Prism's Blogspot for College Purposes

written by: Hershelle Hannah Agasa

This major event I took part on organizing alongside not only my classmates in BSMEC 4A, but also our batchmates in BSCS and BSIT, is entitled “GC-CCS TechFest 2026: Exploring the Advancements and Innovations in Computing”. Unlike most of our hosted events, this event has two venues: Gordon College Oval Grounds which housed the partnership booths, and the Olongapo City Civic Center which hosted the Hackathon with the collaboration with Team1 Philippines. This event happened on May 9, 2026, starting from 8:00am – 5:00pm, and it also included competitions like esports, digital art, animation, and many others relating to the Computer Studies field.

Out of every event we hosted, TechFest 2026 has got to be the most confusing ones we did. Speaking in my perspective, I've noticed that people have mixed reactions regarding our event. Some were confused as to why the event organizers didn't make the event be held in one venue, which is, a fair statement. Especially with the extremely hot weather during the month of May, having a venue where people can relax in a cool environment would garner the most traction.

While majority of the people went to the Olongapo City Civic Center to watch the Hackathon, listen to the invited speakers, and take part in the raffle giveaway, I stayed in the Gordon College Oval Grounds not only to help set up the canopies outside, but also to assist the booths with their sales, even buying their good to support their small businesses. When noontime came as the weather gotten hotter, I helped with moving the booths inside the building's first floor, of course with the approval of the security guards. Fortunately, the rest of the day went tame in the venue I was in, with people visiting the booth, regardless of if those who visited were CS students or faculty, or even outside our department or school!

While this TechFest wasn't as pleasant as I'd hope it'd be, it still taught me the art of togetherness and how communication is important across all sectors and demographics. As some people say, we can't always control what happens, that's just what the real world is. However, you can do so much with even the small act of kindness. I'm often called a worrywart, but I also don't want to come off as someone who'd rather leave the hard work to only a few heads to suffer alone.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This regional conference that I attended alongside the rest of my batchmates was entitled “International Research Conference on Information Technology Education - Ideation, Utilization, & Adoption: Strengthening the Research-to-Practice Cycle in IT Education”. Also known as IRCITE, this event was hosted not only be the Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators, but also by Gordon College as well. The event lasted from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, conducted on March 19, 2026, at Bulacan State University, City of Malolos, Bulacan. The conference had plenary speakers discussing the following topics:

Beyond Revolution: How GenAI is Redefining Knowledge Work and IT Education - by Dr. Slandana Cabrilo [Professor, I-shou University, Taiwan]

Demystifying the AI World - by Dr. Ace Lagman

AWS in GenAI - by John Roger A. Obja-an, Ph.D.

The AI Takeover: Threat or Opportunity - by Engr. Gerald Saldi

Why Most IT Projects Fail and How to Design Them Properly - by Mr. Lorenz Yvan Apostol

The annual event also had a variety of competitions, such as the following:

Microsoft Office Specialist

AI Image & AI Video Content Creation

Technical Writing

T-Shirt Design

Cosplay Competition

IT Marketing Challenge

Short Animation Creation

Singing Competition (Quintuplet)

Action Figure Toy

Call of Duty Mobile (Deathmatch and Battle Royale)

Similarly to last year, all the topics discussed revolved around the use of AI, specifically discussed by different professionals in various fields and professions. While they promoted about using AI to make things easier and task more time-efficient, they added in how we shouldn't think negatively about AI because it will render humans unimportant to do some jobs in favor for AI doing them instead. According to the speakers, besides dreading on the bad ending of humanity, "we should embrace AI as an assistant by our side to assist our needs". I put this in quotations because of the fact that I do not acknowledge this to my ideology, because on paper to me it sounds ridiculous and sounds like any other tech bro trend that will soon fall flat once the masses realize how harmful this is in general because of how it contributes to the spread of misinformation.

