From November 13-15, 2024, the team from City College of Cagayan de Oro presented their research study, titled "Semiotic and Ethnographic Pictorial Analyses on Mapping Community Vulnerabilities: Educational Pathways for Local Disaster Preparedness," at the 11th International Conference for Teacher Education (ICTED) held at the Iloilo Convention Center in Iloilo City. Dr. Ray Butch D. Mahinay, VP for Extension and Social Development Services Cluster, along with Fhel Jhon V. Feliciano, Intelligent System Initiative Officer and Ray Mar L. Donggian, Research & System Planning Officer, presented onsite, while two coauthors, Maria Victoria B. Trinidad, Consultant for Social Formation and Akima Teresa M. Abas, participated online.
The study is a pioneering effort under the collegeโs Extension and Social Development Services Cluster, aiming to engage Barangay Agusan, Cagayan de Oro City, in disaster preparedness and resilience-building. Utilizing a Design Thinking framework, the researchers adopted a participatory approach, involving local leaders and community groups in visual data collection through photovoice and focus group discussions. Semiotic and ethnographic analyses decoded symbols and contextual meanings in community-generated drawings, revealing vulnerabilities related to flooding, waste management, and landslides.
In discussing the significance of the study, Dr. Mahinay emphasized, โ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ท๐ถ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ-๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ-๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ."
The team introduced a Disaster Preparedness Training Program, emphasizing modules in emergency response, first aid, evacuation, and community mobilization. The program is designed to foster collaboration among local stakeholders and empower residents with essential skills for disaster resilience. The study highlights the role of academic institutions like City College of Cagayan de Oro in integrating community service with academic programs to address real-world challenges.