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1. Understanding Organizational Trust of Zoos and Aquariums

   https://doi.org/10.31274/sciencecommunication-181114-16  

   Rank, Shelley J.; Voiklis, John; Gupta, Rupanwita; Fraser, John R.; Flinner, Kate (January 2018, Understanding the Role of Trust and Credibility in Science Communication.)

   null (Ed.)

   Zoos and aquariums play a pivotal role in wildlife conservation, including educating the public. Nevertheless, media depictions of Zoos and aquariums that emphasize animal captivity may erode public trust. We report on the first systematic survey of organizational trust in Zoos and aquariums, contrasting how people perceive the current performance of ZAs against people’s expectations for establishing trust. The largest disparities between perceptions and expectations were for items that assessed the ethical integrity of Zoos and aquariums − how well they maintain and communicate about animal welfare. ZAs can fully earn public trust by adjusting their practices and/or their messaging related to ethical integrity. 

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2. Extending ecological social work to assessing support for policies addressing animal organizations in disasters

   https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2024.2399544  

   Whitley, Cameron T; Meglathery, Eva; McCann, Ailis; Robles, Jayden (November 2024, Social Work in Mental Health)

   During the COVID-19 pandemic, most, if not all, animal rescues, sanctuaries, zoos, and aquariums experienced financial distress. This stress had an impact on the welfare of animals and their human caretakers, an issue important to ecological social work. We draw on a novel dataset (n = 2,060) to assess support for policies to extend emergency funding to animal support and conservation organizations in extreme events. We find that, on average women and nonbinary individuals, those with more education, people who have pets, people who are concerned about other humans (humanistic altruism), and those who have greater concern for animals report greater support. 

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3. Measuring Gains and Losses in Human-Robot Trust: Evidence for Differentiable Components of Trust

   https://doi.org/10.1109/HRI.2019.8673154  

   Ullman, Daniel; Malle, Bertram F. (March 2019, 2019 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI))

   Human-robot trust is crucial to successful human-robot interaction. We conducted a study with 798 participants distributed across 32 conditions using four dimensions of human-robot trust (reliable, capable, ethical, sincere) identified by the Multi-Dimensional-Measure of Trust (MDMT). We tested whether these dimensions can differentially capture gains and losses in human-robot trust across robot roles and contexts. Using a 4 scenario × 4 trust dimension × 2 change direction between-subjects design, we found the behavior change manipulation effective for each of the four subscales. However, the pattern of results best supported a two-dimensional conception of trust, with reliable-capable and ethical-sincere as the major constituents. 

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4. Reporting on Science as an Ongoing Process (or Not)

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.535474  

   Slater, Matthew H.; Scholfield, Emily R.; Moore, J. Conor (January 2021, Frontiers in Communication)

   Efforts to cultivate scientific literacy in the public are often aimed at enabling people to make more informed decisions — both in their own lives (e.g., personal health, sustainable practices, &c.) and in the public sphere. Implicit in such efforts is the cultivation of some measure oftrustof science. To what extent does science reporting in mainstream newspapers contribute to these goals? Is what is reported likely to improve the public's understanding of science as a process for generating reliable knowledge? What are its likely effects on public trust of science? In this paper, we describe a content analysis of 163 instances of science reporting in three prominent newspapers from three years in the last decade. The dominant focus, we found, was on particular outcomes of cutting-edge science; it was comparatively rare for articles to attend to the methodology or the social–institutional processes by which particular results come about. At best, we argue that this represents a missed opportunity. 

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5. A social web to stimulate interdisciplinary collaborations

   https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf033  

   Sharanowski, Barbara_J; Maughan, Heather; Goodey, Nina_M; Meyer, Wynn_K; Li-Byarlay, Hongmei; Mayes, Maricris_L; Smith, Keriayn_N (May 2025, Integrative And Comparative Biology)

   Synopsis Interdisciplinary collaborations are essential for addressing complex global challenges, yet forming and sustaining such teams is often hindered by institutional barriers, differences in discipline-specific languages, and cultural divides. Existing tools and platforms frequently fail to foster the deep, ongoing engagement necessary for successful interdisciplinary work. This paper proposes a novel web-based platform designed to stimulate and support interdisciplinary collaborations by integrating social media elements, such as user-friendly communication tools, algorithms for identifying and connecting individuals with complementary and unique skills, and smart suggestions for potential collaborators. The platform would facilitate building and maintaining the engagement of target users, and provide guardrails to engender community trust, with a goal to also tackle issues related to power dynamics, cultural differences, institutional structures, and varying levels of prestige or funding. By addressing these challenges, the proposed platform would enable and accelerate productive interdisciplinary research and collaborative ideation, and ultimately stimulate more innovative and effective solutions to complex scientific and societal problems. 

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