White Paper Cross-sector
Narrative Stewardship Infrastructure: Full Methodology
The foundational methodology for managing narratives across audiences, channels, and trust conditions.
Three flagships
The thesis, the instrument and the idea that travels.
The thesisThe Trust Condition FrameworkTrust as a record: what was promised, delivered, disclosed and corrected. A way to read any audience before you speak to it.Read the framework → The instrumentThe Trust AuditA scored diagnostic of the trust condition between an institution and one constituency. Take the diagnostic now, in about 20 minutes.Take the Trust Audit → The idea that travelsTrust Literacy and The Four ReadingsThe skill nobody taught you, and the four readings that make it practical. Then try the self-check.Read the article →
The collection
Case studies, white papers, tools, articles, and reviews.
35 items
White Paper Cross-sector
Epistemic Re-Regulation Architecture: Executive White Paper
Why the trust deficit has to be diagnosed before any campaign begins.
EN · Practitioner brief availableRead online →
White Paper Cross-sector
Framework Comparison: A Simulation
A simulation comparing how the frameworks perform under different trust conditions.
ENForthcoming
Position Paper Cross-sector
Beyond the Message
An academic position paper on what communication has to do beyond delivering a message.
ENForthcoming
Tool Cross-sector
The Trust Audit: Short Self-Assessment
The Short Self-Assessment: ten questions, four dimensions, one score out of 50. Take it online.
InteractiveOpen →
Tool Cross-sector
Trust Literacy Self-Assessment
Twelve statements across the four readings. Four minutes, no sign-up.
Self-checkOpen →
Course Cross-sector
Practitioner Training Curriculum
Learn to read the room before you write the message: eight modules plus an orientation for communication practitioners.
9 parts · 6 to 8 hoursOpen →
Case Study Public institutions
The Majority That Wasn’t Enough
The framework applied to a municipal water bond.
Volume 1 · Case 1 · PDFRead the case →
Case Study Public institutions
The Hardening
The framework applied to a county infrastructure tax.
Volume 1 · Case 2 · PDFRead the case →
Case Study Public institutions
The Process Problem
The framework applied to a statewide ballot measure.
Volume 1 · Case 3 · PDFRead the case →
Case Study Public institutions
Replacement Facility
The framework applied to a major public facility replacement project. Client anonymized.
Volume 2 · Case 1 · PDFRead the case →
Case Study Public institutions
Covered California
Targeted community outreach for a state health benefit exchange: 31% to 37% in one enrollment period.
Practice case · Public health coverage · PDFRead the case →
Case Study Cross-sector
The Work Was Excellent. The Structure Made It Impossible to Use.
The framework applied to a multi-partner regional health initiative. Client anonymized.
Volume 2 · Case 2 · PDFRead the case →
Case Study Cross-sector
The Work That Lasted
The framework applied to a regional initiative where the work outlasted the funding. Client anonymized.
Volume 2 · Case 3 · PDFRead the case →
Article Cross-sector
The Intersection of Trust and Communication
Why one cannot substitute for the other
Trust as Infrastructure · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
Dismantling Mindset
The hardest communications problem is the one inside you
Trust as Infrastructure · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
AI Literacy Is Not What You Think It Is
A field guide for public health professionals, emergency managers, municipal leaders, and businesswomen
AI and Technology · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
The AI Adoption Problem Nobody Is Talking About
Three quiet failures, why they keep happening, and the question to ask first
AI and Technology · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
AI for Good
The case for proper technology adoption, and the questions "AI for good" isn't asking
AI and Technology · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
The Communications Staffing Crisis Nobody Is Naming
What Canva, AI tools, and the "anyone can do this" myth are doing to the profession
AI and Technology · PDFRead →
Article Public institutions
Crisis Communications in a Chaotic World
Why the old playbook is making things worse
High-Stakes Communications Practice · PDFRead →
Article Public institutions
Risk Communication in an Anti-Science World
What works when evidence isn't enough
High-Stakes Communications Practice · PDFRead →
Article Public institutions
Behavior Change Communication in an Oppositional World
Beyond the wheel, beyond the nudge
High-Stakes Communications Practice · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
Social Media and Children
What the Meta lawsuits tell us that the platforms won't
Contemporary Challenges · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
Critical Thinking in the Age of AI
The skill we are automating away at exactly the moment we need it most
Contemporary Challenges · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
Building Partnerships When the Funding Is Gone
A field guide for the post-foreign-assistance era
Contemporary Challenges · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
Everything You Need to Know Before You Start a Podcast
And some things the podcast evangelists won't tell you
Contemporary Challenges · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
The 45+ Woman Entrepreneur and AI
Navigating a technology landscape that wasn't built with her in mind
Contemporary Challenges · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
The Celebrity Podcast Problem
When a democratic medium becomes an oligopoly of famous voices
Contemporary Challenges · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
What AI Is Actually Doing to White-Collar Work
Beyond the hype, beyond the panic
Contemporary Challenges · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
The Four Readings
What a trust-literate communicator checks before writing a word.
Trust as Infrastructure · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
Trust Literacy: The Skill Nobody Taught You
Why reading the trust condition is a skill every communicator needs.
Trust as Infrastructure · PDFRead →
Article Cross-sector
The Illusion of the Megaphone
Why DIY social media is failing public leaders and voters.
NSI series · PDFRead →
Review Cross-sector
Pensamiento Crítico para la Era de la IA
A communications practitioner reads Rafael Azofeifa's guide to critical thinking for AI-mediated work.
Book review · PDFRead the review →
Review Cross-sector
Dismantled: A Theory of Broken Mindsets
A communications practitioner reads FC Quiles's early reader edition.
Book review · PDFRead the review →
Featured intelligence briefing
The Trust Condition Index
A diagnostic score, 1 to 50, that measures the structural trust condition between an institution and a specific constituency. Not sentiment. Not satisfaction. The accumulated record of what has been promised, delivered, disclosed, and withheld.
Take the Trust DiagnosticAt a score of 12, an audience deflects institutional communications before processing them as information. A stronger message does not fix this.
The framework
Diagnose the trust condition. Then build the narrative.
TCI
Trust Condition Index
How available is your audience?
The measurement. A 1-to-50 score for a specific constituency, built on the record of promises, delivery, disclosure, and what was withheld.
ERA
Epistemic Re-Regulation Architecture
Before the campaign begins.
The repair. Where trust is damaged, no campaign can fully reach its audience until the structural deficit is assessed and addressed.
NSI
Narrative Stewardship Infrastructure
Multi-audience. Precision at scale.
The method. A structured, evidence-based system for managing narratives across audiences, channels, and trust conditions at once.
NSI works when the trust condition supports it. When trust is severely damaged, ERA comes first. They are complementary, not interchangeable.
Trust Diagnostic
What you measure determines what you can improve.
Three questions. Choose an answer to see the reasoning.