clarifications to readme

README.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ stanford-mir
 
 [![Stories in Ready](https://badge.waffle.io/stevetjoa/stanford-mir.png?label=ready&title=Ready)](https://waffle.io/stevetjoa/stanford-mir)
 
-Instruction for the Music Information Retrieval Workshop at CCRMA, Stanford University, 2014.
+Instructional material for the [Music Information Retrieval Workshop](https://ccrma.stanford.edu/workshops/music-information-retrieval-mir) at CCRMA, Stanford University, 2014.
 
 Contributions
 -------------
@@ -18,29 +18,27 @@ Your contributions are very welcome! You can contribute in two ways:
 How to Use this Repo
 --------------------
 
-If you're a visitor, simply visit <http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/stevetjoa/stanford-mir> and browse the IPython notebooks. <http://nbviewer.ipython.org> renders IPython notebooks from a GitHub repo so it can be viewed in a web browser.
+Basically, this repo contains a bunch of IPython notebooks related to music information retrieval.
 
-If you're a workshop participant, follow the steps below
+If you're a visitor, browse [this repo at nbviewer.ipython.org](http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/stevetjoa/stanford-mir) which renders the notebooks in this repo so they can be viewed in a web browser.
 
-1. install git
-
-2. install vagrant
+If you're a workshop participant, follow the steps below.
 
 
 Install Git
 -----------
 
-If you don't have Git, [download Git here](http://git-scm.com).
+If you don't have Git, [download Git here](http://git-scm.com), and install it on your local machine.
 
-Optional: create an account at <http://github.com>. Doing so will easily allow you to contribute code back into this repo. Then, fork this repo: 
+Optional: create an account at <https://github.com>. A GitHub account allows you to contribute code back into this repo. Then, fork this repo: 
 
-    1. Click "Fork" in the top-right corner.
+1.  Click "Fork" in the top-right corner.
 
-    2. Clone this repository onto your local machine:
+2.  Clone this repository onto your local machine:
 
-        macbook:~$ git clone https://github.com/your_github_username/stanford-mir
+    macbook:~$ git clone https://github.com/your_github_username/stanford-mir
 
-Otherwise, to clone this repository onto your local machine:
+Otherwise, without a GitHub account, to clone this repository onto your local machine:
 
     macbook:~$ git clone https://github.com/stevetjoa/stanford-mir
 
@@ -48,7 +46,7 @@ Otherwise, to clone this repository onto your local machine:
 Install Vagrant
 ---------------
 
-A major difficulty in earlier offerings of this workshop was installing software prequisites and handling dependencies. Everyone has a different computing setup, and we would often run into problems when installed packages conflict, or prerequisites aren't met. 
+In previous workshops, a major difficulty was installing software prequisites and handling dependencies. Everyone has a different computing setup, and we would often run into problems when installed packages conflict, or prerequisites aren't met. 
 
 This year, we will use [Vagrant](http://vagrantup.com) to create a local virtual development environment running Ubuntu 12.04. Vagrant will ensure that every person has exactly the same development environment with the same installed packages. 
 
@@ -56,7 +54,7 @@ Vagrant is available for all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS
 
 1.  Install [VirtualBox](https://www.virtualbox.org) and [Vagrant](http://vagrantup.com).
 
-2.  Create a new virtual machine using our customized Vagrant box built upon [Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit](https://vagrantcloud.com/stevetjoa/stanford-mir).
+2.  Create a new virtual machine using [our customized Vagrant box](https://vagrantcloud.com/stevetjoa/stanford-mir) built upon Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit.
 
         macbook:~/stanford-mir$ vagrant up
 
@@ -74,8 +72,9 @@ Using IPython
 
 A majority of our instruction and laboratory work will occur inside the IPython notebook. You can think of the IPython notebook like the Mathematica or Matlab desktop, except it's in Python and it runs inside your web browser.
 
-1.  In your vagrant box, go to the `stanford-mir` directory:
+1.  In your vagrant box, go to the `stanford-mir` directory, and start the IPython notebook server:
 
-2.  Run `ipython notebook`.
+    vagrant@stanford-mir:~$ cd stanford-mir
+    vagrant@stanford-mir:~/stanford-mir$ ipython notebook
 
-3.  On your *host* machine, visit <http://localhost:8888>. Congratulations, you are now running an IPython notebook, and you can get started with the workshop material.
+2.  On your *host* machine, visit <http://localhost:8888>. Congratulations, you are now running an IPython notebook, and you can get started with the workshop material.