Trust in government is expected to promote effective implementation of public services. However, people in different cultures and on different levels do not always recognize the same concept of trust. Using a survey for Japanese and Norwegian citizens, the primary factors determining trust on the local level are examined. The analysis shows that the satisfaction with public service performance is highly influential in both countries, which is partly also true for political-cultural factors, while demographical factors are of minor influence. There are also variations in trust toward different institutions and actors, and the national factor is also significant.

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In this study, we examine how changes in seating position across different sites affect video-mediated communication. We experimentally investigated the effects of altering seating positions on conversations in four-person group communication, two-by-two at identical locations: distant parties seated across from each other vs. distant parties seated side-by-side. In the latter seating arrangement, we found that speaker switches were more evenly distributed between distance-separated participants and co-located participants at points without verbal indication of the next speaker. Participants shared a higher sense of unity and reached a slightly better group solution. These findings demonstrate the importance of providing people with various seating arrangements across distant sites to facilitate different group activities.