The Department of Historical Information Science of the History Faculty of Moscow State University is 20 years old:
New trends in interdisciplinary research

Borodkin Leonid Doctor of History Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department for Historical Information Science at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) 119991, Russia, Moskva oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Lomonosovskii Prospekt, 27-4 borodkin-izh@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Historical informatics in Russia traces its history back to the early 1990s. The origins of the new interdisciplinary direction are connected with the activities of the group on the application of mathematical methods and computers in historical research, formed in the 1970s at the Department of Source Studies of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University by its head, Academician I.D. Kovalchenko. On his initiative, the Academic Council of the Faculty in 1991 decided to transform this group into the Cathedral Laboratory of Historical Informatics, which in 2001 It became a general faculty laboratory (see below). By the early 2000s, the Laboratory of Historical Informatics of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University had gained a reputation as a recognized leader in the application of new methods of data analysis and information technology in historical research and education at universities in Russia and CIS countries. On the basis of the laboratory, the Association "History and Computer" (AIC) was established in 1992, bringing together dozens of historians from Russia and several neighboring countries who used new methods and technologies in historical research and education.

A copy of the order of the Rector of Moscow University (06/29/2001)

And in 2004, by order of the Rector of Moscow State University, the Laboratory of Historical Informatics was transformed into the Department of the same name (see below). This year, 2024, the department celebrates its 20th anniversary. An analysis of the activities of the Department of Historical Informatics in the first decade is presented in the 2014 publication ^[1]. This article provides a brief overview of the new directions of scientific research that developed at the department in the second decade (in 2014-2024). As for the educational and methodological work of the department, it is described in a recently published article ^[2].

A copy of the extract from the minutes of the meeting of the Academic Council of Moscow State University (18.10.2004)

New directions of scientific work of the department, new methodological approaches

in historical computer science

By 2004, when the Department of Historical Informatics was opened at the Faculty of History, departments of "branch" informatics already existed at a number of faculties of Moscow University. This process continued in the following years. Today, in the structure of the faculties of Moscow State University, in addition to the Department of Historical Informatics, the Department of Economic Informatics, the Department of Legal Informatics, Information and Digital Law, the Department of Cartography and Geoinformatics, etc. There are educational programs in business informatics at Moscow State University. Since 2002, the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics has been operating at Moscow University. As noted on the website of this faculty, one of the distinctive features of the specialty "bioengineering and bioinformatics" is "a significant increase in the volume of teaching computer science, both in the general course and in specialized courses in bioinformatics." This is not surprising, since computer science is a fundamental science, and the development of fundamental research is the main vector of science development at all faculties of Moscow State University (which is quite consistent with the current trend towards popularization of scientific knowledge in the context of digital transformation of science and education).

Let us note two main trends in the development of science related to the integration and differentiation of scientific knowledge. The first of them is determined by the expansion of the field of interdisciplinary (and, more broadly, multidisciplinary) research; the second trend reflects, in particular, the needs of each scientific field in the development of specialized tools aimed at deepening scientific knowledge in this particular field. Thus, the processes of differentiation resist to a certain extent the erosion of the disciplinary framework, preserving the "disciplinary core" of the relevant field of science. This circumstance explains the presence of departments and laboratories of "branch" computer science in a number of faculties and institutes aimed at increasing knowledge in subject-oriented areas.

Thus, in historical research, the information base may include sources of various types and types containing texts, statistical materials, graphic, cartographic and pictorial sources, scientific and technical documentation, film and photographic documents, etc. The processing and analysis of data from such sources require a source study, the use of specialized source-oriented methods and technologies, and an adequate interpretation of the meaningful results obtained with the help of these tools. Obviously, the "intersection" of these tasks of historical informatics with the tasks of "branch informatics" of other humanities is small, although there are separate points of intersection (mainly we are talking about methods of working with texts and sources characterizing cultural heritage sites). To a greater extent, we can talk about the interaction of historical research with a number of social sciences (for example, with economic science). Of course, there are tasks for the development of digital infrastructure for research and education, digital platforms common to a number of fields of humanitarian knowledge; these tasks are mainly technological in nature. As for the main directions of the department's research work, they are associated with the increment of scientific (historical) knowledge based on the methods and technologies used. This is natural: after all, our "habitat" is a professional historical community, primarily the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, whose departments employ more than 250 historians. Our staff and graduate students defend their PhD and doctoral dissertations in historical specialties, mainly in the specialty "Historiography, source studies and methods of historical research", publishing their works in leading historical journals, as well as in the profile interdisciplinary journal "Historical Informatics" (included in the list of VAKOV periodicals, publications in which are accepted in the dissertation councils of Moscow State University). Of course, this focus of the cathedral research does not exclude the participation of our employees in conferences and publications of the Digital Humanities communities.

