Wikipedia edit-a-thon to celebrate Skye women
- Published
Nurse Ann MacKinnon will be one of the women to feature in the project
Articles about women from Skye, including a World War One nurse, are to be added to Wikipedia during a two-day edit-a-thon.
The island's Atlas Arts project has organised the event to mark 100 years of women's suffrage.
It will be held on 19 and 20 October at Portree Community Library and Archive Centre.
The biographies to be added include that of nurse Ann MacKinnon, who was recognised by France for her bravery.
Ms MacKinnon, who was from Waternish in Skye, tended to sick and wounded soldiers while under enemy fire, according to the British Journal of Nursing in 1918.
France awarded her the military award the Croix de Guerre.
'Budding editors' have been sought for the edit-a-thon
The nurse moved to the USA in 1928 and joined the Frontier Nursing Service, which was founded in Leslie County, Kentucky, by Mary Breckinridge after she witnessed the operation of the Highlands and Islands Medical Service, an organisation described as a blueprint for the creation of the NHS.
Ms MacKinnon worked as a hospital superintendent at Hayden Hospital in Kentucky, and was a founding member of The Kentucky State Association of Midwives in 1930.
She died in 1953 and was buried at Wendover, Kentucky.
A memorial to Ann MacKinnon in Kentucky
During the Women of Skye Edit-a-thon, "budding editors" will be offered coaching in research skills.
Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre and Scottish Library and Information Council are involved in the event.
Shona Cameron, producer at Atlas Arts, said: "We cannot wait to undertake research into some of the interesting women that we have already identified - such as Ann Mackinnon, who was awarded France's highest military award for bravery.
"We are also keen to hear from people who think they know someone who should be included in Wikipedia, whether they are dead or alive today."
She added that as part of the edit-a-thon Atlas was working with Dundee-based artist, Kirsty McKeown, to create a zine, a form of magazine.