Abstract: The article contains an analytical description of the main directions of work of the All-Russian academic and methodological seminar, which took place in January 2024 at the Faculty of History of Moscow State University and was oriented to the problems of digital transformation of university historical education, as well as the development of educational programs in the field of "Historical Information Science" and related program profiles. The seminar was organized by the Faculty of History of Moscow State University and the interregional association "History and Computing" (АИК). The purpose of the seminar was to discuss the current experience accumulated by historians of Russian universities in the use of digital technologies, data science methods and artificial intelligence in the educational process. Another direction of the seminar was the exchange of experience in the development of educational programs in the field of “Historical Information Science”. Other educational programs of similar profiles were also discussed, for example, “Applied Informatics in the Humanities” for bachelors. More than 80 university representatives from six countries took part in the seminar. A number of reports examined new formats of educational work that have been introduced in universities in recent years in the context of the digital transformation of higher education, including project activities of students, the work of a tutor in a digital department of a university, and the organization of a research and educational group based on scientific partnership between students and teachers. The article notes that during the seminar, noticeable interest was shown in organizing the educational process in the field of “Historical Information Science” using the example of the experience of the History Faculty of Moscow University over the past two decades. The second part of the article provides a brief description of MSU educational programs.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70055

Abstract: The purpose of this database is to create an electronic source that focuses on the socio-demographic characteristics of the Ural City based on materials from the All-Soviet Population Census of 1959, using the example of Arti, a town-type settlement in the Sverdlovsk Region. The selection of this particular object is due to its ability to record the transformation processes from a rural factory settlement to a town, against the backdrop of a relatively homogenous ethnosocial environment. The appeal to the original census materials is justified by their higher information content, as compared to published data that has undergone editing. The discovered Artinsky district archive file contains information on the town of Arti alone and represents a sample with an unclear formation process, similar in nature to a natural process. The study of methods for organizing and conducting a census indicates a relatively high level of reliability in its primary data. Historical and genetic methods, methods of source analysis, and mathematical statistics are used. A study of the distribution of data by gender and social groups, conducted using mathematical statistical methods in comparison to published data, allows us to conclude that the sample of materials formed from the census of Arti's urban-type settlement accurately reflects the properties of the entire population covered by the survey. The database created based on the materials of the 1959 All-Union Population Census is similar in content to the original source, with the addition of aggregated information about the composition and structure of families, as well as information about housing conditions. The features of both the source and database are focused, to a greater extent, on historical and demographic research, particularly family history. Due to its informative nature, the database can become a useful tool for researchers in this field.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70134

Abstract: Currently, large-scale projects are being implemented in the Russian Federation to preserve the rich historical and cultural heritage. Digitization (scanning, preparation for machine processing, open access placement) of newspaper and documentary materials fully corresponds to this trend of state policy, fully contributes to the implementation of one of its directions – the preservation of the industrial heritage of the Soviet era. The digitized materials of the newspaper "Vagonostroitel" make up most of the issues of this small-circulation publication that have been preserved in the region. When combining the resulting array of digitized newspaper files with incomplete sets stored in the regional scientific library and the regional state archive, a full-fledged database of materials on the production activities of one of the largest enterprises in the region and the lives of its workers is created. Digitized materials with an effective search system are posted on the Internet (on the server of the I. Kant BFU). The implemented project makes the newspaper "Vagonostroitel" accessible to all those interested in the fate of the plant, helps the descendants of factory workers to learn about the lives of parents, grandparents, which contributes to the education of patriotic feelings and family values. The discovered and digitized office documentation transferred to the archive significantly complements the existing archival fund of the plant, expands the possibilities for a comprehensive and objective study of its history. During the implementation of the project, foreign and domestic, including leading Russian libraries and regional scientific libraries, experience in scanning and posting periodicals and scanning archival materials on the Internet was taken into account. Bitrix, Phyton, html, Python-tesseract, and Yandex Disk 360 programs were used to create the website of the Vagonzavod newspaper and the search engine for the digitized Vagonostroitel newspaper.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70375