Our second and last onsite face-to-face hosted seminar was entitled “Canvas to Career:  An Online Artist's Guide to Building your Digital Portfolio”, which was hosted on March 9, 2026 on Saint Joseph College Olongapo Inc. - Senior High School Department from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm in their AVR room located in their school building’s 4th floor. Our resource speaker was yours truly (as allowed by Ma’am Linda, only one hosted seminar can have a student as a resource speaker), Ms. Hershelle Hannah P. Agasa, a current 4th year BSEMC-DAT student, and an online freelance 2D artist and aspiring animator. Our early registration was done with Google Forms, although we provided an attendance form for our attendees to fill up in on the day of the event. Our seminar topic tackled about creating a digital art portfolio in preparation for young aspiring artists to eventually enter the industry. The following subtopics goes as follows:

What is a Digital Portfolio?

Why does having a Portfolio Matter?

How to Build your Art Portfolio?

Building Authenticity

Online Safety

The event being my first time teaching as a resource speaker had honestly given me quite the nervousness on talking to the students, especially since I had the tendency to fumble every time I talk, leading my words astray. But I managed to ignore my doubts and just let my tongue with what my brain wanted to say. We discussed how one can advertise themselves online as a digital artist by creating their own digital art portfolio. This way, not only can they use their portfolio as their online art gallery that they can update with their recent works, but also, they can guarantee to build connections not only with fellow artists, but also with future partners and clients!

Of course, steps and tips on how to build your digital art portfolio isn't the only topic I discussed to the students who attended. We also tackled about the importance of building authenticity and online safety by practicing common netiquette skills. The inclusions of these parts are relevant, especially given of how the current age of technology is affecting artists and animators alike. The Internet is a dangerous place, not only plagued with internet trolls and scammers, but also by bots and evil corporations who attempt to devalue human art into submitting into the easy cash-grab that is GenAI. As an artist for almost the entirety of my life, I stand against this ridiculousness, and vow to inform the aspiring young artists to be confident with what they can create, because at the end of the day, human art will always prevail.

We ended off the seminar with a QnA session to give way for the curious students to ask us. Some asked us what our course was about, how we dealt with our animated college projects, to what kinds of art and animation programs we used. Overall, we genuinely appreciated their participation and are thrilled they found the time to attend and learn new things from our seminar. We did get some notes on improvements of what we can do if ever we hosted another one of these. Some suggested better equipment like microphones and speakers. Others suggested that I be more confident with the way I speak and avoid long pauses and "um's". I found it reassuring that some were concerned that I might be dehydrated during our seminar.

Our very first onsite face-to-face hosted seminar was entitled “Gamified Cycles: Insights in Game Animation Loops”, hosted during December 13, 2025 on Room 505 in Gordon College (formerly set in Room 508 before someone else took our room despise our early reservation), Olongapo City. Our resource speaker was Mr. Mark Angelo Quindara, a 2D pixel artist and animator at Mega Cat Studios. Our registration was done on Google Forms, and we in the team advertised our seminar with flyers in Gordon College. Our speaker discussed about game animation loops, with topics about the following and eventually his process on how he creates his animated cycles in his works:

Differentiating Game animation to film animation

Discussing the Types of video game animation

Understanding cycle animations

How to animate cycle animations

Animation that loops in cycles is extensively utilized in media, particularly for actions like walking, running, and idle movements, thus proving versatile for video games. Our speaker, Mr. Quindara, differentiated film animation from game animation as follows: Film animation is passive, fixed, focusing on cinematic storytelling, whereas game animation is interactive and dependent on player actions, with cyclical structures for various movements such as walking and attacking. He emphasized that cycle animations apply not only to characters but also to game objects, environments, and UI elements. The more frames an animation contains, the smoother it appears, contrasting with the 8-bit era's limited 2-3 frame animations that effectively enhanced visual effects.

Animation that loops in cycles is extensively utilized in media, particularly for actions like walking, running, and idle movements, thus proving versatile for video games. Mr. Quindara differentiated film animation from game animation as follows: Film animation is passive, fixed, focusing on cinematic storytelling, whereas game animation is interactive and dependent on player actions, with cyclical structures for various movements such as walking and attacking. He emphasized that cycle animations apply not only to characters but also to game objects, environments, and UI elements. The more frames an animation contains, the smoother it appears, contrasting with the 8-bit era's limited 2-3 frame animations that effectively enhanced visual effects.

