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Web debate: Holly MacDonald (left) and Catherine Hickson at a workshop to amend Wikipedia. Photo: James Alcock

Like most students, Ira Ferris relies heavily on the internet for research. But when she turns to Wikipedia, the free, open-source internet encyclopaedia, the 31-year-old art student finds gaps.

Gaps in the information available about female artists, particularly Australian ones.

"I often find it difficult when I want to write an essay about a female artist to find enough about her online," she says.

Writing women into Wiki history: Ira Ferris (left) and Slyvia Griffin (far right) make entries and amendments to Wikipedia. Photo: James Alcock

"Women are not represented as they should be, especially artists."

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On Sunday, Ferris took part in an "edit-a-thon" hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art, where volunteers gathered to edit and expand the paucity of Wiki pages on Australian female artists.

The scarcity of information in this area is reflective of a wider gender bias for which Wikipedia has long been criticised, says Diana Smith, a female artist and member of the Brown Council, a women's art collective.

"In 2010 there was a report produced that looked at the stats on Wiki's gender distribution. It found that between nine to 13 per cent of Wikipedia editors were women," she says.

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Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon' writes women into history