We’re incredibly thrilled to announce that Joanna Laursen Brucker has been appointed as Knology’s new CEO!

Benevolence is key to maintaining leader-staff trust in times of workplace conflict. In new research, we found that staff generally rate their employers lower on benevolence than other measures of organizational trust — even when leaders are taking productive steps to resolve disputes.

Workplace disputes often damage leader-staff trust. In new research, we found that by demonstrating affinity, competence, reliability, sincerity, integrity, and benevolence, leaders can head off or resolve these disputes in ways that maintain, build, and/or repair employee trust.

“Healing with Play” is helping children’s museums discover new ways to support bereaved families. Launched by the Association of Children’s Museums in collaboration with the New York Life Foundation, its goal is to identify effective ways to support children grieving the death of a loved one.

Every November, the Children’s Museum of Fond Du Lac hosts a special event in observance of Children’s Grief Awareness Month. Called “Super Saturday,” the event consists of a variety of fun activities aimed at helping children discover strengths and skills for coping with loss.

Benevolence is often the missing link in organizational trust-building efforts. As more and more evidence of benevolence’s role in improving trustworthiness comes to light, we wanted to share some specific findings on this point.

The Providence Children’s Museum is committed to offering children and families tools for navigating loss in all its varied forms. A key goal of their efforts, explains Director of Education Andrew Leveillee, is to “build the capacity for resilience before families need it.”

In November 2024, the Children’s Museum of Memphis hosted a “Day of Resilience.” Supported by the New York Life Foundation, the event featured a range of activities aimed at helping children learn how to name, describe, and communicate difficult feelings—especially those associated with loss.

In 2024, the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum launched a new exhibit designed to help children navigate feelings related to bereavement and other types of loss. It's called "Weathering Emotions." Click below to learn about their experiences hosting it! childrensmuseums.org/grief/casest...

Organizations are increasingly recognizing the value of literature reviews for improving programs, services, and decision-making processes. Conducting these reviews offers an opportunity to take advantage of best practices, establish strategies for measuring impact, and find new pathways to change.

1 in 11 US children will lose either a parent or a sibling by the time they turn 18. Through an initiative called “Healing with Play,” the Association of Children’s Museums and the New York Life Foundation are helping make bereavement care a community responsibility. childrensmuseums.org/grief/

Trust is a critical component of organizational success, but unfortunately, it’s in short supply these days.

By running programs that are both for and led by the community, the Jarrell Community Library & Resource Center is ensuring that its accessibility efforts directly respond to local needs.

ATTN: libraries! Looking for ideas on how to make your spaces, programs, and services more accessible to patrons with disabilities?

Our latest newsletter is live! Check it out for some insights into what makes the literature review such a powerful vehicle for improving practices and deepening impacts.

Are you a mid-to-senior level research and evaluation professional with expertise in informal STEM education or lifelong learning? Do you have a track record of success developing proposals and receiving research and/or evaluation funding from non-federal granting agencies?

Evaluations are often designed to serve funder needs and priorities. But to be effective for organizations, evaluations should yield data that helps them improve a given program, curriculum, or intervention.

Are you a recent or current undergraduate / graduate student who has coding and graphic design skills? Do you have experience creating figures, graphics, and other kinds of data visuals for social science analysis?

Last week, Knology's founding president and CEO Dr. John Fraser was honored with the Devra Kleiman Scientific Advancement Award -- one of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' highest recognitions! Congrats Johnny! We couldn't be prouder!

Research and evaluation are generally said to be very different things. But they often inform each other. Bringing research and evaluation into dialogue with each other can support the creation of new social science frameworks — along with better ways to meet the needs of multiple communities.

Organizational success requires innovation, but doing this isn’t always easy. Through research, evaluation, and capacity-building support, we strive to help organizations innovate in the face of unexpected changes and challenges.

Building organizational trust requires leaders and staff to see each other as both thinking and feeling creatures. This can be a difficult thing to do, because when we judge someone to be highly competent, we tend to assume that they lack warmth (a phenomenon scholars call “moral typecasting”).

Organizational self-reflection can be a powerful practice. It helps organizations reinvigorate their missions, build cohesion around a shared vision, and discover creative ways to promote long-term sustainability in the face of current and future uncertainties.

The recording of our recent webinar “Building Cultures of Trust in 21st Century Organizations” is now available! The ideas shared during our conversation yielded a number of practical solutions to the various trust-related challenges organizations are facing today. knology.org/article/buil...

Congrats to John Fraser and colleagues for their newly published paper! It’s called "Under-Resourced Learning Programs Imperil Active Stewardship of Alaska’s Marine Systems for Food Security" and is published in the journal Sustainability.