Me and the rest of my classmates went onto our first industry exposure trip, which was in Snipple Animation Studios, located near Eastwood City in NCR. Our tour guide that day was none other than Mr. James Arboleda, an employee at the animation studio itself! This trip was conducted during December 11, 2025, which lasted from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Prior to the studio visit, our program coordinator emphasized the importance of signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep the details of Snipple's ongoing animation projects confidential from the public eye and knowledge, otherwise we can get taken to court and pay a huge fine, regardless if it's even just one of us. The class traveled for about 4-5 hours from Olongapo to Quezon City, facing significant traffic. Upon arriving at the studio itself, we received an orientation from Mr. Arboleda, which included presentations on completed projects from Snipple and insights from employees about their experiences. He also explained the animation techniques that their studio used, notably paperless and cutout animation, showcasing the production process from their rough animations based on their clients' storyboards to final compositing. Throughout the entire orientation, their experiences highlighted the complexity and teamwork required in animation production, proving that animating is no easy feat.

Mentioning paperless animation reminded me of what style I want to animate in. Differentiating it with cutout animations gives it the impression of being more fluid compared to it, considering how they're hand-drawn frames. I was doing cutout animation on my previous projects in college, but I really hope that I'll get to do more frame-by-frame animation in my future projects, both with my personal art and professional works.

This onsite event is called “Cloudstaff ROAR Year End Party 2025”, which happened in December 6, 2025, spanning from around the hours of 11:00am to 8:00pm, set in the Philippine Arena at Ciudad de Victoria, Bocaue, Bulacan. It was hosted by none other than Cloudstaff, an international company that provides business with remote employees and outsourcing services. The event also presented musical performances from well-known artists, most notably The Philippine Orchestra, Spongecola, and last but definitely not the least, BINI. One of the notable speakers during the event was Cloudstaff’s CEO, Llyod Ernest!

Honestly speaking, I've never attended a concert in my entire life, so this'll be my first time going to one! While I'm not a usual fan of music by Philippine artists, but taking part of witnessing this year-end party was a once in a lifetime experience. I decided to attend the event since the rest of my groupmates were also attending as well. The trip to the Philippine Arena had us in a pickle because of the traffic. When it came into entering the venue itself, there were specific items that we couldn't bring inside, such as tumblers, bags above the 12 x 12 size requirements, and umbrellas. Unfortunately, my bag was too big, so I had to leave it in our van, and I accidently brought my umbrella because I thought it was going to rain. Thankfully the baggage counter staff were nice enough to offer their services enough that I can leave my umbrella with them. I got them back at the end of the event at least!

Acquiring our seats was challenging. By the time we got inside the venue to find seats, the whole place was filled and crowded. Me and my friends only managed to sit around the middle and upper rows, although the view we got in was fine to say, at least the place was filled with air conditioning! As for the event flow, it was awesome. We get to hear the instrumentals of OPM music from the Philippine Orchestra, as well as hit songs from Spongecola and BINI. Of course, Cloudstaff has their CEO say his speech about the accomplishments of their company as a company that helps business find people with the right skillsets to join their teams. He also hosted the raffles alongside the other event organizers! A few of the prizes were a car and a motorcyle!

This informative webinar entitled “The Storytelling of Art: A Guide to Concept Design” was hosted on November 28, 2025, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, conducted at both Google Meet and Facebook Live. Registration was done via Google Forms, which was announced in the official Facebook page of The Skyrocket Collective. Our resource speaker was Ms. Candice Torres, a 2D artist currently working at Buko Studios. The webinar’s topic revolved around concept art, specifically of how it can be used to communicate stories to the audience:

Concept art as storytelling foundation

Emotion through design, not decoration

Shape language, color, composition, symbolism

Characters, creatures, props, environments as narrative tools

Bridging design, story, and world-building across media

Concept art is one of the first steps that artists take when it comes to developing their ideas and bringing them to life. As someone who enjoys drawing a lot of sketches for concept designing for my own characters and stories, this topic discussed was perfect to listen to and take note off. Our resource speaker presented us a with the basic pipeline of designing concept art, something that she takes into heart when doing her pieces for her artworks, not only for her professional work, but also for her own personal projects.

