-based console and a public verification portal enable tenant and integrator administration and provide both internal and external parties with the ability to verify report integrity via CIDs or QR codes, with an optional option of cross-checking storage evidence in public explorers. The project is implemented using a DevSecOps lifecycle approach which includes secure design, automated checks of security and scheduled VAPT, following the OWASP Top 10 risks. Planned evaluation integrates task-based user testing for administrator, tenant offices, integrators and verifiers, structured security testing and defined acceptance criteria. VERACISM will help enhance the record governance of ISM, lower verification overhead, and offer a pattern for storing academic records in a tamper-proof fashion.
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ItemBanning Single-Use Plastics and Compliance Intentions in a Public Market in Davao City( 2026)This study examined the factors influencing public market vendors' compliance intentions toward the proposed Single-Use Plastics (SUP) ban in Davao City using Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior. A quantitative correlational design was employed involving 276 vendors selected through simple random sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire was used, and data were analyzed using mode and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The findings showed that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were all positively associated with compliance intention, with perceived behavioral control emerging as the strongest predictor. The findings highlight the importance of understanding compliance within the unique socio-cultural context of Davao City. The results suggest that vendors’ intention to comply is not solely driven by environmental awareness or social pressure, but also by a long-standing culture of discipline, civic responsibility, and respect for local ordinances.
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ItemFilipino Virtual Assistants as Global Communications Practitioners: A Phenomenological Study( 2026)The study explored how Filipino Virtual Assistants (VAs) view themselves as global communication practitioners in the digital world. Anchored in Heideggerian phenomenology, the lived experiences of 10 VAs working in fully remote, transnational environments were analyzed from December 2023 to April 2024. Becoming a VA is often shaped by life transitions, economic necessity, and the pursuit of flexibility; sustained participation in virtual work then transforms how participants perceive professionalism, identity, and communication. They described their work as deeply communicative, relational, and emotionally labor-intensive, extending beyond task execution to include trust-building, cultural adaptation, and identity negotiation. Filipino Virtual Assistants occupy a distinct and critical position within the global digital economy as fully remote communication workers whose labor is fundamentally relational, interpretive, and identity-forming. They do not simply adapt to global communication norms; rather, they actively negotiate professional identity through culturally informed communication practices characterized by adaptability, emotional intelligence, relational sensitivity, and a strong sense of responsibility toward clients. These traits rooted in Filipino sociocultural values become strategic assets in transnational virtual environments. At the same time, the study reveals a paradox at the core of virtual work. While remote work offers autonomy, flexibility, and economic mobility, it also exposes Filipino VAs to structural vulnerabilities, including job insecurity, blurred work-life boundaries, limited legal protection, and emotional fatigue Filipino Virtual Assistants as Global Communications Practitioners xv arising from continuous digital presence. These conditions shape how participants experience selfhood, productivity, and belonging. Viewed through a phenomenological lens, the experiences of Filipino VAs illustrate that virtual work is not a neutral technological arrangement but a lived, embodied condition that reshapes identity, communication, and meaning making. Filipino Virtual Assistants emerge not as invisible background workers, but as global communication practitioners whose voices and experiences deserve scholarly and institutional recognition.
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ItemSponsor Management and Letter of Guarantee (LoG) Coverage Integration System for International School Manila (ISM)( 2026)International School Manila has four separate systems for handling sponsorship billing and Letter of Guarantee (LoG) coverage: PowerSchool (SIS), the Student Charging Portal (SCP), NetSuite (ERP), and the Online Billing System (OBS). Prior to the development of this project, coverage decisions were manually interpreted at charge entry and this could lead to inconsistent assignments to Bill-To, causes for delay in the correction process, lack of audit trails and further reconciliation efforts. The project created and implemented a pilot Sponsor Management and LoG Coverage Integration System that combines all the master data of sponsors, tracks LoG records, handles workflows based on the roles and assesses coverage using the deterministic business rules. The deployed pilot web application was done with ASP.NET Core including REST API endpoints, role-based authentication for Administrator, Admissions and Cashier users, local credentials for authentication for ISM staff accounts, and Azure deployment for production-style validation. The system enables the management of sponsor profiles, prevention of sponsor duplication, creation and activation of LoG, sponsor change requests, sponsor views, coverage preview, creation of audit trail and reporting support. The web interface has been responsive and is PWA-ready, but has not been fully developed as a Progressive Web App as the PWA installable features, service worker caching, offline behavior and the web app manifest were not in the scope of the pilot. A total of 110 test cases were found in total, of which 95 passed, 12 noted and 3 known non-critical items were noted; none of them were critical or blocking. 60 user acceptance testing (UAT) workflow scenarios were verified; 54 were successful and 6 were non-blocking issues for refinement. The proven workflows covered sponsor search, sponsor maintenance, creation and viewing of the LoG, coverage check, restricted access, report generation, and sponsor self-service actions. There are minor usability and validation issues such as the delayed LoG reassignment display after sponsor merge, the lack of visibility for attachments in one change-request flow, unclear confirmation messages, incomplete report header metadata, and improved sponsor access-error messages. The pilot proved to show that existing manual interpretation can be minimised, governance is enhanced, audit preparedness is improved and a practical roadmap towards production integration with current ISM systems is achieved with a centralized Sponsor Master and deterministic coverage engine. The pilot web application deployed is a working example that shows that there is no need to replace ISM’s existing core platforms, and that consistent and explainable decisions on coverage of sponsors can be made. This pilot web application is a working example that demonstrates that consistentn and explainable decisions on coverage of sponsors can be made without replacement of existing ISM core platforms.
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ItemCultural and Anti-Stigma Analysis of Public Messaging Towards Reframing HIV Communication( 2025)The research investigated the concept of public messaging pertaining to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, Philippines with emphasis on the approach used in adopting stigma and culture. It followed a qualitative approach, particularly textual analysis, to analyze HIV materials that are publicly accessible within the past three years. Results indicated positive changes in the direction of supportive and empowerment-focused and neutral messages, such as localized Bisaya and service-oriented content. Nevertheless, there was an implicit stigma that was perpetuated in risk framing and moral undertones; cultural adaptation is disproportionate, and priority groups were being underrepresented or tokenized. Obstruction of access was caused by over-medicalized language and inconsistent application of the plain-language requirements. The research suggests that stigma- free communication guidelines be institutionalized, representation of key population groups be made authentic, local language and cultural adaptation be reinforced, and health workers', non-governmental organizations', and media practitioners’ capacity- building be implemented.