Abstract: This article examines the state of zemstvo medicine in Samara uezd in 1886–1913. An important aspect of this analysis is the study of healthcare seeking, which serves both as a statistical parameter of the frequency of medical care seeking and an indicator of very complex sociocultural dynamics within certain society. One’s decision to visit a hospital, and in general one’s perception of his or her own physical body and its deviations and abnormalities in medical terms are influenced by multiple factors that are not limited to the characteristics of the healthcare systems. Similar issues are studied in detail within the framework of medicalization, as well as the methodology of health seeking behavior, which examines the factors behind people’s decisions to follow healthy lifestyles, including visiting hospitals. This research is based on medical and statistical reports of the Samara uezd physicians in the late 19th – early 20th centuries and examines the temporal and spatial dynamics of the healthcare seeking; the main purpose of this study is to measure disparity levels of healthcare seeking practices in different parts of Samara uezd. Firstly, the study reveals that in the infrastructural aspect, healthcare in the Samara uezd was in an active development stage, which reflected in an increase in both the number of medical stations and hospitals, and physicians and paramedics. Secondly, the healthcare seeking rates was also evolved in a positive direction, which is reflected in an increase in both the number of medical services delivered to population. Furthermore, it shows the decrease of heterogeneity level of healthcare seeking rates between medical stations in uezd from 1898 to 1913; however, this level between the volosts remains high even after 15 years.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.69765

Abstract: The object of the study is the social and cultural space of the city of Tambov in the late XVIII – the first third of the XIX century. The source base of the study consists of documents of several funds of the State Archive of the Tambov region, as well as plans of the city of Tambov in 1781, 1803, 1828 and 1832. The main goal of the study is to present the mechanism of creating an interactive map of the cultural space of the city of Tambov. In the research, in addition to classical historical methods, the systematization and analysis of statistical, record-keeping, cartographic and visual sources was carried out by using geo-information technologies. The main scientific result of the research was the samples of analyses of statistical and visual material of the interactive resource. The chosen platform made it possible to present the scientific results in the form of diagrams of the distribution of the share of different estates in separate quarters of the city, lists of demographic data on the population of Tambov; cards with reference historical data on the cultural heritage objects of the city. Specific results of the study include the determination of the number of quarters inhabited by these or those class groups, as well as the identification of whole groups of quarters marked by a noticeable homogeneity of the class composition of the population. The main methodological and technological result of the research is the provision of an efficient mechanism for analyzing urban space, systematization of data on its development and inhabitants, which can be available to a wide range of users. The information and technology of the proposed resource shows the possibilities of its use not only for research activities, but also for educational, excursion and museum work.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70068

Abstract: The study analyzes the evolution of camp press through the example of the newspaper "Perekovka," published within the Soviet penitentiary system. Based on content analysis, the author reveals how the press was used to attempt to instill ideas of re-education and "reforging" of prisoners, turning their labor into a tool for building a new state. The article emphasizes the multifaceted and deep propagandistic role of camp newspapers, considering them as a means of mass information aimed at forming new "homo soveticus". Researcher analyzes how the content of the newspaper changed over different periods, reflecting transformations of the Soviet leadership's view on the goals of the penitentiary system. The work is enriched with examples from archival materials. The research methodology includes the use of the computerized content analysis program MAXQDA 2024 for processing large volumes of text. This approach allows for both quantitative and qualitative analysis of texts, providing an extensive set of features for coding, quantitative lexical analysis, and data visualization. The scientific relevance of the work lies in the comprehensive analysis of the camp newspaper "Perekovka" as an instrument of ideological influence, re-education, and motivation in Soviet camps. The study applies computerized content analysis methods to the complete collection of this publication for the first time, enabling not only the study of the content and evolution of this publication but also a deeper understanding of the motives of the camp system's leadership and the transformation of their views over time. The results of the research contribute to historical science, expanding perceptions of the complexity and multifaceted nature of the work of penitentiary media in the USSR and introducing new sources for further work.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.69789

