Mandala Knowledge Map Philosophy
Knowledge Maps are
Subject and places are built collaboratively, through crowd-sourcing. Ideally, new subjects or places should integrate into the existing tree at . We understand that everyone has different needs for their project, and are happy to implement whatever terms most serves your scholarship. In return, we ask that you come to meetings open to collaboration and productive conversation.
Before Your Meeting
- Take a look at the existing subject and place trees in Mandala.
Expand the various categories. Do you see a place where your terms might fit? Are there existing terms you could use?
- Bring an example of a tree.
Ideally, this data will be in the spreadsheet format described below. However, feel free to use anything that conveys how you want your terms placed, like drawings or diagrams.
Building Trees
Subject Trees
Here are some tips for building subject trees:
Make sure your terms can stand alone. While context within the tree enhances subject terms, there are some places within Mandala where terms won't be shown within the tree. Avoiding vague terms like "yes" or "no" make your terms easier to find and use.
Right
Wrong- Photography
- Color photography
- Grayscale photography
- Photography
- Color
- Yes
- No
- Consider both specific terms (Andean sheep farmers) and general terms (wool). Remember, your terms can really enhance the Mandala project as a whole, and other people may eventually want to use your broader terms.
Place Trees
You should think about whether your places are administrative (ie, the official state of Virginia) or cultural (ie, the Rotunda). These will have different implementations in Places.
Formatting Trees in a Spreadsheet
Knowledge Map hierarchies in Mandala are built with tree data structures. Each knowledge map term is a node on the tree. You can place a knowledge map term using its parent — that is, the higher-level term the knowledge map falls under. If a node doesn’t have a parent — that is, it’s the highest possible level of the tree – we call it the root node. Any In the example above:
- Architecture is the root node, since it has no parent
- Architecture is the parent of two children: Building materials and Building dimensions
- Building dimensions is the parent of three children: Building layout, courtyards, and Stories
- Building layout is the parent of three children: courtyard structure, Mansion, and Massive structure
- Building materials is the parent of three children: Mud, Mudbrick, and Stone
- Mansion is the parent of one child: Large Mansion
To format your tree in a spreadsheet, every row represents a node. In the first
FAQs
What happens once my tree goes live? Can anyone add a term to my tree?
Once you have added a new set of terms to a tree, we hope you'll become the "owner" for that node. That means you can add and delete any children for which that node is a parent. As the node owner, you can let collaborators add children to that term.
How long will it take for the team to add my subjects and places to Mandala?
The timeline will vary. Places may take longer to add than subjects, especially if you need accurate administrative data. In these cases, adding places may take as long as a month. In your meeting, the Knowledge Maps team can give you more accurate time estimates based on your specific needs. Needless to say, you should start the process well before any deadlines.