Along with her discussion, she even presented examples of her works in concept art, also mentioning that she has over 50 clients, even going as far to having customers from foreign countries. She demonstrated how much thought goes around when it comes to these things. Such elements applied in creating concept art include the following:

IDEATION • Mood Boarding – Gather inspiration and research for visualization of the subject for reference • Narrative – Layout of the story, noting important information APPLICATION • Start sketching – Create multiple loose sketches by using your gathered references. • Narrow down – Pick and choose favorite or appropriate sketches, get it ready for development KEY ART • Development – Expand sketches, add necessary and important elements like props character and creatures • Layout – Create infographics of your work, compile all of your concept art

She also points out the importance of color theory and grayscale values in concept art, as these can improve your color palettes, the mood or day & night cycle that you want to convey, and to minimize color distractions in order to focus on the art's form, textures, and lighting. Using motifs is another thing she told us to implement in concept design, as these elements that be something that viewers can point out while they analyze your designs and say "Oh! That's actually very clever! Now it makes sense!". Concept art can be used to illustrate a story to tell people by just looking at it. Once they manage to piece the elements used, they can learn to appreciate the attention to detail you've applied to your creations.

Despite being the host, one of the few things that I loved during the webinar was how our speaker does her rendering styles in her artworks, as if she's one of the artists from Riot Games. The webinar also made way for the QnA portion based on the question we've received via the Google Forms from the webinar's registration period. Out of all the 45 questions and given the time frame we had, these were what she provided as answers:

Using color theory and grayscale to make use of unique color combinations and defining the values in your art pieces.

Art and storytelling have coexisted since the time of cavemen, as evident by the cavemen paintings, which is how scientists were able to decipher how they lived back then.

Use motifs in your concept art! Like emblems or letters on your character designs, or recurring design elements in their background!

Look at other people’s artworks to gain inspiration on what kind of art pieces you want to do. Draw every day, which can feel like a chore at first that can lead to burnout, but it can give you tremendous benefits, like a physical workout.

Avoid overdesigning and over-rendering. “Less is more. Sometimes a simple design is beautiful and enough.”

Take criticisms when asking for feedback from other people. It’s your way of figuring out which works for your audience, and which does not.

This online webinar “Scene Synergy: How to Balance Interactions between 2D Characters & Environment Art” was held on November 22, 2025, which happened online at Google Meet and streamed in Facebook Live, lasting from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The registration happened in Google Forms, announced in the official Facebook group page of The Skyrocket Collective, hosted by yours truly, the group under the same name. The resource speaker was non other than Ms. Alyssa Beatrice Dela Cruz, a 2D animator working at Top Draw Animation, Inc. for 2 years. The webinar focused on deepening the understanding of how 2d characters interact with their environments, such as:

Physics grounding in 2D movement

Beginner mistakes in environment interaction

Believable contact points (feet, hands, objects)

Syncing motion with environment elements

Weight, timing, and force for realism

Scene analysis and refinement for synergy

Our resource speaker discussed plenty of things about 2D animation, especially with how 2d character interact with their environments, may it be with props or their surroundings. She mentioned a lot of terminologies, some were familiar, while some were entirely new terms, such as:

contact points - points wherein a character or object makes contact with a surface or another object

overshoot - when an object moves beyond its final position before settling back again

perspective & anatomy – considered as twins in animation, because they are important for depth, realism, movement, and expression respectively.

weight – important to better emphasize the existence of gravity and inertia

horizon point – the viewer’s eye level, where the sky meets the ground, and it’s the anchor for perspective; determines how objects or characters are positioned in a scene, in terms of scale, angle, and perspective.

As our first webinar's host, I had to make sure that everyone wasn't bored during the waiting time and the discussion. It was also neat how my groupmates still managed to contribute by facilitating the invites and the chat moderations in both Google Meet and Facebook Live. We encouraged both the mod team and the participants to interact with our resource speaker, considering that it was in a podcast-style format. We also took the opportunity to answer the questions submitted by our attendees prior to the event from the registration period.

She mentioned how even making a small change on walk or run cycles can give a big impact on how your character feels alive and attached onto the scene you have. Simply just doing a walk/run cycle then just dragging them across the scene isn't enough, you got to emphasize where their contact points are. Adding ground shadows helps, too!

