“Oen Manifold Community (2025)” in “OEN Manifold Community (2025)”
OEN Manifold Community
The Open Education Network (OEN) invites its members to use Manifold to create and publish open educational resources (OER).
What is Manifold?
Manifold is an open source publishing workflow developed by the CUNY Graduate Center, the University of Minnesota Press, and Cast Iron Coding. People use Manifold in a variety of ways, including to publish open educational resources, create open pedagogy projects, and as an open repository/curation tool. You can form public and private reading groups as well.
Who is Eligible to Access Manifold?
Access to the OEN’s Manifold instance is open to all OEN members (institutional and system/consortial members). If you are not a member, but your institution is part of an OEN member system/consortium, you can join the OEN as an institutional member at a reduced rate.
If your higher education institution or organization would like to become a member, please contact Barb Thees (thee0017@umn.edu).
Manifold Community Guidelines
Our Role in the OEN Manifold Community
- We provide access to Manifold.
- We support one Project Creator at each member institution.
- We facilitate OEN Manifold Community support through the Google Group.
- We may unpublish a project if it doesn’t align with community expectations (see below).
Your Role in the OEN Manifold Community
- You are the publisher, and responsible for the content created in your collection.
- You create projects, thereby deciding what gets published.
- You ensure projects, including images, are openly licensed.
- You directly support your authors, and provide project consultation.
Expectations for Managing Your Manifold Access
- Consult with faculty before they begin creating in Manifold.
- Ensure your faculty understand Creative Commons licenses. Everything in the OEN Manifold instance must have a Creative Commons license that allows for editing. Some exceptions may be made for student work.
- Review the content your faculty create. Check to see if everything is openly licensed, and if not, work with the author to remedy the content.
How Manifold Access Works
Access to our Manifold instance is open to all OEN members. We will verify eligibility when we receive your request for access.
As an OEN member, you will be able to have 1) a “Project Creator” who can create projects and manage roles, 2) direct access to the Manifold Google Group, and 3) a dedicated “Collection” to showcase your publications and projects.
Institutional Members
Project Creators
One Manifold Project Creator role will be assigned per institution. Whoever requests access via our form will become the designated Project Creator. That person will be able to create projects and add roles (“Editor” and “Reader”) to their institution’s designated Manifold space.
The Project Creator will be added to the OEN’s Manifold Google Group to be connected to our community of practice.
Collections
We will create one Collection with the name of your institution (see Eastern Kentucky University’s Collection as an example). This is the landing page for your projects and publications. When ready, the Project Creator can publish projects to their institution’s Collection, which will appear publicly on the OEN Manifold instance.
Consortial/System Members
We are pleased to offer Manifold access to consortia and systems that want to centrally organize publishing and other open education practices on behalf of their members. If your member institutions want to manage their own publishing efforts and have a dedicated resource Collection, they will need to become OEN members. Fortunately, because they are members of your organization, they can join the OEN at a reduced rate.
Project Creators
One Manifold Project Creator role will be assigned per system or consortium. Whoever requests access via our form will become the designated Project Creator. That person will be able to create projects and add roles (Editor and Reader) to their organization’s designated Manifold space.
The Project Creator will be added to the OEN’s Manifold Google Group to be connected to our community of practice.
Collections
We will create one Collection with the name of your consortium/system, so that there is a landing page for your projects and publications. When ready, the Project Creator can publish projects to the Collection which will appear publicly on the OEN Manifold instance.
All Members
Open Licensing Agreement
Projects and collections need to have a Creative Commons license that allows for editing. That means any CC license except those with the No Derivatives element. Exceptions may be made for students’ open pedagogy projects.
How to Request Manifold Access
Fill out this form to request access to manifold.open.umn.edu.
Support & Help
Faculty authors will need local project management support, as the OEN can’t provide individual consultations and troubleshooting. That said, there are a variety of ways to get help with Manifold.
OEN Manifold Google Group
Project Creators will be added to our Manifold Google Group. This is a place to ask questions and get help from other OEN Manifold users. Jamie Witman, our open educational practices specialist, is in the group to support you. Robin Miller and Terence Smyre, from the Manifold team, are also in the group.
Manifold Documentation and Slack
Manifold offers documentation and walkthroughs for guidance. Manifold also has a user community you can join on Slack: https://manifold-community.slack.com/
Manifold Orientation
Jamie Witman, our open educational practices specialist, offers a Manifold Orientation and curated resources.
