diff --git a/doc/README.md b/doc/README.md
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+## The doc/ directory
+   The `doc/` directory serves as home for documentation.  This is the place to
+   put refined documentation after it has gone through `notes/`.  The contents of
+   this directory should be accessible to a broad audience including prospective
+   users, active users, and developers.  Highly technical 
+
+   1.  The note authors and
+   2.  Developers of the project
+   
+   It need not be meaningful to casual users.
+   
diff --git a/notes/README.md b/notes/README.md
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+## The notes/ directory
+   The `notes/` directory serves as staging directory for documentation.  This is
+   the place to develop documentation and short notes.  The contents of this
+   directory should be accessible to 
+   1.  The note authors and
+   2.  Developers of the project
+   
+   It need not be meaningful to casual users.
+