Having a theory of change is vital to achieving program goals. As roadmaps to success, theories of change help chart a course from aims and actions to outcomes, giving organizations an evidence-based understanding of how specific program activities lead to desired changes.

Our June newsletter is now live! Check it out for an insightful discussion of how to do proactive accessibility work – with examples from small and rural libraries who have received funding through @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social's Libraries Transforming Communities project. mailchi.mp/knology/soci...

There's still time to register for this Wednesday's free webinar on "Building Cultures of Trust in 21st Century Organizations." Sign up at the link below to join us for a conversation on ways to build, maintain, and restore trust in a variety of organizational settings. mailchi.mp/knology/june...

The process of becoming a more accessible institution begins with community conversations. By engaging students with disabilities and other disability experts, rural academic libraries are discovering new ways to make their spaces, programs, and collections more accessible.

Only 1 week until our webinar on “Building Cultures of Trust in 21st Century Organizations”!

What issues does your organization struggle with in terms of trust?

Conferences are a great way to democratize access to knowledge, to refine research methods, and to put research-practice principles into action.

Join us on Wednesday, June 25 from 12-1pm EDT for a webinar called “Building Cultures of Trust in 21st Century Organizations”!

Join us on Wednesday, June 25 from 12-1pm EDT for a webinar called “Building Cultures of Trust in 21st Century Organizations”! To register and learn more, click the link below: mailchi.mp/knology/june...

In #STEM classrooms all over the world, students and teachers are making use of #AI learning tools. To maximize their potential, It’s important that these tools be #trustworthy.

Through public #programs, #libraries are building #trust within their #communities. Our #trustworthiness framework highlights specific components of trust library programs are aligned with. knology.org/article/libr...

Leader-staff trust can easily break down during discussion of contentious issues. In a new study, we offer suggestions for maintaining trust when these discussions enter the workplace. knology.org/article/when...

Maintaining leader-staff #trust is a key component of organizational success for #nonprofits. In new research, we share three key strategies for fostering staff trust. knology.org/article/buil...

#Trust is complex, and building it often takes time. It’s easier when we know what the individual components of trust are, and how they interact with each other. Our trust model explains how different identity- and experience-based criteria impact assessments of #trustworthiness.

#Trust is a key component of healthy relationships. In our latest newsletter, we highlight our framework for building, maintaining, and restoring trust. mailchi.mp/knology/soci...

#ChildrensMuseums are well positioned to provide #bereavement care to youth grieving the death of a loved one. In a new report, we review the literature on this topic, exploring how interventions can promote healthy #grieving processes + build #resilience. bit.ly/4hGzCpU

ATTN: #museums (and specifically, #ChildrensMuseums): want to learn more about what parents and caregivers think about the role you can play in providing digital programs for young children? Check out the recently released report from our partners at Rockman et al. rockman.com/whats-new/20...

#Library workers of all kinds support program #marketing. A survey conducted w/ @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social and Convergence Design Lab shows that those w/ more experience tend to be less confident carrying out marketing-related tasks. Those w/o marketing support staff also feel less confident.

ATTN #libraries! Looking for ways to make your programs more #accessible to individuals with #SensorySensitivities? For some inspiration, check out the #SensoryFriendly Santa event that the Beals Memorial Library has hosted the past two years. programminglibrarian.org/articles/vis...

#Library workers of all kinds support program #marketing efforts, and are generally confident in their ability to do so. But according to the results of a survey we conducted w/ @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social and Convergence Design Lab, there is a need for greater support in four areas:

Educational #STEM #videogames sometimes struggle to motivate players. One solution? Tap into gamers’ #prosocial reasons for learning. By acknowledging the fact that the STEM professions are helping professions, these games can encourage youth with other-oriented goals to pursue STEM.

Our February newsletter is now live! Check it out for insights into building communities knit together by compassion, care, and cooperation – courtesy of our work with CodeCombat, Filament Games, @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social, the Association of Children’s Museums, and the New York Life Foundation.

With our partners at the Association of Children's Museums and the New York Life Foundation, we’re launching a new project designed to help children’s museums better support bereaved children and families in their communities. Read more about the project here: childrensmuseums.org/2025/01/30/a...

Our January newsletter is now live! Check it out for examples of how everyday settings can be transformed into sites of learning.

We work w/ orgs that foster opportunities for inclusive #storytelling. As evaluators of @filmindependent.org's “Global Media Makers” project, we’re learning how cultural exchange programs help filmmakers from across the world tell their stories to domestic + international audiences. bit.ly/3ZFuc7v