New Institution type suggestion

[wujastyk]

Could "Illam" be added to the list of possible "Institution type" (when creating an Institution).

Maybe Illam is covered by "House", but I think it's worth it's own entry. Illams are very unique

[ybronner]

We would like to keep the list of institution types as compact as possible. Can you please explain what the difference between Illam and house is and provide a short description of the former?

[wujastyk]

Yes, I understand. Some possible plus points:

• "Illam" and "Mana" are widely-recognized terms that fit well with the data coming into PanditProject. I.e., they are terms of art in Indian catalogues.
• These terms do mean house, but they are hyponyms that capture important differences. There is the link with the specific social history of Kerala (Illams and Manas are Nambudiri institutions); there is the design of multiple families living around a central courtyard, giving the Illam partly the character of a college; there is the common presence of a Sanskrit manuscript library and teaching function within an Illam, again suggesting something more institutional or college-like

It might be enough, if it's technically possible, to have the controlled vocabulary in PanditProject modified to say "House (and Illam, Mana)".

The downside of not providing some mention of Illam or Mana is that some users will enter this under "Other," as I almost did yesterday. I'm sure we want to minimize the use of "Other."

[ybronner]

I agree that we don't want to lose important information such as Mana and Illam as terms of art in local culture and as things we can search for. The question is how to go about it. I'm not against adding these as institution types. If we choose this option, Illam and Mana should exclude "house" (so: one institution type per entity), and we should decide on how to create the code name (the short name used in the manuscript identifier). Another option is to add a field for institutions where such local names could be added (so, "type": house; and something like "local name": Illam). @wujastyk, I am happy to hear your input on these questions.

[wujastyk]

I like the last idea, with institution=house, type=illam, etc. It reminds me of XML entities and attributes. Also, it's expandable. I have no ide, for example, if there are illam-like places in Orissa, for example. I do remember seeing courtyard-houses in Chettinad, in Tamil Nadu (but I don't think they had libraries)

Another idea might be to just have a field called "house (including illam, mana etc.)". Less good, I think.