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+# Contributing
+
+Thank you for thinking about contributing to [Software Carpentry][swc-site].
+It's people like you that make us as useful as we are.
+
+[Software Carpentry][swc-site] is an open source project,
+and we welcome contributions of all kinds:
+new lessons,
+fixes to existing material,
+bug reports,
+and reviews of proposed changes are all equally welcome.
+By contributing,
+you agree that we may redistribute your work under [our license](LICENSE.md).
+In exchange,
+we will address your issues,
+assess your change proposal,
+and help you become a member of our community.
+Everyone involved in [Software Carpentry][swc-site] agrees to abide by
+our [code of conduct](CONDUCT.md).
+
+## What We're Looking For
+
+There are many ways to contribute,
+from writing new exercises and improving existing ones
+to updating or filling in the documentation
+and and submitting [bug reports][issues]
+about things that don't work, aren't clear, or are missing.
+If you are looking for ideas,
+please see [the list of issues for this repository][issues],
+or the issues for [Data Carpentry][dc-issues]
+and [Software Carpentry][swc-issues] projects.
+
+Comments on issues and reviews of pull requests are just as welcome:
+we are smarter together than we are on our own.
+Reviews from novices and newcomers are particularly valuable:
+it's easy for people who have been using these lessons for a while
+to forget how impenetrable some of this material can be,
+so fresh eyes are always welcome.
+
+## What We're *Not* Looking For
+
+Our lessons already contain more material than we can cover in a typical workshop,
+so we are usually *not* looking for more concepts or tools to add to them.
+As a rule,
+if you want to introduce a new idea,
+you must (a) estimate how long it will take to teach
+and (b) explain what you would take out to make room for it.
+The first encourages contributors to be honest about requirements;
+the second, to think hard about priorities.
+
+We are also not looking for exercises or other material that only run on one platform.
+Our workshops typically contain a mixture of Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users;
+in order to be usable,
+our lessons must run equally well on all three.
+
+## Getting Started
+
+The easiest way to get started is to file an issue
+to tell us about a spelling mistake,
+some awkward wording,
+or a factual error.
+This is a good way to introduce yourself
+and to meet some of our community members.
+
+If you want to start adding or fixing material yourself,
+you may want to look at
+[How to Contribute to an Open Source Project on GitHub][how-contribute].
+In brief:
+
+1.  The published copy of the lesson is in the `gh-pages` branch of the repository
+    (so that GitHub will regenerate it automatically).
+    Please create all branches from that,
+    and merge the [master repository][repo]'s `gh-pages` branch into your `gh-pages` branch
+    before starting work.
+    Please do *not* work directly in your `gh-pages` branch,
+    since that will make it difficult for you to work on other contributions.
+
+2.  We use [GitHub flow][github-flow] to manage changes:
+    1.  Create a new branch in your desktop copy of this repository for each significant change.
+    2.  Commit the change in that branch.
+    3.  Push that branch to your fork of this repository on GitHub.
+    4.  Submit a pull request from that branch to the [master repository][repo].
+    5.  If you receive feedback,
+        make changes on your desktop and push to your branch on GitHub:
+        the pull request will update automatically.
+
+Each lesson has two maintainers who review issues and pull requests
+or encourage others to do so.
+The maintainers are community volunteers,
+and have final say over what gets merged into the lesson.
+
+## Other Resources
+
+General discussion of [Software Carpentry][swc-site] happens on
+the [discussion mailing list][discuss-list],
+which everyone is welcome to join.
+You can also [reach us by email][contact].
+
+[contact]: admin@software-carpentry.org
+[dc-issues]: https://github.com/issues?q=user%3Adatacarpentry
+[dc-lessons]: http://datacarpentry.org/lessons/
+[discuss-list]: http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
+[github-flow]: https://guides.github.com/introduction/flow/
+[how-contribute]: https://egghead.io/series/how-to-contribute-to-an-open-source-project-on-github
+[issues]: https://github.com/gvwilson/new-lesson-example/issues/
+[repo]: https://github.com/gvwilson/new-lesson-example/
+[swc-issues]: https://github.com/issues?q=user%3Aswcarpentry
+[swc-lessons]: http://software-carpentry.org/lessons/
+[swc-site]: http://software-carpentry.org/