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How it works

Lecture Notes

Many people take messy notes in one shared Google Doc, Claude merges them into one clean write-up, and a single-page website makes it searchable.

This is the simplest project here on purpose. The hard part was getting a class to contribute, not the technology. It's one HTML file, updated once a week.

Open the notes

The big picture

The lecture
Guest speakerNo slides shared, no recording
Google Docs
Shared docEveryone pastes rough notes
Claude
MergeOne structured write-up per week
SummariseA one-page summary and key takeaways
GitHub Pages
One HTML fileEvery week, photos and search
Classmates
Read & searchPhone or laptop, printable

Step by step

  1. The lecture happens Lecture

    A different guest speaker each week. Nothing is recorded or shared, but it's all assessable.

  2. Everyone dumps their notes Google Docs

    Classmates paste whatever they wrote into one shared Google Doc, linked from the site. Rough notes are fine. The more people contribute, the fewer gaps there are.

  3. Claude merges them Claude

    I give that week's notes to Claude. It combines overlapping notes, fills gaps from other people's versions and writes one structured page: speaker and topic, contributors, numbered sections, a one-page summary and key takeaways.

  4. The week is added to the site Laptop

    The new week goes into the site's single HTML file with a speaker photo, a card on the home page and an entry in the search index.

  5. Publish GitHub Pages

    Pushing to GitHub updates the live site within a minute.

  6. Read, search, print Browser

    Each week has its own view with a table of contents. Search works across every week as you type, and each one-page summary prints cleanly for revision.

The pieces

Google Docs

The input: one doc anyone in the class can paste into.

Everyone already knows how to use it. No sign-up, no friction.

Claude

Merges many partial notes into one complete, consistent write-up.

Turns 20 fragments into one set of notes in minutes, not hours.

A single HTML file

Every week, photo and script lives in one file. JavaScript switches between weeks without reloading.

Nothing to build, nothing to break, trivial to host.

Home-made search

A few dozen lines of JavaScript index every section on load and show highlighted matches as you type. Press / to jump to it.

Instant search with no search service or library.

GitHub Pages

Free hosting, updated with every push.

Zero cost for a class resource.

Trade-offs I chose