It should be emphasized that the interdisciplinary nature of historical informatics is already embedded in the name of this field. The scientific research of the department can be characterized primarily by the following already established areas of mathematical methods and digital technologies of historical informatics:

• development of theoretical and methodological aspects of historical informatics;

• creation and use of historical-oriented databases;

• Digitization of various types of sources in the course of research projects; development of historically-oriented thematic digital resources;

• creation of collections of electronic texts; computerized analysis of descriptive sources;

• Computerized statistical processing and analysis of mass historical sources;

• computer modeling of historical processes and phenomena;

• Computerized analysis of visual information;

• 3D modeling and virtual reconstruction of historical and cultural heritage sites; application of VR/AR technologies;

• creation of historical GIS maps; GIS applications in the study of spatial aspects of historical processes.

The use of these methods and technologies in the research projects of the department in the second decade of its existence made it possible to significantly advance the study of a number of topical problems of the economic and social history of Russia in the XIX-XX centuries, as well as the tasks of studying and digitally preserving its historical and cultural heritage. This will be discussed in more detail in the second part of the article.

What new trends in the development of theoretical and methodological directions of historical informatics characterize the work of the department in the second decade?

Where was the "Quantitative Train" going? To the Data Science station

We can start with the direction that, in fact, gave impetus to the development of historical informatics in Russia at the turn of the 1980s - 1990s. We are talking about the computerized analysis of mass sources, which has been developing since the 1960s within the framework of quantitative history. The dramatic evolution of quantitative history, which experienced periods of rise, peak of the 70s and subsequent stabilization in the 60s -80s, in the 90s turned out to be "in the shadow" of new methodological approaches associated with the dominance of the postmodern paradigm (see, for example, in ^{[3],[4, pp.1-3]}). The well-known statement by E. Le Roy Ladury, made by him in 1973, that "a history that is not quantifiable cannot claim to be considered scientific" ^{[5, p. 15-22]}, practically ceased to be quoted by the 1990s.

At the same time, in Russian publications in AIC publications, work on statistical analysis of historical sources data continued to occupy a prominent place, sections on quantitative history at our conferences remained popular, and teaching students of the Moscow State University Faculty of Economics methods of mathematical statistics occupied (and still occupies today) an entire semester, including practical work with statistical software.

However, in general, the atmosphere in this regard reflects an episode typical of the 90s.

In 1993, as a result of cooperation between the Laboratory of Historical Informatics of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, AIK, the Moscow City Archive Association, on the one hand, and the International Association "History and Computing" (AHC), the Max Planck Institute of History (Germany), on the other hand, the publishing project "Ten new textbooks on Historical Disciplines" was initiated, which It was implemented in the 90s with the active participation of AHC President Prof. Manfred Taller. It should be noted that it was in this series that our first textbook on historical computer science was published ^[6]. Most of these books had the character of monographs. One of the reviews of the books in this series was published in the journal American Historical Review (February 1998, p. 234), it contains a curious passage concerning the application of quantitative methods and computer technology in the books in this series: "Although the authors believe that they are at the forefront of "modern" computerized methodologies, in fact they boarded a quantitative train that left the Zapad station a couple of decades ago and then got lost to arise now in the Russian steppes."

On the other hand, the statement of J. R. R. Tolkien belongs to the same time. Welling, a well-known Dutch historian, asked a rhetorical question during one of the AHC conferences: "However, is there any reason to say that the historian is still much more a story-teller than a scientist, and quantification occupies a peripheral place in the profession of historian"? ^{[7, p. 9,11]}.

However, the question of the location in the 80s - 90s of the "quantitative train" that crossed the expanses of postmodernism was debatable in those years - in the review work of D. Oberwittler (1997) concluded that E. Johnson's conclusion ^[8] was fair that "quantitative history eventually found its home in Germany" ^[9]. In our opinion, the image of the train imposed on us is simply inadequate; for example, for at least six decades, cliometrics has been successfully developing in a number of countries, which makes a significant contribution to the development of economic history.