Abstract: The article discusses the problems of developing electronic scientific publications of sources and creating electronic standards based on them. As a sample for such a publication, M. Yu. Andreicheva suggests turning to the "Tale of Bygone Years" – a narrative monument that, on the one hand, can best demonstrate the features of a whole complex of sources (chronicles), and on the other hand, has been studied well enough to show using his example, a detailed study of the linguistic, source study and textual capabilities of the created electronic publishing model. In his work, the author introduces the image of a portal dedicated to the electronic edition of the initial chronicle. The basis of the publication should be the hypertext of the Tale, that is, a text that includes a system of internal hyperlinks that make it possible to visually represent its lists, translations and original handwritten form, its stratification in textological stems, as well as textual and semantic intersections with other monuments of the era being studied. The electronic scientific publication of "The Tale of Bygone Years" will appear in the form of an open semantic network, the content of which will be updated as the monument is further studied. In the future, an indexed electronic scientific journal may be created on its basis, in which works devoted to the study of PVL and the history of Ancient Rus' will be published. Ultimately, electronic scientific publishing around the world has become a full-fledged scientific platform that takes the study of chronicle text to a new research and technological level. After creating a working model, it can be tested on other types of sources. The result of work on the project may be the creation of a designer for electronic publications of various levels (scientific, popular science, etc.).

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70218

Abstract: The article describes the experience of teaching the course “Historical Geography and Geographic Information Systems” within the framework of the specialization “Historical Informatics” at the Department of Historical Informatic Science, Faculty of History, Moscow State University. We teach this discipline to third-year undergraduate students. The course includes several thematic blocks. The first one is devoted to Russian historical geography, and the main difficulty is to fit this voluminous course into several lessons and leave time for the remaining blocks. The second block is the basics of cartography, the history of cartography in Russia (that is, source studies of historical maps), and here we can also speak about electronic libraries of raster and vector historical maps of Russia. The third block is devoted to the substantive basics of spatial visualization. This block seems to be the most important: learning to use the proper software is an important, but it is the least constructive part of the research. It is more important to understand how to set tasks correctly and what complexities are typical to this type of visualization. Within this third block we examine both entertainment projects and research articles using historical maps. The last block of issues studied within the framework of the course is the basics of GIS software studying. We study QGIS here: it is officially freeware, cross-platform, it uses the wide-spread shapefile format, and it is well compatible with open Internet services, such as OpenStreetMap and the Google maps. Students learn to draw shapefiles upon raster maps, to attach data from spreadsheets to their vector maps and to create thematic maps, to transform the projections. We hope that our methodological experience will be useful to teachers.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70278

Abstract: The article is based on the report made by the author at the scientific and methodological seminar of the Association "History and Computer" and the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, which was held on January 2024. The subject of the analysis are the names and hourly volume (in academic hours) of disciplines of informatics and mathematical cycle of the National Research Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevsky or Lobachevsky University) from 1984 to 2023. N.I. Lobachevsky National Research State University from 1984 to 2023, the names of graduate qualification works made at the Department of Information Technologies in Humanities from 2007 to 2023, the names of teaching aids for 2010 to 2023, published by teachers of the department. It is revealed that the subjects of information and mathematical cycle for 40 years of their teaching in IMOMI NNGU have become more specialised and practice-oriented, both in bachelor's and master's degrees. The restored initial period of teaching quantitative methods in history in the 1980s, based on the recollections of colleagues and the first lecturer S.V. Subbotin, is of independent importance. A complete list of information and mathematical disciplines in 2023-2024 is given. The basic information about the Department of Information Technologies in Humanities Studies, which has been responsible for teaching the above disciplines since 2007, is given. It is found that since 2007 the ITGI department has graduated 86 students, 31 per cent of whom used quantitative methods and computer technologies in their final qualification works. The importance of cloud technologies in the possibilities of distributed project work of undergraduate students is shown. It is concluded that the main formed information competence of historians is a critical attitude to the digitisation of historical sources and their publication on the Internet.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70206

