Current awareness is the term used to describe staying informed by keeping up to date with the latest publications, research and news in your field.
The perspective of current awareness is the present and the forthcoming, as opposed to the retrospective.
Current awareness ranges from looking for information on specific topics on a regular basis (and this usually involves the assistance of your Personal Librarian to help you set up a search profile matched to your research interests) to embracing a wider, more general, and cross-disciplinary view that brings an element of serendipity into your search for the latest information.
Informally, researchers remain alert in all contexts for useful information and insights that will inform their daily practice, their research, and spark off innovative and creative ideas for new avenues of research
November's website of the month is:
The ScienceDaily website has been running since 1995. Updated several times a day, every day of the week, it is a popular source with researchers for the latest research news across the pure sciences, and including the fields of technology, environmental science, and the social sciences. The site is searchable and offers email newsletters and RSS Feeds for free. It is well worth exploring ScienceDaily and the drop down menus of subjects covered. You never know what information will spark off a new insight or idea for your next research project.
Below is a link to further reading on universal design and disability:
("universal design" AND disab*) limited to material published in English dated 2018-2019
and for further reading on another theme for November, the elimination of violence against women, click on the link below:
(16 AND days AND activism) limited to material published in English
The year is marked with many special days, weeks, and months dedicated and devoted to raising awareness about important issues.
This monthly post, compiled by the Information Search Librarians Team, will note special dates and themes, and draw your attention to possibly interesting cross-disciplinary topical references intended to inform and to inspire ideas for research.
Noteworthy days and time periods in November 2018 include:
3 November - 3 December: Disability Rights Awareness Month (2018 Theme: A disability, Barrier-Free South Africa by 2030: BE THE LEGACY!). Visit the World Health Organization's site on disability - there is a wealth of useful information here. See also Lotter, Eugene (2018) 'New glasses "correct" colour blindness for some' health24, 15 March.
[Image from Naicker, Kalisha (2017) 'Abuse of wheelchair parking bays condemned' news24, 25 April]
6 November: Southern African Development Community (SADC) Malaria Day. Read the World Health Organization's World Malaria Report 2018, and United Nations International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Take a look at the Global Pact for the Environment that grew out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 and Ratner, B.D. (2018) Environmental security: dimensions and priorities. Washington, DC: Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel to the Global Environment Facility (STAP). Click on English under Download Files.
8 November: United Nations World Quality Day. Take a look at the Chartered Quality Institute's comments for World Quality Day - Quality: a question of trust
10 November: World Science Day for Peace and Development. Read the UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030. See also An Overview of National Artificial Intelligence Strategies.
11 November: Centenary of Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I. Read a fascinating review of two exhibitions that commemorate Africa's neglected contribution during WWI, namely, The Head & the Load at the Park Avenue Armory in New York (4 - 15 December 2018) and Mimesis: African Soldier at the Imperial War Museum in London (until next year 31 March 2019). See Jaggi, Maya (2018) 'Decolonising Commemoration: New War Art' The New York Review of Books, 14 November.
15 - 16 November: Fourth Meeting of the Global Commission on the Future of Work of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva. Take a look at the ILO's topic page on The future of work - there are links to interesting research papers, issue briefs and a report on The Future of Work We Want: A Global Dialogue.
17 - 18 November: 11th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of State and Government of the African Union (AU), in Addis Ababa. Visit the AU Reforms website for more information and the AU's website for the 11th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU, which includes a summary of the key decisions and more.
18 November: World Remembrance Day for Victims of Road Accidents. Visit the Arrive Alive website for Road Safety Tips for the Festive Season.
20 November: United Nations Africa Industrialisation Day, and United Nations Universal Children's Day. Take a look at Landry Signé and Chelsea Johnson's The potential of manufacturing and industrialization in Africa: trends, opportunities, and strategies and watch a brief interview between CNBCAfrica's Kenneth Igbomor and Solomon Asamoah, CEO of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, on Understanding Africa's industrialisation challenges (31 May 2018). Read Katherine Hall's brief article on Recognising the diversity of SA families and Thembelihle Mkhonza's news article World Children's Day: Young author reveals how he survived bullying about Lelo Kingston Mofokeng's book How I survived bullying.
21 November: United Nations World Fisheries Day. See Kimon de Greef's November article on Fisheries department rots from the top (note that there is a correction notice at the end of the article).
[Image from ILO YouTube Channel]
25 November: United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (2018 Theme: Orange the World: #HearMeToo). In the light of the #MeToo Movement, take a look at the following two reports from the ILO: Ending violence and harassment against women and men in the world of work (12 May 2017) and Ending violence and harassment in the world of work (7 March 2018). Watch Five things to know about the Committee on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work [i.e. the ILO's Standard Setting Committee].
25 November - 10 December 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.The theme this year is #HearMeToo and see also #16 Day2018. Take a look at this article by Eyewitness News (EWN) - 16 days of activism: how you can get involved.
If you are looking for 2018's forthcoming conferences, the following websites are helpful:
The holidays will soon arrive and the Unisa Library has a large spoken word collection of fiction and non-fiction audiobooks that make for entertaining listening. Below is a link to a list of some of the titles available for loan from the Audio-Visual Collection in the Muckleneuk Campus Library:
Holiday Listening (search terms used: (non-fiction OR fiction) limited to the Spoken Word Collection