It should be noted that almost three decades have passed since the 90s, when the mentioned review was written, but research in the line of quantitative history, the use of computerized statistical analysis of historical sources in Russia has not decreased its level. This can be judged, for example, by the materials of the serial publication of the AIC "Circle of Ideas" (1990s - 2010s) or by the materials of the heading "Quantitative History" in the journal "Historical Informatics": this heading is one of the most active throughout the entire period of the journal's existence.

Let's return to the mentioned review, which disparagingly assessed the emergence of the "quantitative train in the Russian steppes." Admittedly, many historians were also skeptical about the prospects of quantitative history in those years. "It was forever until it was over."What has changed in relation to quantification, the use of statistical methods by historians (and in general – in the social sciences and humanities) at the beginning of the XXI century? It can be said that in the 2010s, the "Quantification Renaissance" began, mainly due to the sharply increased interest in big data technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning, artificial neural networks, etc. Today, the focus of modern applied sciences is Data Science (DS), the science of data, which is considered as a branch of computer science related to the processing, analysis and presentation of data in digital formats. DS is based on statistical methods, data mining, and artificial intelligence applications for working with data. At the current stage, DS as an academic discipline is perhaps the most in demand at universities in various countries.

The Department of Historical Informatics turned out to be prepared for this "data-centric turn", which, when applied to historical informatics, means, on the one hand, an active study of the question of the features of these historical sources, their classification in the context of the digital transformation of science ^[10], as well as within the framework of the concepts of Big Data in relation to historical research data, FAIR and Open Data (see, for example, the portal “The road to FAIR: FAIR principles for the Social Sciences and Humanities” https://roadtofair.hypotheses.org/327 ). On the other hand, during the second decade of the department's activity, the concepts of Historical Data Science were developed – both in terms of theoretical approaches and practical applications. This issue was initiated by the department and with its active participation reflected in the programs of two All-Russian conferences with international participation organized by the Faculty of History of Moscow State University and AIC and held in recent years: in 2020, it was the XVII AIC conference "Historical Research in the context of data science: information resources, analytical methods and digital technologies" ^[11], and in 2022, the XVIII AIC conference was called "Historical Informatics as Historical Data Science" ^[12]. In 2023, the column "Artificial Intelligence and Data Science" appeared in the journal "Historical Informatics".

A new turn has also affected the academic work of the department. In 2014-2024, new courses and special courses containing various aspects of Data Science were introduced into the curriculum of the department's specialization. Since 2021/2022, all students of the integrated Master's degree of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University have been listening to the general faculty course "Data Science and Artificial Intelligence", which is implemented by the Department of Historical Informatics. In June 2024, the annual School of Historical Informatics was held for the 4th time, organized by the Faculty of History of Moscow State University and AIK. Most of the lecturers and teachers of the master classes are employees of the Department of Historical Informatics, the core of the program includes the topics of data analytics and artificial intelligence in historical applications ^[13].

In recent years, this topic has been reflected in a number of methodological and historiographical publications of the department's staff (see, for example., ^[14],[15]), as well as in specific historical studies ^[16],[17].

During the period under review, the staff of the department published two author's monographs:

Borodkin L. I. Modeling of historical processes: from reconstruction of reality to analysis of alternatives. — Aleteya St. Petersburg, 2016. — 306 p.

Garskova I. M. Historical informatics: the evolution of an interdisciplinary field. — St. Petersburg: Alethea, 2018. — 408 p.

The staff of the department are co–authors of a recently published collective monograph:

Antopolsky A.B., Bonch-Osmolovskaya A.A., Borodkin L.I., Volodin A.Yu., etc. Digital humanities research. — Krasnoyarsk: Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education Siberian Federal University. 2023. — 272 p.