Abstract: The article is devoted to the author's practical experience in teaching the discipline "Project Activity" at the Institute of International Transport Communications (IMTC) of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT) in 2021-2023. Project activity, as an educational technology, is aimed at developing students' thinking/reflection skills through the formation of the ability to identify and solve a problem. The skills that students acquire in the process of learning project activities are universal, therefore, the teaching methodology and tools mastered by students can be successfully integrated into various humanitarian educational programs, including educational programs on history. The article provides a detailed classification of student projects, provides a detailed description of the RUT (MIIT) Project Activity Model and those methods (tools) that are used in the learning process. The most important from a methodological point of view are diagnostic projects implemented in the 1st semester in the 1st year, therefore they are described in the article in as much detail as possible (examples of the results of students' work are given). A survey of first-year students, who studied the discipline Project activity in the 1st semester of the 2023/2024 academic year, showed that the main tasks of project activity, such as stimulating students' motivation to study and the formation of universal meta-subject competencies, can be formed in the learning process and during one semester, within the framework of those academic hours, which are usually allocated for the PD discipline in the "History" field of study. At the same time, the most useful tools from the point of view of students are those that allow you to find out how everything really works, and what is the root cause of the problem; a problematic interview; the "5 why" method and the trees of current reality (root cause analysis).

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70237

Abstract: The subject of the study is the peculiarities of teaching students of the Institute of History and International Relations of Altai State University on the programs of the project "Digital Departments". A brief overview of the "Digital Department" of the specified university and the programs that it implements within the framework of this project is given. The features of teaching students in the programs of the "Digital Department" as representatives of the humanities are outlined. The topic is considered from the point of view of the tutor of students of the Institute of History and International Relations. In the course of direct work with students, the peculiarities of their choice of programs for obtaining additional IT competencies were revealed, as well as the difficulties and problems faced by students when mastering the selected programs were analyzed. The prospects for humanities students in the field of their application of IT competencies in the professional field are also presented. The research is based on the author's own experience as a tutor and includes an analysis of the results of practical work with students. The novelty of the research is due to the fact that the project "Digital Departments" itself, which has been implemented since 2022, is quite young, and at this stage of its implementation there is an accumulation of practical and methodological experience among participating universities. In this paper, the author describes the experience of two years of work as a tutor with students of the Institute of History and International Relations of the Altai State University studying at the programs of the digital department. The main conclusion is that these difficulties are typical for many universities participating in the Digital Department project, which are now on the way to finding the most optimal ways to overcome them. The new tasks set for the participating universities of the project open up interesting prospects for further training of students in the humanities.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70073

Abstract: Despite the extensive bibliographical material, scientific study of the life and work of Nostradamus has only relatively recently begun. Currently, it includes a detailed examination of the predictor's biography and historical-philological commentaries on the quatrains. The unordered arrangement of the quatrains is one of the main problems hindering the understanding of the prophecies. In particular, it has been discovered that many quatrains describe presumed future events through comparison with the past, and therefore cannot be adequately understood without a reasoned arrangement by dates. Although Nostradamus himself unequivocally states in an epistle to King Henry II that the quatrains should be arranged using the biblical chronology he provided, with a reference point determined by the retrograde movements of planets (1606 year, as shown by prof. Brind'Amour), discussions of such cryptographic approaches were absent in Nostradamus literature until now. This work presents, for the first time, a detailed argument for the hypothesis that Nostradamus used a modified «scytale» algorithm to encrypt the correct sequence of quatrains and assign them certain dates. It is shown that the predictor indeed employed cyclically repeating biblical chronologies placed in the epistle to King Henry II for this purpose. The final date of the prophecies turns out to be the year 2242, close to the end of the 6000 years in the Jewish calendar (2240 AD) and the completion of the cycle of planetary epochs in the astrological concept of Abraham ibn Ezra (2241 AD), which aligns well with existing historical research. The results of the analysis indicate that although the «Prophecies» were published in parts, they form a coherent work following a strict plan. Consequently, the obtained results are relevant to the history of cryptography in Europe and have significant implications for a correct understanding of Nostradamus' texts.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70327

