Industry current awareness
"The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings."
Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea
Keeping up-to-date
In a fast-moving work environment, it’s important to stay informed about developments in your industry or professional field. This skill is often called current awareness. It's about being continually aware of new research, emerging trends, policy changes, or news that could impact your work. Staying current ensures your knowledge remains relevant and you can make well-informed decisions.
Remaining current with information in your area of practice is key to your workplace success.
Every single day, hundreds of millions of terabytes of data flood the internet. Information is being created, shared, and updated at an exponential rate. It's an overwhelming volume of content. But the good news? With the right strategies and digital tools, you can cut through the noise, track trends, and stay on top of the most relevant industry developments.
This page covers using social media, search alerts, and other information feeds to keep up-to-date in your professional field.
Blog and newsletters subscriptions
Blog and newsletter subscriptions remain one of the most widely used ways to stay informed in the workplace. Instead of constantly searching for updates, you can have curated insights and expert perspectives delivered straight to your inbox.
Despite all the newer tools out there, a subscription is still one of the easiest ways to track what matters in your industry. Unlike social media feeds, blogs and newsletters are typically carefully curated by subject-matter specialists and seasoned practitioners.
It's your choices rather than algorithms that shape your information stream.
Independent publishing platforms
Many professionals now share insights through independent publishing platforms like Substack, Medium, and Ghost. These creator-led content platforms allow professionals to share learnings with their particular community. They provide deeper engagement with industry developments, often using the language, frameworks, and real-world examples that matter most to practitioners.
Think depth over clickbait. Thoughtful analysis and expert opinions rather than just headlines and summaries.
Click on the cards below for pro-tips on managing these types of updates:
Social media
Tactics for leveraging social media
- Follow thought leaders and key organisations: Identify the influential people, companies, government bodies, or nonprofits in your industry. Follow their official accounts or hashtags related to your field. They often post about new studies, guidelines, or events.
- Join professional groups or communities: On LinkedIn, Facebook, and Reddit, you can find professional groups or forums centered on specific industries or interests. Joining these groups allows you to crowdsource knowledge and get diverse perspectives on current issues.
- Use hashtags and lists: On LinkedIn and Twitter/X, hashtags (e.g., #auspol for Australian policy news) help filter content or follow industry events as they are happening. Platforms have different ways to create a mini-newsfeed for your industry or interests.
- Stay professional: When using social media in a work context, you're curating your professional image. Engage professionally and share or comment on content that is relevant and insightful.
Caution
Social media isn’t always reliable or unbiased. Use it as a discovery tool but verify details from trusted sources. Also, check your employer’s social media policy. Many workplaces have guidelines on what employees should or shouldn’t do on social platforms.
Stay updated with search alerts
One of the best ways to stay current without actively searching every day is to set up automated alerts that deliver new information to you. Instead of you remembering to check for updates, the updates come to your inbox or feed. Here are methods to consider:
Database alerts
Many research databases let you save a search and get notified when new publications match your criteria. Instead of manually re-running searches, you can set up alerts for topics, authors, or citations and receive updates directly to your inbox.
To use this feature, you’ll typically need to create a free account on the database platform.
Common alert types include:
- Search alerts: Get notified when new research is published on a specific topic.
- Author alerts: Follow a researcher and receive updates on their latest work.
- Citation alerts: Track when a specific article is cited in new research.
These alerts usually include citation details and abstracts, but full-text access depends on journal availability. For broader tracking, Google Scholar also offers search alerts. Check out their guide on setting up email alerts.
Journal alerts
If there are key journals or industry magazines in your field, check their websites to subscribe to updates. Many offer Table of Contents (TOC) alerts, where you'll get an email listing new articles every time an issue is published. This makes it easy to scan for relevant research without constantly checking the journal.
To set this up, look for an alerts or notifications option on the journal’s homepage. TOC alerts typically include article titles and abstracts, but full-text access depends on the journal. While studying at Deakin, if the Library has a subscription, you'll be able to view the full text of the article.
Journal alerts are a simple way to stay informed about the latest research in your field, even after graduation.
Tip
Use your personal email when setting up alerts, not your Deakin student email. This means you'll receive alerts after you graduate.
Track topics and trends with web feeds (RSS)
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are an older but still useful technology to pull content from many sources into one place.
Many news sites, blogs, and some journal platforms support RSS. For example, if there’s a policy blog or an industry news site you read regularly, find its RSS feed and add it to your reader. Now you have a single feed (like a custom news channel) where new posts from all those sources appear. This saves you from visiting multiple websites individually. It’s an efficient way to scan a lot of content quickly. You can categorise feeds by topic in most readers, and mark items to read later. Some aggregators also suggest popular articles in your field based on what you subscribe to.
How do RSS feeds work?
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Subscribe: You pick and choose which websites you want updates from.
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Collect: A tool called an RSS reader gathers new posts and articles from those sites for you.
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Read: You check your RSS reader to see all the new stuff in one place.
There are multiple RSS reader options out there, so try a few to see which one you like best. To get started, Feedly is an easy-to-use option that helps you manage your RSS feeds. While Inoreader has more features for people who want more control.
Examples of RSS feeds
- The Conversation RSS feeds cover everything from Arts to Science and Technology.
- iTnews RSS feeds for both general and sector-specific technology news.
- Australian Government various RSS feeds
- Victorian Government social media sites
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation feeds
Tip
To see if a RSS feed is available look out for the RSS icon or a link to the RSS feed, it might say 'alert'. Some sites will have the RSS feed option available from their home pages but others may have it available on other pages.
Key advice
Don't overwhelm yourself trying to keep up with everything. These tips can help you stay current without feeling overwhelmed:
- Streamline your sources: Consolidate updates into one or two platforms, like your email or an RSS reader. Fewer channels mean easier management and consistent review.
- Schedule regular update sessions: Dedicate specific times weekly to catch up on industry news. This routine keeps you informed without constant distractions.
- Curate your content: Focus on high-quality sources relevant to your field. A targeted approach ensures valuable insights without information overload.
- Automate where possible: Use tools like email filters or apps such to organise and direct updates efficiently, keeping your main workspace clutter-free.
By following these practices, you can turn current awareness from a daunting task into a manageable habit.