Mandala Project Framework

Overall, the Mandala framework aims to allow scholars to create sophisticated content without needing special grants or much programming assistance. It comprises a suite of websites, each of which has a special focus. It a Content Management System (CMS) that allows scholars of ll skill levels, including beginners just introduced to it, to publish their scholarly work online. Scholars can create complex digital collections, create visualizations, describe intricate networks of human culture, publish essays, and build websites.

Sites created using the tools offered in the Mandala Framework can either be content-intensive, communication-intensive, or a mixture of the two. A content-intensive site can have large collections of interrelated media resources (texts, photographs, audio-video, etc.) and structured data (bibliographies, place descriptions, dictionary entries, biographical studies, etc.) organized around a specific thematic subject – a cultural region, time period, person, and so forth. On the other hand, a communication-intensive site would have shorter essays, such as blogs, meaning that content is rapidly changing. Either type of site may also have visualizations, such as maps, charts, timelines, network graphs, slideshows, and more. A blended site that has both complex collections of media resources and structured data, as well as a constantly updated array of essays, is also possible to create.

SHANTI cannot work with projects on an individual basis to customize the framework for their needs, though it will address bugs and listen to user feedback to factor into ongoing development priorities.