Abstract: This memorial article is dedicated to the memory of Igor Nikolaevich Kiselyov, a man who did a lot in the field of informatization of historical science and archival business. Igor Nikolaevich started working as a quantifier historian, a specialist in the field related to the application of mathematical methods and computer technologies in historical research. He actively participated in research projects on historical demography and other areas of historical science, in 2002 for a series of works on the history of the Russian population in the 1930s, Yu.A. Polyakov, V.B. Zhiromskaya and I.N. Kiselyov were awarded the V.O. Klyuchevsky Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the 1990s, the main Igor Nikolaevich became interested in archival issues: issues of informatization of archival business, creation and analysis of online archival resources. Igor Nikolaevich was one of the leading experts in the field of historical informatics, was a member of the Council of the Association "History and Computer", conducted teaching work as an associate professor at the IAI of the Russian State University. The article uses the memoirs of colleagues, materials of publications by I.N.Kiselyov in historical journals, in the journals "Domestic Archives" and "Archivist's Bulletin", "AIK Newsletter". as well as materials about his leadership in the development of the Concept and Program for the Informatization of Archival Affairs in Russia, the first version of the Archives of Russia portal, and participation in many archival information projects. The article highly appreciates the research work of I.N.Kiselyov and his scientific and organizational activities at the Rosarchive, where he headed departments related to informatization, the organization of research work of the Federal Archival Service of Russia and the introduction of automated archival technologies. Igor Nikolaevich was seriously engaged in both theoretical and methodological problems of archival science. Literally until the last day, Igor Nikolaevich conducted active scientific and organizational work in breakthrough areas of archival science. His latest article "On the use of artificial intelligence in text recognition" was published in the first issue of the VNIIDAD Bulletin posthumously, and a joint scientific report "The use of artificial intelligence in document management in archives: practice, trends and prospects" was presented by his colleagues after Igor Nikolaevich passed away.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2024.1.70354

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the memory of Tamara Fedorovna Izmestyeva, a well-known specialist in the field of economic history and historical information science. A graduate of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, she began her scientific and teaching work at the Faculty of History in 1969 at the Department of Source Studies, then as a researcher and senior researcher at the interdepartmental Laboratory of Historical Information Science, transformed into the Department of the same name. Tamara Fyodorovna's research interests lay in the mainstream of both economic history and historical information science. In 1991, the publishing house of Moscow State University published a monograph based on her dissertation "Russia in the European market system, late XIX – early XX century". T.F.Izmestyeva became one of the founders of the Association "History and Computer" (AIK), she was a member of the organizing committees of many AIK conferences, participated in the organization of schools for young scholars. The article uses publications by T.F. Izmestyeva in the journals "Russian History", "Economic History. Review", "Historical Information Scince", "AIK Newsletter", her presentations at Russian and international conferences, memoirs of colleagues and students. The article gives a high assessment of T.F. Izmestyeva's research and teaching work. Publications on economic history reflected her interests in the field of studying the foreign market of the Russian Empire, analyzing mass statistical sources. Tamara Fyodorovna introduced "economic tools" into research on economic history. In the field of historical information science, she paid much attention to the creation of historically oriented databases, source studies and methodological problems of working with mass statistical data. She has co-authored a number of textbooks, including "Quantitative Methods in Historical Research", "Historical Information Science", "Computerized Statistical Analysis for Historians", "Inforfmation Science for Humanities", "Information Technology for Historians".