An important result of the long-term cooperation of the Department of Historical Informatics with colleagues from Jilin University (China) is the translation of monographs by teachers of the department into Chinese and their publication in the leading Chinese publishing house for social sciences and humanities (SOCIAL SCIENCES ACADEMIC PRESS CHINA). We are talking about the publication in 2017-2022 of six monographs by the staff of the department, previously published in Russian: Borodkin L. I., Konovalova A.V. The Russian stock market at the beginning of the twentieth century: exchange rate dynamics factors. — St. Petersburg: Aleteya, 2010; Borodkin L.I., Valetov T.Ya., etc. Not a single ruble: Labor incentives for textile workers in pre-revolutionary Russia. — M., ROSSPAN, 2010; Volodin A. Yu. The history of factory inspection in Russia, 1882-1914 — M., ROSSPAN, 2009.; Salomatina S. A. Commercial banks in Russia: dynamics and structure of operations, 1864-1917. — M., ROSSPAN, 2004.; Izmestieva T. F. Russia is in the European market system. The end of the XIX – beginning of the XX century. The experience of quantitative analysis. — M., Publishing House of Moscow University. 1991.; Borodkin L. I. Multidimensional statistical analysis in historical research. — M., Publishing House of Moscow University, 1986.

Research projects of the department

The scientific work of the department is largely realized during the implementation of research projects supported by Russian foundations. Below is a brief description of the projects carried out at the department in 2014-2024. A number of these projects have been implemented with the involvement of colleagues from other universities and faculties of Moscow State University; below are the project participants who are employees, graduate students, and students of the department. It should be noted that the main goal of the department's projects is to increase knowledge in a particular field of historical science, in the tasks of studying and (digitally) preserving historical and cultural heritage. A major role in these interdisciplinary projects belongs to data analytics, methods and technologies of historical informatics. The projects are listed in chronological order.

● The project "Virtual reconstruction of the Moscow Holy Monastery (mid-XVII – early XX centuries: analysis of the evolution of spatial infrastructure based on 3D methods)", supported by a grant from the Russian Academy of Sciences (2014 – 2015). Head: Borodkin L.I. Research participants: Zherebyatyev D.I., Ostapenko M.Yu., Valetov T.Ya., Mironenko M.S., Mishina E.M.

The project was aimed at creating a virtual reconstruction of the Strastny Monastery and the historical urban development of the center of Moscow, specifically Strastnaya Square, which arose in the XVII century around the Strastny Devichy Monastery, which was destroyed in the 1930s. The analysis of the evolution of the spatial infrastructure in question was carried out on the basis of a set of verifiable sources characterizing the objects of reconstruction in several time sections, taking into account the social context of monastic life and the changing architectural environment of Strastnaya Square. The constructed computer reconstruction of the three-century evolution of the monastery complex and the historical urban development of Strastnaya Square shows the new opportunities in the development of historical urbanism that have opened up to historians in the context of visual, spatial and digital turns in the structure of historical knowledge. The obtained results are presented in open access on the department's website, which allows the user to familiarize himself with the source base of the study and the constructed virtual reconstruction, presented using modern 3D visualization tools, including a digital video overview of the monastery complex in early and late time slices, augmented reality visual effects, etc. This resource has found active use in various educational programs.

● The project "Adaptation and creation of a WEB version of the 3D model of the Holy Monastery and Holy Square on time slices of the XVII – early XX centuries in a single information environment" was supported by a grant from the History of the Fatherland Foundation (2017). Head: Borodkin L.I. Research participants: Garskova I.M., Zherebyatyev D.I., Ilyashenko V.A., Mironenko M.S.

The project focused on the adaptation of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies to create new opportunities for validation/verification of the results of the previously built virtual reconstruction of the Holy Monastery, deepening the possibilities of representation and visualization of these results. And at this stage, the research was conducted by the Department of Historical Informatics in conjunction with the Laboratory of Mathematical Support for Simulation Dynamic Systems (MOIDS) of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. As an additional opportunity to "immerse yourself" in the historical past, historical panoramas have been created for use on a tablet or smartphone. It became possible to study the historical buildings of Strastnaya Square and the monastery using VR/AR and the first version of reconstruction, when previously existing elements of historical buildings "grew" on the site of today's urban landscape. A virtual reality helmet developed at Moscow State University and special means of tracking user movements, working in conjunction with a panoramic virtual reality system, allow for a virtual tour of the center of historical Moscow with the maximum possible degree of "immersion" in the historical urban environment. The results of the project are presented on the federal historical and documentary educational portal of the Russian Historical Society (RIO).

