Make the explanations clearer
Pick a page, improve one part of its explanation, and a maintainer reviews it. Every approved change helps the next reader.
Step 1: Create your free DARC account
Anyone can propose a better explanation once signed in. Go to Sign in and choose Continue with Google, Continue with GitHub or Email me a link, whichever you see. There's no password to remember.
You get a public handle (like @ada). Your handle, name and profile picture are public; your email address never is.
DARC is for people aged 13 and over. If you're under 16, ask a parent or guardian before you sign up, and show them this page. If you use Google or GitHub, DARC shows the name and picture from that account, so pick one you're happy to show. DARC never asks for your age, school or anything else, and you don't need to share them.
Step 2: Choose a page you understand well, or just learned
Open any entry or problem from Research or Open problems. Pages marked AI-reviewed were drafted by AI and need a person's eye the most.
The Glossary and the Reading list are the easiest places to start: add a word you had to look up, with a plain meaning, or a link that helped you.
Step 3: Open the editor
Below the explanation, click Improve this explanation (or Write a plain-language explanation on a page that has none yet). The editor shows the current text of each part.
Step 4: Improve one part at a time
The parts: One-line summary (at most 20 words), Student explanation (250 to 500 words at first-year university level), Picture (the idea as 3 to 6 short boxes, one per line), Glossary (term | plain meaning | link) and Reading list (title | url | why read it).
Change one part, say what you changed under Why this change, and press the button under it, such as Propose new student explanation. You'll also see a Plain explanation box; pages don't show that part at the moment, so spend your effort on the others.
Tip Short sentences, one idea each. Define every word a newcomer wouldn't know, or put it in the Glossary.
Step 5: Wait for review
A maintainer who didn't write your change reviews it. Until then it's listed under Waiting for review in the editor; once decided, under Your reviewed edits. Approved changes show up in Live changes.
DARC doesn't notify you about reviews yet, so check back on the editor page. If one is rejected and you're not sure why, ask on the page's Discussion.
Step 6: Get an AI assistant to help you
An AI assistant is a chat app you can ask questions in plain words. Use it as an editor, not an author: ask it where your draft is unclear or what a beginner would misread. Write the final text in your own words and check every fact against the page's sources.
Age rules differ: Claude needs you to be 18 or older. ChatGPT allows 13- to 17-year-olds with a parent's or guardian's permission, and some countries set a higher minimum age. Ask a parent, or skip this step: everything on DARC works without AI.
AI can be confidently wrong. Check what it says against the page's sources, and never post AI output on DARC as if you had checked it yourself.
This page's address saves your answers, so you can bookmark it or send it to someone.