#ThesisIt, Gaby!

Cateneans is a student-run campaign that promotes the Ateneo Community Cat Program. The campaign aims to promote the welfare of both students and cats of Ateneo.

Log Run!

Printed my posters! There are 3 sets of posters of A3, A4 and A5. 

(Sorry for the low quality huhu)

Last Monday, I did a print test from Intermatrix Ateneo. The colors are good but I didn’t like the quality as much because of its old-school look. For my print run, I had the current designs printed in Yza Katipunan. I’m quite satisfied with the printing.

I got approval from Sir Cholo Mallilin, Director of LS Offices of Student Services (OSS) and I placed the set of logos you see in the lower right corner of the final posters to show their support for the campaign. 

I got approval from the DSWS to post the posters on the student organizations’ and classroom cork boards around campus. Unfortunately, I cannot use the promo boards because if I request to use them, I can only use one. I also cannot post on the columns seen in SEC-walk because students aren’t allowed to post there, according to the Office of Facilities and Sustainability (OFS). I’m opt to look for other options to post using other means in SEC-walk.

That’s all for now! This week is gonna be crunch time for 100 percent work output. 

Journal No. 25

Cats of Ateneo

Journal No. 24

Cateneans branding

Journal No. 23

Journal No. 22

Journal No. 21

50% work output!

CATeneans Campaign will be launched next week! Here are some of the designs that I’ve made. Will tweak them to make them unified and polished. Will add more infographics.

Journal No. 20

Last Tuesday, February 21, I was able to interview Ms. Favis of the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability (with Ma’am Ena, of course!) regarding cat-related injuries inside the LS campus. Based from what she said, AIS has data of the students who were scratched/bitten by cats from before to after ACCaP was launched last year. But AIS still has to sort out all the data before I can get it from them. 

So for the meantime, I’ve been doing another survey. It’s similar from the survey last semester but this time I added questions asking their age, gender and year and course. I also included asking about their awareness of the ACCaP and their policies and whether or not that they would still pet the cat despite the policies. The survey will be up for around a week and hope I can get more than 200 respondents! So far, I have 70 respondents!

You can find the survey here! (Only applicable to the Ateneo LS students!)

Currently doing my 50%+ work output! I’ll update soon!

Next agenda:

1) Interview with AGILA’s president

2) Finish prototype poster to be posted on the bulletin board in front of the Fine Arts Department

3) Finish powerpoint presentation for 50% work output done

4) Take more pictures of cats around LS campus for cat inventory

Journal No. 19

25 percent done! Well, barely because I still need to do a lot more for the content inventory. I still need to contact LS Health Services for their data on cat related injuries that happened in Ateneo, AGILA for their involvement in the ACCaP, and create a survey (again) for students regarding their knowledge of the ACCaP.

My biggest difficulty is how can my campaign not enable students more to interact with the cats. My classmate pointed out on my design solution is how to reconcile my campaign and its tone. It’s true that students aren’t suppose to interact with cats, but at the same time, there are cats that are affectionate to us. I don’t want to forcibly stop them from interacting with these cats. So for an alternative, it should be enforced on my content on what to do when interacting with cats (when it’s inevitable). 

I’m also planning to use a collar to signify that a cat is spayed/neutered and vaccinated. The reason for this is because, based on surveying students, that they do not know the a cat with its right ear chipped off is sterilized (policy of the TNR program). With the help of the dissemination of information in the form of posters, I hope that students can know about the effects of the TNR program. I’ll most likely be testing it 2 to 3 weeks from now, with Gonzaga building as the testing area and B.W. (a.k.a. Satan or Hector) as the test subject. 

Journal No. 18

Rough sketches for my design solution, which is an awareness campaign. It’s printed media and it will be posted on bulletin boards around the LS campus, but will use social media as a platform for disseminating information online. Creating the content will be the most difficult part of the process because it should not only change physical behavior of my stakeholders but also the psychological behavior, because I’m trying to educate them the ACCAP, the TNR program and animal welfare in order to make them more compassionate and understanding to the cats and not just think they’re cute and all.

Journal No. 17

Hello, I’m back! Long time no post, eh?

An update on my thesis: I presented my thesis proposal last January 14 and I’m glad to say that I’ve passed! Now I’m ready to produce my design solution! I still need to patch my paper up and research more.

Journal No. 16

Journal No. 15

Journal No. 14

My design solution for my research is to create standees that will provide sufficient amount of information for the ACCaP and have it displayed around the LS campus. It also contains info about what to do and what not to do when interacting with cats or how to handle cats. Each standee will display a cat with a chipped ear and speech bubble saying what is a proper way to do when encountering a cat. It will be displayed in each building within the LS campus, on the common area where student-cat interaction would normally take place. For further dissemination of the information, collaterals will be made for social media. Social media is a very powerful platform.

I proposed other possible solutions, but what I stated is the most viable out of the 3 solutions I made. A of the other solutions is a series of cat posters displayed in different buildings around the campus which display what to do/how to handle cats and general awareness of the ACCaP. It will show a diagram of a cat with a chipped ear and one without, to show the difference between the cats that are spayed/neutered.

Journal No. 13

Most students are not aware, or do not have knowledge of the ACCaP, which would lead them to regularly interact with the cats within the campus. But, because of the cats’ constant interaction with humans, they become domesticated and lose their animal instincts, which a trait they shouldn’t lose. Also, many students do not know exactly what to do when encountering cats, and if handled the wrong way, will have them ending up hurt.

Why don’t the students know about the ACCaP? Information is not well-disseminated and lacking, thus the program is not widely known.

Why is there lack of information about the ACCaP? The students haven’t seen the posters/physical materials regarding the ACCaP.

Because there’s not much advertising being shared in Social Media.

Why haven’t the students seen the posters? Because there are only 2 known posters in the entire campus, and its location is not the best place the posters should be displayed.

Why are the locations not ideal to have the posters displayed? Because the posters are not available where most student and cat interactions happen within the campus.

Why are there locations where most student and cat interactions happen? Because of the lack of knowledge of the ACCaP, plus the information is not good enough for the students to be informed.

Journal No. 12

My stakeholder for my research are the LS students, as they are my audience my solution is geared towards to. The cats of the Ateneo are considered as my stakeholder, as well, as it’s catered towards them and their welfare. I conducted an survey for them to answer. It was conducted for 2 weeks. This is to see if they have general knowledge about cats, the ACCaP and the TNR program. I was able to get 116 respondents. I will probably conduct more if I need to.

Journal No. 11

Last November 9, 2016, I conducted a follow-up interview with the executive director of PAWS, Anna Cabrera. The topic concerned about the general animal welfare of cats in the TNR program, because I was concerned about the cats inside the Ateneo campus and their interactions with people. 

I was with Ana when we conducted the interview. I really loved the place because of all the cats and dogs inside the shelter. When you visit the animal welfare shelter of PAWS, make sure you can donate cat food to them!