She also showed a couple of examples of 2D animated shows that emphasized the topics she talked about during the webinar, like how the perspective of the background may or may not match the characters' angles, the use of camera shots in the scenes, and how character hold onto props and/or other characters.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This webinar is entitled “AI DEBUGGING 101: A Student’s Guide to Smarter Code Fixing”, which focuses on the following topics, discussed by the following resource speakers:

Mylyn Mendoza — INTRODUCTION TO AI: And Its Role in Code Debugging

Meicaella Fe Bunag — AI-POWERED CODE: Optimization Techniques

Emmanuel Arellano — OVERVIEW OF AI: Debugging Tools

The webinar was held on November 14, 2025, from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM via Microsoft Teams and Facebook Live. The speakers mentioned about are college students from the Junior Philippine Computer Society of the Mindoro State University Main Chapter.

In today's present era wherein the use of AI is the common debate between tech bros and creatives, humanity is often divided in picking a side. While AI itself it's inherently evil (yet), it all boils down to how people utilize it in their lives. It's supposed to be common belief that you should only rely on AI chat bots IF you truly have no idea what you're doing, as evident with how you can use AI to help you debug for any error present in your code that you haven't noticed.

I will admit, I used ChatGPT with helping me with my Computer Programming activities as well as my Data Structures subject, especially since those two major subjects are the hardest ones to take before you become a 3rd year student. Coding on just using what's left of my brain's problem-solving skills plus my degrading sanity back then has led me into a spiral of depression which almost made me give up.

But when I finally succumbed to asking AI to at least help me get the hard stuff out of the way, I finally got the whiff of fresh air again. Sometimes I do use Copilot in asking for solutions on how I should solve my errors in animating, instead of relying fully on it to do the whole process for me. I search for answers, and I follow through like I'm looking through a tutorial. Of course, I won't depend on it fully, as I'm not too enthusiastic with how some people normalizing using AI on EVERYTHING that they produce, even for the most foolish reasons.

Instead of using AI as a shortcut to get things done easily in a blink of an eye, we should treat it as if it’s our teacher in guiding us in understanding things that are confusing to the average person. Treat it as a copilot, not an autopilot. We should also use it in ways that can benefit humanity and assist them rather than to replace them in every aspect of their jobs.

The onsite event “𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸: 𝗨𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗖𝗖𝗖𝗦 𝗕𝗦𝗘𝗠𝗖 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀” was held on November 3, 2025, at the GC Function Hall at the 3rd floor of Gordon College. This event was hosted by none other than the current 4th years of BSEMC, in completion of their Capstone Project 1, with their first-ever film showing of their animated film projects.

As one of the project leaders responsible in hosting this event, specifically as the leader of Animatoons Productions, it was essentially my job to ensure that the event was engaging to the audience who came to watch our films and visited our booths. Our film was the first one to debut, so I had to reel up the energy of the sleepy crowd during the Monday morning.

Not only did we show off our animated films to the students, faculty, and guests who came, but we also opened our studio booths where we presented our merchandise. We sold a handful amount of merch, which consists mostly of our studio mascot, JJ the Cat, but also art of our characters via photocards and stickers. Our booth also had a drawing board wherein guests can draw for free on the device provided. (Credits goes to me since it was my touchscreen laptop that they used. Thank you, guys!)

We also learned how the animation processes work throughout the rest of the animation teams who happened to be our fellow classmates. From conceptualization in pre-production, producing the animations itself, to organizing the whole thing in post-production, it goes to show that each film shown during the event was made with genuine care, in their own ways at least.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This onsite seminar was entitled “Hack, Play, & Learn Summit 2025”, focusing on different aspect in tech and its different tools that can help us thrive and adapt in today’s fast-paced digital world. The event happened at October 21, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM at Harbor Point Activity Center in Subic Bay, Freeport Zone in Olongapo City. The summit also had invited multiple speakers originating from various expertise in computer studies, such as the following and their respective topics:

Dr. Marlon Tayag – Cybersecurity

Arvin Bordios – CI/CD (Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery)

Tsuni Gatlavayan – Converge ICT

Mark Thaddeus R. Manuel – Just Make Games

Romeo John Perez – Game Feel & Juice: Making Games Pop!