CUNY Workshops Invitation
Robin Miller, open educational technology specialist at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), hosts Manifold workshops for CUNY faculty and community. Robin is generously extending an invitation to the OEN community. That means you can attend CUNY Manifold workshops and/or extend the invitation to your faculty to attend the workshops. Watch for Robin’s invitations in the OEN Manifold Google Group.
Office Hours by Demand
The Open Education Network will host Manifold Office Hours by Demand. We will look to you to tell us what you need in the OEN Manifold Google Group. We will be happy to coordinate a time to meet and discuss.
FAQ
What does Manifold do?
Please go to Manifold to explore examples and review their history and roadmap. You can also read the related CUNY Graduate Center Digital Initiatives blog post about Manifold.
What can I publish?
You can use the OEN’s Community Manifold to create projects and collections that have any Creative Commons license that allows for editing. That means any CC license except those with the No Derivatives element. Exceptions may be made for students’ open pedagogy projects.
Who is considered the publisher?
Members are considered the publisher, and Project Creators are responsible for managing and reviewing the content they create and publish. The Open Education Network is not the publisher.
Will my work be added to the Open Textbook Library?
It depends. Please review the criteria for including an open textbook in the library. Note that you will need to make a complete, downloadable file available for your Manifold open textbook project. (For example, note how you can download this Anatomy and Physiology Preparatory Course Textbook.)
We welcome submissions to the Open Textbook Library! If you would like to suggest a title for the OTL, please use this short form.
I was a participant in the OEN Manifold Pilot. What does this mean for me?
If you are an OEN member, carry on!
If you’re not an OEN member, you will need to join us in order to continue accessing OEN’s Community Manifold. As an OEN member, your institution will have 1) its own Project Creator who can create projects and manage roles, 2) direct access to the Manifold Google Group, and 3) a dedicated Collection to showcase your publications and projects.
In addition, there are many other benefits to joining the OEN. Please contact Barb Thees (thee0017@umn.edu).
If your institution is unable to join the OEN, we can help you download your project so that you can transition to a new platform. Please contact Jamie Witman (witma008@umn.edu) for help.
Alternatively, you can contact Manifold about getting your own institutional instance.
My organization is a state system or consortium. How can I use Manifold?
If you’re running a state or consortial OER publishing program, you are welcome to use the OEN’s Community Manifold as a platform. You will have one Project Creator assigned to your organization who can manage access and projects.
We ask that you do not extend OEN Manifold access to your member institutions for their own local publishing programs. Fortunately, because they are members of your system/consortium, they can join the OEN at a reduced rate.
I’m a system/consortial lead. How do I talk with my member institutions about the new Manifold benefit?
The new Manifold benefit is one of many OEN membership benefits. We are happy to help you encourage your institutions to join the community. Because they are members of your system/consortium, they can join the OEN at a reduced rate. If you’d like to promote this opportunity to your members, we have materials to support you. Contact open@umn.edu.
We ask that you do not extend OEN Manifold access to your member institutions for their own local publishing programs.
Can I create institutional branding in Manifold?
We will create a Collection for your projects in the OEN instance, so that your institution has a designated landing page that showcases your publications. If you would like your own branded Manifold instance, please contact Manifold.
How did you decide to offer Manifold?
We aim to support a variety of publishing pathways. We began piloting Manifold with a small group in 2022. In 2024, we expanded Manifold access to the wider OEN community to continue gathering information. We found that there was significant interest in using Manifold to create and publish OER.
What happens to our Manifold access if my institution leaves the OEN?
If you are no longer an OEN member, you will no longer have access to the OEN Manifold Community. Texts can be exported as an EPUB so that you can make them available through another platform. If your institution decides to offer its own Manifold instance, the Manifold team can help you move your projects to the new instance.
There are so many tools. How do I decide what’s right for my project?
There is a lot out there! It can be tough to evaluate all the tools and tradeoffs. Here are a few resources:
- Finding the Right Publishing Platform (Library Publishing Coalition)
- Is Manifold the best application for my digital project? (CUNY)
- Manifold & Pressbooks: What’s the Difference (University of Washington)
- OER Tools: Documentation for Instructors (Abbey Elder)
I have technical questions about Manifold.
Manifold offers thorough documentation on GitHub.
Who can I contact with additional questions or ideas?
Karen Lauritsen, Open Education Network (klaurits@umn.edu).
Documentation updated September 2024 to highlight Manifold Community Guidelines.
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