In memory of Arkady Filippovich Oskin

Vladimirov Vladimir Nikolaevich Doctor of History Professor, Department of Russian History, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, ave. Lenin, 61, of. 312 vvladimirov@icloud.com Garskova Irina Markovna Doctor of History Associated professor, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119607, Russia, Moscow, Ramenki str., 31, office 253 irina.garskova@gmail.com

Frolov Alexey ORCID: 0000-0003-2366-6545 Doctor of History Leading researcher, Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of Historical Geoinformatics Laboratory 119334, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Leninsky Ave., 32A, office 1405 npkfrolov@gmail.com Other publications by this author

I can't believe it, but Arkady Filippovich Oskin (June 5, 1945 - June 28, 2023), one of the most active members of the History and Computer Association since the early 1990s, who was at the origins of its activities, is no longer with us.

Arkady Filippovich Oskin first appeared in the community of Russian historians-quantifiers back in October 1991, when in Minsk and Raubichi, the Councils of Young Scientists of Moscow State University and BSU, with the support of the Commission on the Use of Mathematical Methods and Computers in Historical Research at the Department of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences, held an All-Union school-seminar for young scientists "The role of method in historical Research". Arkady Filippovich took an active part in the seminar.

Soon, in the autumn of 1993, Belarusian colleagues already participated in the first conference of the Association "History and Computer", and in the spring of 1994 – in the second, where the report of A.F.Oskin and his colleagues from the University of Polotsk V.I.Shaikov "On some prosopographic and computer aspects of historical research: on the example of the history of the Polotsk region" was made at the section on databases and attracted attention by the high level of application of computer technology in prosopographic research. The authors of the report became full members of the AIC, having received recommendations from their colleagues from the BSU V.N.Sidortsov and E.N.Balykina.

Since then, Arkady Filippovich has been one of the most active authors of scientific publications published in AIC publications, his name has consistently been among the top ten most popular names. It is enough to mention that under the auspices of the AIC, he published 45 works, and this is not counting the collections that were produced by the Belarusian "branch" of the Association. Arkady Filippovich's research interests included almost all areas of AIC work: information (including network) resources and databases, information technology and software, modeling of historical processes, etc., but the largest number of publications was devoted to methods and technologies of historical research and the use of information technologies in historical education.

It should be noted that these works were not purely methodological or methodical publications, they were always associated with solving applied research problems. Prosopography, demography, conflictology, social history – methods and technologies were tested, algorithms and software tools were tested for research tasks in these areas. Working with databases, Arkady Filippovich studied the possibilities of post-relational DBMS, engaged in the development of Internet resources, turned to the XML language, using statistical methods, introduced various algorithms for multidimensional statistical analysis, methods for analyzing entropy characteristics.

He was always interested in complex, non-standard tasks. He tested a variety of computer systems for mathematical modeling of historical processes, such as fractal algorithms, fuzzy cognitive modeling, etc., and in his publications Arkady Filippovich, being an excellent teacher, was able to simply and easily show the reader the advantages and possibilities of the proposed approaches for solving specific applied problems. He was one of the first to promote the ideas of using data mining, intelligent information and reference systems, personal learning environments, cloud technologies, electronic UMCS. Arkady Filippovich was a real, enthusiastic university teacher, hence his constant interest in the introduction of information technologies into education at various levels – from global, related to the general problems of higher education, to routine tasks of information support of the educational process and technologies of its management.

Being always "on the wave" of new technologies, in his recent publications Arkady Filippovich increasingly turned to the possibilities of using artificial intelligence in the educational process. His last article in the second issue of the journal "Historical Informatics" for 2023, which, unfortunately, he did not have time to see published, is called "The use of artificial intelligence technologies in historical education" on the example of the course "History of Belarus"”. This article is one of the first reviews in Russian historiography on such an urgent issue, given the huge interest of the modern reading public in artificial neural networks and, in particular, to ChatGPT, with an assessment of the pros and cons of new realities both in the intellectual sphere and in the information space as a whole.

Arkady Filippovich generously shared his developments with his students and colleagues. His publications in collections and journals aroused great interest of the scientific community, and his reports at conferences and seminars, sometimes containing not yet fully tested provisions and discussion points, generated new ideas, allowed us to take a fresh look at seemingly familiar problems, try non-standard methods and approaches on our data. Arkady Filippovich willingly led round tables on topical issues of historical informatics at AIC conferences and seminars, vividly and kindly led breakout sessions, and not only those related to the use of new technologies in historical education, but also devoted to mathematical modeling, information technology and electronic resources.

Always friendly, Arkady Filippovich was an indispensable member of the expert commission in the competitions of young scientists at AIC conferences, he gave many representatives of scientific youth recommendations for joining our scientific community. In the 2000s, Arkady Filippovich was a member of the editorial boards of the AIC Newsletter and the periodical "Circle of Ideas", was a member of the AIC Council, at the last, 18th, conference he agreed to join the Council again after a break, he had many new ideas and creative plans.

We have lost a wonderful scientist, a wise teacher, an irreplaceable colleague, a good friend. The memory of him will be just as kind and bright…

Fig. 1. At the plenary session of the 5th AIC Conference (Krasnovydovo, 1997)

Fig. 2. At the plenary session of the 10th AIC Conference (Moscow, 2006)

You can simply select and copy link from below text field.