Fatrizha Alejah Boongaling – UI/UX

Phee-Jae Aeydrian Salas – VIM Introduction

James Calma & Ian Gaylon – Encryption

Marvin Gregorio – Locking Down the Backend: A Guide to API Endpoint Security

Robina Aquino – Code Documentation and Technical Debt

Raniel Johndrie Luz – Automation with Playwright

Simon Gerard Granil – Brains Behind the Bots: Exploring ML and NLP

The seminar began with an in-depth discussion on cybersecurity, focusing on the importance of strong, unique passwords and the practice of regularly changing them as a form of cyber-hygiene. The speaker also highlighted how oversharing online can lead to security risks and mentioned notable cases like the “I LOVE YOU” virus created by a Filipino student. Another discussion was hosted by Converge, the event emphasized that the Philippines is a hotspot for cyberattacks, especially DDoS attacks that overwhelm servers. To combat these, businesses were encouraged to use firewalls, anti-malware software, encryption, and security monitoring tools to protect their systems and customers.

Other topics included game development, where speakers discussed the value of starting small, understanding core game loops, and the importance of “game feel” and “juice” in making gameplay more engaging. They also introduced how game jams work as creative events for aspiring developers (stuff like this is how Peak came to be after all!). The seminar also further explored UI/UX laws like Hick’s, Miller’s, and Jakob’s Laws, along with an introduction to the VIM text editor, its modes, and macros. Lastly, the discussion extended to modern technologies such as encryption, APIs, automation, coding, machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP), giving participants a broad insight into today’s digital landscape.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This regional conference that I attended was entitled “Regional Assembly on Information Technology Education - "IT Beyond Tomorrow: Shaping the Digital Frontier”. This event, shortly known as RAITE, is an annual assembly hosted by none other than the same organizers from Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators, better known as PSITE – Central Luzon. The event lasted from 8:45 AM to 6:00 PM, conducted on October 17, 2025, at Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, Sumacab Campus, Cabanatuan City, Philippines. The morning session presented multiple IT-related topics, with some of the speakers including the following:

Dr. Rhodora R. Jugo – Opening Speech

Dr. Teddy C. San Andres – Inspirational Message

Mr. Gilbert M. Tumibay – “Smarter or Dumber: What is AI Really Doing to Me”

Dr. Rodolfo C. Raga – “Beyond the Prompt: Transitioning Filipino Students from AI Users to AI Builders”

Engr. Delaney Ofrecio – Digital Footprints

 Meanwhile, the afternoon session presented the some of the competitions and revealed the winners at the end of the event, which included the following below:

I.T.S. Cloud Computing

Lanyard Layout Design

Medal Layout Design

Quiz Bee

Micro Short Film

Mobile Legends Bang Bang

Valorant

Mr. and Ms. Ambassador

Sian Pop Dance Competition

Hackathon Programming

One of the discussions during the conference revolved around the proper implementation of AI, highlighting its potential to accelerate human social progress. The Philippines has a high percentage of people using AI, particularly in education, with 86% of education organizations using Generative AI. Honestly speaking, I'm not shocked, considering the amount of AI content I encounter in Facebook is disappointing, especially since most of them are from FIlipino users. The speaker also mentioned RA 11927 (Digital Workforce Competitiveness), an act aimed at helping Filipinos improve their digital skills for jobs in tech, online services, and other digital fields. Another speaker emphasized the importance of thinking for ourselves and avoiding reliance on AI. He emphasized that AI should make us smarter, not dumber, and should be used as a tool to think better. The speaker also discussed the AI skill paradox, the economic imperative for AI builders, and the core generative AI building blocks.

The next speaker highlighted four AI skill profiles: users (consume AI), leaders (the Strategize), architects (Architects), and trainers/teachers (The Guardians). While AI is not the only factor contributing to wealth, building AI models requires significant work and trial-and-error. The future may be hopeful, where AI doesn't replace jobs or our touch in the world, but rather, we should be cautious about its potential.

