Mediaboss Marketing

Amanda Spadaro

NARROWSBURG - Despite what academics say about Wikipedia, its often the first place people look.

Thats why its crucial for women artists to be equally represented on the site, according to Bizzy Coy, program director at the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance.

On Saturday, the alliance hosted an Edit-a-thon, an event for people to add profiles of women artists to the website. The international Edit-a-thon movement began in 2014 by the Art+Feminism organization.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, found that only 10 percent of the contributors to the site are women.

This gender imbalance can lead to a natural disparity in women who are profiled, Coy explained.

In addition, society tends to value and recognize mens accomplishments more than womens, Coy said.

In many situations, men are hired or promoted based on their potential, and women are only celebrated based on proof that theyve accomplished something, she said.

On Saturday, women and local artists learned how to contribute to the collaborative encyclopedia. The hope is that the crowdsourced site will become more balanced between the sexes, said Christine Ahern, the event coordinator.

While anyone can change an article, Wikipedia editors can remove misinformation and reject articles if they do not provide factual, neutral and verifiable information, Ahern said.

For NYC artist Daria Dorosh, older women need to help share their knowledge of female art before that history is gone, she said. Dorosh is one of the founders of Brooklyns A.I.R. Gallery, devoted to supporting women artists.

The irony is older women are the ones who dont know how to do this, she said of editing Wikipedia. But theyre the ones with so much history.

Dorosh plans to use her knowledge of Wikipedia to share with other artists and members at A.I.R., she said.

Saturdays event was the second annual Edit-a-thon hosted by the arts alliance. As the movement continues on six continents, Coy said the event plans to continue for years to come.

aspadaro@th-record.com

Originally posted here:
Delaware Valley Arts Alliance emphasizing ... - recordonline.com - Times Herald-Record