Diane Walker, University Librarian, welcomes faculty and students to the "Convocate" public launch.
On Friday, April 21, The Center for Civil and Human Rights, along with the Hesburgh Libraries, held a public event to introduce Convocate, a new research platform developed at Notre Dame. The launch was held in Hesburgh Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship.
The vision of Paolo Carozza and Doug Cassel, both former directors of CCHR and professors of law at Notre Dame Law School, Convocate was nearly four years in development. It introduces cutting edge searching and text analysis technologies to allow true interdisciplinary comparison between documents from both Catholic social teaching and international human rights law. Full text analysis, keyword search, and an in-depth topic list developed by scholars from both disciplines bring robust research capabilities to the product.
Introducing the partnership for Hesburgh Libraries were Diane Walker, the Edward H. Arnold University Librarian, and John Wang, Associate Librarian for Digital Access, Resources and Information Technology. CCHR Project Manager Christina Leblang offered an overview of Convocate’s capabilities, and the assembled audience was then able to explore the database at workstations throughout the Center for Digital Scholarship.
Future plans for Convocate include widespread distribution throughout university libraries and research centers, and intensive efforts at encouraging publication of scholarly works based on its insights. Access Convocate here.
Immediately before the launch CCHR, the Hesburgh Libraries, and the Center for Social Concerns presented a talk by Dr. Meghan Clark, St. John's University. Dr. Clark's talk, "A Life of Dignity for All," explored the connections between CST and human rights and suggested the fruitful avenues of research that Convocate makes possible. The talk can be viewed here.
Project Consultant Rachanna Chhin, LL.M. '17, demonstrates "Convocate."
Christina Leblang, CCHR Project Manager for "Convocate," introduces the database.