The topics addressed the present-day things we deal in the field of computer studies, especially with AI being prevalent in everything we do. While it is something we can’t erase out of existence considering of how fast technology is evolving, the speakers encouraged us to use it correctly. AI isn’t inherently bad per say, it’s just the fact on how we utilize them in our daily activities. For example, you can have AI do your chores so that you can draw or write, rather than have AI do your drawing and writing so that you do your chores. This thought makes me a little forgiving with the matter, only a little.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This seminar was held on October 3, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, at Holy Angel University Theater in Angeles City, Pampanga, entitled “CYBER SECURE GENS: Bridging Knowledge, Building Defenders Across All Ages”.  The seminar was a full-day event that gathers willing participants of all ages and professions, from students, educators, and also industry experts to engage and listen as the speakers address cybersecurity challenges and solutions with people of all generations in today’s time. The following speakers include:

Mr. LEOPOLDO JAIME N. VALDEZ - President, Holy Angel University

USEC. RENATO PARAISO - Acting Executive Director, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC)

Dr. Marlon I. Tayag – Dean, School of Computing

The other resource speakers who discussed during their respective plenaries include:

Mr. Aj Dumanhug

Click Clean: Cyber Hygiene for the Hyperconnected

Mr. Omar Palaming

Human Firewalls: Secure by Design

Mr. Mark Legeza

Data Detox: Controlling What Your Apps Know About You

Mr. Ricson Que

AM Session Panel Discussion

Mr. Rodel Plasabas

Patch or Perish: Staying Ahead with Cyber Upkeeps

Mr. Nap Castillo

Cloud Smart: Locking Down What Your Share

Bgen. Jamel P. Samonte Pa

Gen Ready: Future Proofing Cyber Defenders Across Ages

Dr. Semi Yulianto

PM Session Panel Discussion

The seminar was divided into two parts: AM and PM session, featuring multiple speakers who tackled key topics in a casual but engaging manner. The morning session focused on Understanding Threats & Building Safer Digital Habits, while the afternoon session discussed Tools, Tactics & Cyberproofing for the Future. One of the plenaries highlighted how even simple apps can trade personal information, showing how users’ data can be exploited in real time, as the speaker, Mr, Legeza, pointed out through the demonstrations of live hacking. These include hackers accessing financial apps, listening to calls, and stealing files from victims’ devices. Other discussions emphasized the use of cloud storage, multi-layered authentication, and the reality that cybercrimes can target anyone, no matter their generation (Boomers, Gen X, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, etc.)

Some portions of the event have what they call a “panel” discussion, wherein the lead speaker brings up the speakers from the previous plenaries to engage in a QnA they prepared for one another, allowing them to throw each other their views and opinions revolving the questions based on today’s cybersecurity measures.

I also liked how they inserted intermission numbers and raffle draws so that everyone becomes energized and have something to look forward to during the event. The hype did wake up most of the audience, especially with the ones who won the prizes!

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This onsite seminar is part of the seminar series entitled GABAY: A Seminar Series for Youth on Legal Literacy, Safety, & Social Justice, with the theme: “Understanding the Law, Protecting Our Rights, & Shaping a Responsible Generation”. The session that I have attended focused on Youth & Cybercrime: Awareness & Prevention, which was scheduled during September 30, from 8:00 AM – 12:00 NN. The speaker was PSSG Princess Rowie D. Garcia. Originally, the event had three (3) speakers, with the other two (2) being PLT Maria Violeta D. Barrientos and PAT Archie Dizon. According to the speaker who attended, the other two had to handle their recent case from their last mission.

This seminar expanded upon cybercrime, low-key adjacent to cyber security, only this time, the discussions focused on informing the participants regarding the different cases that one can get involved with in the digital space. The speaker mentions an example for each cybercrime mentioned, with most of them being real operations that she and her team had to handle. She even discussed about libels, identity theft, online harassments, and the involvement in dangerous acts online for the sake of money.

Any information you post online can give away anything of who you are. The more information you post about yourself on the Internet, the most likely you become a prime target of malicious people who can use this to track you down. From images, videos, status updates, current locations, they can use it to commit heinous atrocities that can damage your reputation not only online, but also in real life.

