Cecult / IFCH / Unicamp

Cecult (Centro de Pesquisa em História Social da Cultura) is a research center at IFCH (Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas) at Unicamp. The Dissídios: Trabalhadores e Justiça do Trabalho database publicly hosts collective labor disputes from the 2nd Regional Labor Court (São Paulo) between 1946 and 1979, serving researchers in social history of labor and law in Brazil.

The challenge

Thousands of case files produced over more than three decades needed to be converted into a searchable database, with multiple search lenses (chronological, thematic, name-based, geographic, institutional, type of demand, decision outcome) and access control separating public content (open search for any visitor) from restricted content (editing tools and advanced features for authorized researchers). The platform had to be easy for an academic team to maintain and stay stable over many years while new data was progressively added.

What we delivered

The Dissídios database was originally built by Claudio in 2010, before Overdrive was founded, in direct partnership with Cecult. In 2019, under Overdrive, we ran a round of evolution and maintenance on the platform, keeping its lean architecture and operational stability. We also built, together with the institute, a second database in the same format, covering a distinct research scope.

Across more than a decade of partnership, we prioritized:

1. Data cross-referencing: the database supports combined searches across multiple indexes, essential for quantitative and qualitative historical research.
2. Clear separation between public and restricted access: open search for the general public; editing and data-entry tools gated by authentication for the research team.
3. Stability and low operational friction: we kept the stack deliberately simple (PHP, MySQL), with no external dependencies or third-party APIs, to reduce long-term maintenance cost for an academic team.

Team and technology

• Allocation for the Overdrive round: lean team, dedicated during the 2019 evolution period.
• Stack: PHP, MySQL, JavaScript.
• Architecture: self-contained system, no external integrations.

Result

The Dissídios database has been in operation for over a decade, publicly available at www2.ifch.unicamp.br/cecult/dissidios, serving researchers in social history of labor in Brazil. For Overdrive, it’s an example of a long-lived project where a deliberate choice for a simple architecture translated into stability and low maintenance cost over the years.