diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4267949f87e29340f6418497a175860c692efa62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,256 @@
+# Contributing
+
+At HCC, we welcome contributions of all kinds:
+suggested changes,
+fixes to existing material,
+and bug reports are all welcome.
+
+## Contributor Agreement
+
+By contributing,
+you agree that we may redistribute your work under [our license](LICENSE.md).
+
+## How to Contribute a Fix or Suggested Change
+
+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.
+
+1.  If you do not have access to [UNL's GitLab instance][http://git.unl.edu],
+    you can [send us comments by email][contact].
+    However,
+    we will be able to respond more quickly if you use one of the other methods described below.
+
+2.  If you have access to [UNL's GitLab instance][http://git.unl.edu],
+    but do not know how to use Git,
+    you can report problems or suggest improvements by [creating an issue][issues].
+    This allows us to assign the item to someone
+    and to respond to it in a threaded discussion.
+
+3.  If you are comfortable with Git,
+    and would like to add or change material,
+    you can submit a pull request (PR).
+    Instructions for doing this are [included below](#using-github).
+
+## How to Contribute a Blog Post
+
+1.  If you wish to contribute a blog post,
+    please work in <https://github.com/swcarpentry/website>,
+    which can be viewed at <https://software-carpentry.org/blog>.
+    
+2.  Posts go in the `_posts` folder, which is divided up first by year,
+    e.g. `2017`, and then by month, e.g. `07`. Be sure to start creating your file in
+    the correct folder. 
+    
+3.  Posts need to be created in [Markdown](https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/) and named 
+    according to this convention:
+    
+    `YYYY-MM-DD-filename.md`
+    
+    e.g. 
+    
+    `2017-07-10-assess_report.md`
+    
+4.  In order to render correctly, posts need to have a header block, which should be created like [this example](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swcarpentry/website/gh-pages/_posts/2017/06/2017-06-19-mqu-ttt.md), e.g.
+
+```
+---
+layout: post
+subheadline: "Assessment"
+title: "Analysis of Software Carpentry Workshop Impact"
+date: 2017-07-10
+time: "08:00:00"
+authors: ["Kari L. Jordan"]
+category: ["surveys", "workshops", "impact", "assessment"]
+---
+```
+
+Separate the header block from the post proper by a new line. 
+    
+5.  `Subheadline` is an optional field, as is `time`, but the other fields should be filled in. If there is more than one author,
+    separate the author names like this: `["Name 1", "Name 2"]`. Separate any categories the same way.
+    
+6.  Images should be uploaded to the appropriate year in the `files/<year>/<month>` folder. Images should be linked using 
+    Markdown, and paths to the image should be relative. 
+    Example: 
+    ```
+    ![Image Description]({{ site.filesurl }}/2017/07/myimage.jpg)
+    ```
+    A web link should be used for images hosted elsewhere, e.g., images you do not own, or for which you do not have rights to upload. 
+    Example: 
+    ``` 
+    ![Image Description](https://web_address/pathway_to_full_image_filename)
+    ```
+    
+    If you are not sure how to add images in Markdown format, look at an [existing post with a locally hosted image](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swcarpentry/website/gh-pages/_posts/2017/06/2017-06-19-mqu-ttt.md) or [one with a web link](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swcarpentry/website/gh-pages/_posts/2017/07/2017-07-10-assess_report.md) and copy the formatting from there.
+    
+7.  Once you have previewed your file, commit the Markdown file to your fork and start a Pull Request. We automatically run tests using [TravisCI](https://travis-ci.org/) on your Pull Requests. Please review your pull request a few minutes after you've submitted it to make sure those tests have passed. These tests look for valid YAML headers and make sure that the post will build properly.
+  
+## Other Resources
+
+General discussion of [Software Carpentry][swc-site] and [Data Carpentry][dc-site]
+happens on the [discussion mailing list][discuss-list],
+which everyone is welcome to join.
+You can also [reach us by email][contact].
