Add CONTRIBUTING, update README

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Contributing to CICE
+
+Welcome to the CICE Consortium ! First, thanks a lot for considering to contribute to CICE.
+
+There are many ways to contribute, and we appreciate your efforts. For an introductory tour, head over to our [Contribution guide][contributing] and take a look at the [Resources page], our go-to index with links to code, documentation, testing information, guidelines, and more.
+
+[contributing]: https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/About-Us/wiki/Contributing
+[resources]: https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/About-Us/wiki/Resource-Index
+
+## Getting help
+If you still need help getting started using the model afer reviewing the [model documentation][doc-running], the first point of contact with the CICE Consortium is the [Consortium Community Forum][forum]. 
+This forum is monitored by Consortium members and also opened to the whole community.
+**Please do not use our issue tracker for general support questions.**
+
+[doc-running]: https://cice-consortium-cice.readthedocs.io/en/master/user_guide/ug_running.html
+[forum]: https://xenforo.cgd.ucar.edu/cesm/forums/cice-consortium.146/
+

README.md

@@ -1,13 +1,32 @@
 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/CICE-Consortium/CICE.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/CICE-Consortium/CICE)
 [![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/cice-consortium-cice/badge/?version=master)](http://cice-consortium-cice.readthedocs.io/en/master/?badge=master)
 
-## Overview
-This repository contains the files and code needed to run the CICE sea ice numerical model starting with version 6. CICE is maintained by the CICE Consortium. Versions prior to v6 are found in the [CICE-svn-trunk repository](https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/CICE-svn-trunk).
+## The CICE Consortium sea-ice model
+CICE is a computationally efficient model for simulating the growth, melting, and movement of polar sea ice. Designed as one component of coupled atmosphere-ocean-land-ice global climate models, today’s CICE model is the outcome of more than two decades of community collaboration in building a sea ice model suitable for multiple uses including process studies, operational forecasting, and climate simulation.
 
-CICE consists of a top level driver and dynamical core plus the Icepack column physics code, which is included in CICE as a git submodule.  Because Icepack is a submodule of CICE, Icepack and CICE development are handled independently with respect to the github repositories even though development and testing may be done together.    
 
-If you expect to make any changes to the code, we recommend that you first fork both the CICE and Icepack repositories. Basic instructions for working with CICE and Icepack are found in the Git Workflow Guidance, linked from the Resource Index (below). In order to incorporate your developments into the Consortium code it is
-imperative you follow the guidance for Pull Requests and requisite testing.
+This repository contains the files and code needed to run the CICE sea ice numerical model starting with version 6. CICE is maintained by the CICE Consortium. 
+Versions prior to v6 are found in the [CICE-svn-trunk repository](https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/CICE-svn-trunk).
+
+CICE consists of a top level driver and dynamical core plus the [Icepack column physics code][icepack], which is included in CICE as a Git submodule.  
+Because Icepack is a submodule of CICE, Icepack and CICE development are handled independently with respect to the GitHub repositories even though development and testing may be done together.  
+
+[icepack]: https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/Icepack
+
+## Getting help
+If you need help getting started using the model afer reviewing the [model documentation][doc-running], the first point of contact with the CICE Consortium is the [Consortium Community Forum][forum]. 
+This forum is monitored by Consortium members and also opened to the whole community.
+**Please do not use our issue tracker for general support questions.**
+
+[doc-running]: https://cice-consortium-cice.readthedocs.io/en/master/user_guide/ug_running.html
+[forum]: https://xenforo.cgd.ucar.edu/cesm/forums/cice-consortium.146/
+
+## Contributing
+If you expect to make any changes to the code, we recommend that you first fork both the CICE and Icepack repositories. 
+In order to incorporate your developments into the Consortium code it is imperative you follow the guidance for Pull Requests and requisite testing.
+Head over to our [Contribution guide][contributing] to learn more about how you can help improve CICE.
+
+[contributing]: https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/About-Us/wiki/Contributing
 
 ## Useful links
 * **CICE wiki**: https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/CICE/wiki
@@ -18,10 +37,13 @@ imperative you follow the guidance for Pull Requests and requisite testing.
 
    Numbered CICE releases since version 6 with associated documentation and DOIs. 
 
-* **Consortium Community Bulletin Board**: https://xenforo.cgd.ucar.edu/cesm/forums/cice-consortium.146/
+* **Consortium Community Forum**: https://xenforo.cgd.ucar.edu/cesm/forums/cice-consortium.146/
 
    First point of contact for discussing model development including bugs, diagnostics, and future directions.   
 
 * **Resource Index**: https://github.com/CICE-Consortium/About-Us/wiki/Resource-Index
 
    List of resources for information about the Consortium and its repositories as well as model documentation, testing, and development.
+
+## License
+See our [License](Licese.pdf) and [Distribution Policy](DistributionPolicy.pdf).