Contribute a Sketch

If you’ve tried something with AI in a class or a research project — and you have something honest to say about how it went — this is the right place for it. Rough drafts and partial experiments are welcome. We’re not looking for polished success stories.

Here’s how to add your sketch. You don’t need to know anything about GitHub to start.

1. Create a GitHub account

GitHub is the entirely free service that stores the files behind this site. Go to github.com and sign up. Any email works.

2a. Fork the repository

“Forking” means making your own personal copy of the site files — you can edit it freely without touching anything on the live site.

• Go to github.com/amaranth-unm/ai-sketchbook
• Click the Fork button near the top right
• We want the default settings and name, so just click the green Create fork button at the bottom right.
• You’ll see the page refresh within 5-10 seconds.
• Notice the URL! It looks like nothing on the page changed, but you are now looking at a repository UNDER YOUR OWN ACCOUNT.

2b. Enable your website

You now have a “local” copy of the repository, which is all files that make the website work. Now, let’s enable your own working copy of the website itself, so you can see how your essay looks as a webpage (instead of just the text file that you’re editing).

• Click the Settings nav link near the top of the page
• Click the Pages link on the left nav
• Click the button that says None and change it to main
• Click the Save button
• Click the Code tab to get back to your repository home folder.

• Click the gear icon near the upper right
• Check the box for “Use your GitHub Pages website” and click Save Changes
• Now the link that appears next to the gear will take you to your website.

3. Open the editor

From your forked repository Code tab, press the . (period) key on your keyboard. This opens a full text editor in your browser — no software to install.

It looks intimidating because there is a lot of potential features to use. But we just want a list of files on the left and our files to open on the right. The interface is simply a way of viewing and editing text files.

4. Create your sketch file

In the editor’s left panel, right-click the teaching or research folder and select New File. Name it something short and descriptive using all lowercase and dashes — like citation-test.md or mapping-with-ai.md.

Paste this starter template into your new file and fill it in:

---
layout: sketchbook
title: Your Sketch Title
description: "One sentence describing what this is."
summary: "One sentence for the card on the listing page."
status: rough
section: teach
tags:
  - your-tag
skills:
  - one concrete thing students or researchers gain
card_order: 10
---

# Your Sketch Title

<span class="section-accent teach"></span>

Write your sketch here. What did you try? What happened? What would you do differently?

## How It Works

## Sample Prompt

## Caveats

Change section: teach to section: research if it belongs in the research section.

5. Commit and Rebuild

You work is basically saved as you work, but you need to tell GitHub to officially move your working files into your repository and rebuild your website.

• Click the branch icon in the left sidebar (it looks like a small network diagram).
• Type a short message describing your change — like “add citation-test sketch” — and click Commit & Push.

6. Check your site

• Go to your repository Code tab
• Click on the URL at the top of the About panel on the right
• Verify your changes are working

7. Submit your sketch

Go back to your forked repository at github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/ai-sketchbook.

• Click Pull requests near the top
• Click New pull request
• Click Create pull request
• Add a short note and click Create pull request again

That sends your sketch to us for review. We’ll take a look and either merge it into the live site or send you a note with feedback.

Questions?

Reach out at amaranth@unm.edu — we’re happy to help you get unstuck at any step.