+
+[contact]: mailto:admin@software-carpentry.org
+[conduct]: https://software-carpentry.org/conduct/
+[dc-issues]: https://github.com/issues?q=user%3Adatacarpentry
+[dc-lessons]: http://datacarpentry.org/lessons/
+[dc-site]: http://datacarpentry.org/
+[discuss-list]: http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss
+[github]: http://github.com
+[github-flow]: https://guides.github.com/introduction/flow/
+[github-join]: https://github.com/join
+[how-contribute]: https://egghead.io/series/how-to-contribute-to-an-open-source-project-on-github
+[issues]: https://github.com/swcarpentry/website/issues/
+[repo]: https://github.com/swcarpentry/website/
+[swc-issues]: https://github.com/issues?q=user%3Aswcarpentry
+[swc-lessons]: http://software-carpentry.org/lessons/
+[swc-site]: http://software-carpentry.org/
+
+
+
+# Contributing
+
+[Software Carpentry][swc-site] and [Data Carpentry][dc-site] are open source projects,
+and we welcome contributions of all kinds:
+new lessons,
+fixes to existing material,
+bug reports,
+and reviews of proposed changes are all welcome.
+
+## Contributor Agreement
+
+By contributing,
+you agree that we may redistribute your work under [our license](LICENSE.md).
+In exchange,
+we will address your issues and/or assess your change proposal as promptly as we can,
+and help you become a member of our community.
+Everyone involved in [Software Carpentry][swc-site] and [Data Carpentry][dc-site]
+agrees to abide by our [code of conduct](CONDUCT.md).
+
+## How to Contribute
+
+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.
+
+1.  If you do not have a [GitHub][github] account,
+    you can [send us comments by email][contact].
+    However,
+    we will be able to respond more quickly if you use one of the other methods described below.
+
+2.  If you have a [GitHub][github] account,
+    or are willing to [create one][github-join],
+    but do not know how to use Git,
+    you can report problems or suggest improvements by [creating an issue][issues].
+    This allows us to assign the item to someone
+    and to respond to it in a threaded discussion.
+
+3.  If you are comfortable with Git,
+    and would like to add or change material,
+    you can submit a pull request (PR).
+    Instructions for doing this are [included below](#using-github).
+
+## Where to Contribute
+
+1.  If you wish to change the template used for workshop websites,
+    please work in <https://github.com/swcarpentry/workshop-template>.
+    The home page of that repository explains how to set up workshop websites,
+    while the extra pages in <https://swcarpentry.github.io/workshop-template>
+    provide more background on our design choices.
+
+2.  If you wish to change CSS style files, tools,
+    or HTML boilerplate for lessons or workshops stored in `_includes` or `_layouts`,
+    please work in <https://github.com/swcarpentry/styles>.
+
+## What to Contribute
+
+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 *Not* to Contribute
+
+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, macOS, and Linux users;
+in order to be usable,
+our lessons must run equally well on all three.
+
+## Using GitHub
+
+If you choose to contribute via GitHub,
+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] and [Data Carpentry][dc-site]
+happens on the [discussion mailing list][discuss-list],
+which everyone is welcome to join.
+You can also [reach us by email][contact].
+
+[contact]: mailto:admin@software-carpentry.org
+[dc-issues]: https://github.com/issues?q=user%3Adatacarpentry
+[dc-lessons]: http://datacarpentry.org/lessons/
+[dc-site]: http://datacarpentry.org/
+[discuss-list]: http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss
+[github]: http://github.com
+[github-flow]: https://guides.github.com/introduction/flow/
+[github-join]: https://github.com/join
+[how-contribute]: https://egghead.io/series/how-to-contribute-to-an-open-source-project-on-github
+[issues]: https://github.com/swcarpentry/workshop-template/issues/
+[repo]: https://github.com/swcarpentry/workshop-template/
+[swc-issues]: https://github.com/issues?q=user%3Aswcarpentry
+[swc-lessons]: http://software-carpentry.org/lessons/
+[swc-site]: http://software-carpentry.org/