Cybercrime is something that anyone who using the digital world as their safe haven should be open-minded about. Coming from someone who posts their art online for anyone from around the globe to see, this is a very important thing. Privacy is crucial and sacred even for online artists, plus anyone in the art community in general. We should be made aware that scams, defamation, identity theft, and other cybercrimes are prevalent in any social media platform, so we must be careful of who we talk to, and what we click.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This webinar was hosted by Akuni Projects at September 27, 2025, with the seminar that happened live in their official Facebook page via FB Live, which had the runtime from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The event was entitled “Basics of Audio/Video Processing”, with the speaker being Engr. Marvin C. De Pedro, PECE. He discussed the essential concepts and real-world applications of audio and video signal processing. The aforementioned topics include:

Audio vs. video formats and representations of signals

Sampling, compression, and codecs

Filtering, enhancement, and feature extraction

Applications in communications and embedded platforms

Having poor technical performance was one of my main problems while listening to the webinar. The speaker’s video kept pausing and crashing, the slides were too blurry and pixelated, and his audio sounded muffled and inaudible every time he talks. He also used too many technical terms that were hard for outsiders to understand.

Another was whenever the speaker showed us YouTube videos while we were answering the short quizzes. Not only were they also equally laggy and pixelated, but some of them were outdated, using old interfaces that are not present in newer devices today.

One good thing about this webinar though was how the flow of the discussions went. The whole thing was divided into 4 parts, with the speaker distributing a short multiple-choice quiz in-between topics to make sure that the audience is paying attention. The content also expanded on lessons that I have studied from my past school years, additionally covering topics like color bits, audio and video formats, signals, digitalization, and enhancements.

Having a criterion of getting a certain score to ensure that each participant receives their certificate might seem a little unfair at first, because the lessons were too hard to understand given the technical issues that served as an obstacle for us to understand the discussions.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This online seminar that I attended was advertised in the official Facebook page of Asians in Animation, with the title “Annecy Winner Pitch - Sun Chaser: A Fantastical Filipino Adventure Show”. The registration was held in Eventbrite, and the claiming of tickets was free with no charge. Besides this webinar being hosted in Zoom on September 27, lasting from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM by AIA (Asians in Animation), they also had Mr. Bobby Pontillas as the resource speaker, who happens to be the director of Sun Chaser, an animated series inspired from Filipino stories and identity. The webinar shared not only the trailer, but also its behind-the-scenes.

Out of all the seminars I have attended thus far as of typing out in this blog, this recent webinar has got to be the most engaging one I've been in! Unlike everything before this that was broadly for anyone in Computer Studies, this webinar is dedicated to not only animation enthusiasts, but also to aspiring Filipino creators who wish to bring their works into the world in an animated form. Attending this has genuinely glued me into the screen for an hour as I continued to listen to the speaker's experience working in the animation industry.

Seeing his team's works from the earliest concepts to what will eventually become Sun Chaser, it lit up a glimmer of hope in my aching heart. I have a lot of personal projects that I wish to develop, but I'll build up on their concepts once I graduate. Hopefully I'll have something to share in the near future!

Although my question regarding what animation program they used or if they're looking for potential animators to work alongside them wasn't answered, at least I got to learn a lot from everyone else's questions! From the storyboards, animatics, trailers, and even getting to know about the speaker's story was something I'll remember dearly.

written by: AGASA, HERSHELLE HANNAH

This online seminar was hosted by InnovPH on September 21, 2025 from 10:30 AM to 12:00 NN, advertised as a free webinar in Innov PH’s official Facebook page, and exclusively conducted in Zoom. The webinar’s speaker was none other than Ms. Herleenor Mortera, MBB, who has a lot of roles in her career.

This webinar focused on transforming raw data into insights that captivate and drive action. Some of the discussed topics include the comparison behind report versus story, role of analysis, how to gather insights, the science of data storytelling, data storytelling, and so much more.

During this webinar, I realized that most of the discussion is more so aligned in research and business, specifically interpreting data into something more comprehensible for anyone outside your circle. What caught my attention during the session was how she casually mentioned about the Gestalt principles, which are a set of laws of perception that describe how human groups similar elements, recognize patterns, and simplify complex images when we perceive objects.

Applying these principles into visualizing charts of data helps people understand what you’re trying to tell them based on what your chart from your research is saying, instead of sending your text-flooded documents for them to read. What the speaker meant when she said “data storytelling” is how you can tell people about the data you collected through showing them the right kind of visualization on your chart.

From this webinar, I can apply what I’ve learned into my documents, specifically for my Capstone Project group’s research paper. Seeing the charts served as a challenge for me to create our data charts in a clearer manner so that our instructor/s do not get confused on what they are seeing.