Mark Strizic, who recently died (08.12.2012), migrated from Croatia in 1950 and became a widely published architectural and industrial photographer, portraitist of significant Australians. He taught photography at tertiary level in Melbourne from 1978, and in 1984 he became a full time artist, photographer and designer.

Many are familiar with his strikingly graphic contre-jour imagery of 1960s Melbourne. His contribution to modernism in Australian photography is worth recognising, so I have recently contributed biographies to DAAO and Wikipedia.

Design and Art Australia Online (DAAO) is a collaborative e-Research tool built upon the foundations of the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. DAAO is an open source freely accessible scholarly e-Research tool that presents biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.

But why do I contribute to the (oft-scorned) Wikipedia? My students use it. The information it contains on photographers should be accurate and it should include Australian photographers.  I make every effort to contribute accurate information…and I encourage my colleagues and students to contribute. That’s the only way Wikipedia can become worthy of being the most consulted encyclopaedia.