● The project "Formation of the banking capital market in the Russian Empire, 1874-1913: databases, statistical analysis, geoinformation technologies" was supported by a grant from the RFBR. (2016-2017). Head: Salomatina S.A. Research participants: Valetov T.Ya., Kulenkova E.A., Tuzhilina E.D., Frenkel O.I.

The project was devoted to the integration processes in the development of the banking markets of the Russian Empire from 1860 to 1914. Through the study of these processes, it is possible to assess the level of development of the country's financial system as a whole, its ability to contribute to economic development. Market integration is studied through the process of equalizing asset prices in different markets, in our case it was done through loan prices, or loan rates. The smaller this difference, the better resources are redistributed, the greater the contribution the banking system makes to economic development. The main result of the project is a statistically proven process of equalization and reduction of credit rates in Russia from 1874 to 1913. With a steady decrease in the spread measures, the average rates were 9.3% in 1874; 7.8% in 1897; 7.6% in 1913. The integration processes took place against the background of a significant expansion of banking markets, growth and democratization of the clientele, although they were still far from completion.

● The project "History and Statistics of Russia's Foreign Trade, 1897-1916" was supported by a grant from the Russian National Science Foundation. (2016-2017). Head: Valetov T.Ya.

The results of the project include a description of a new Internet resource containing detailed data on the statistics of foreign trade of the Russian Empire for the specified period. The resource contains spreadsheets on the size of exports and imports over a given period, and in some parameters over a longer period. In particular, for the first time, consolidated dynamic series on the amount of foreign trade with all registered countries and regions for the entire registration period (since 1827) have been compiled. The problems of the source are being investigated. The statistical data published in the project are described in detail, the structure of the tables presented on the site is considered. The creation of this digital project is the initial stage in the preparation of the publication of the summary statistics of foreign trade of the Russian Empire. These statistics were published annually, and their study requires reference to dynamic series.

● The project "Historical Science in the context of the Digital Turn: Information Technology and Current Research Practices" was supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. (2017-2019). Head A.Y.Volodin.

The project explored the methodological possibilities of digital transformation in modern historical research. Based on the approach to research practices as primitives, the analysis of online research on the international DiMPO model (Digital Methods, Practices and ontologies) was carried out. Modern approaches to the definition of research practices are considered, and the data collected in the framework of online research on which electronic resources and how historians use them at this stage are systematized. The considered problem of the practical use of electronic resources and new digital practices arising from them requires the close attention of historians, primarily from the point of view of source studies, because it is necessary to give a balanced assessment and formulate principles that researchers can use when accessing digital formats (files) and electronic copies of historical sources. At the same time, from a methodological point of view, an empirically based classification of technologies and tools is being formed that allow using the full potential of modern online technologies and data storage formats in the context of datafication trends.

● The project "The role of commercial banks and railways in the development of trade in agricultural goods in Russia in the second half of the XIX century (according to statistical and cartographic sources of the Central Chernozem region)" was supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (2018 - 2019). Head: Salomatina S.A. Research participants: Garskova I.M., Parfiriev D.S., Valetov T.Ya., Ivakin V.Ya.

The project examines the impact of the infrastructure of the service sector (commercial banks and railways) on the economic development of the agrarian region of the Russian Empire in the second half of the XIX century. This issue is analyzed using the example of the Central Chernozem region, where long periods of unfavorable economic conditions were observed at that time. For the research, a new array of archival and published sources on commercial banks, railway transportation of agricultural goods and on the harvest of major grain crops was created. Special attention was paid to statistical and cartographic sources. The project uses correlation analysis, network and geoinformation analysis, as well as analysis of visual sources. As a result, it is concluded that in the Central Chernozem region as a whole, in 1874-1901, agricultural production, transportation of agricultural products and bank loans related to agriculture were quite closely interrelated. At the same time, the situation varied in different regions: there were territories with a sufficiently developed infrastructure (Oryol province on the Riga-Oryol highway to the western borders), areas with insufficient density of the railway network (Kursk and Voronezh provinces), as well as areas where it was not possible to create a banking system to the extent that it became noticeable its participation in the maintenance of a significant flow of goods (Ryazan and Tambov provinces on the Ryazan-Ural highway and adjacent branches of transportation from the east to Moscow, as well as Tula province). In addition, the rapid growth of credit throughout the Central Chernozem region in the 1890s lagged behind the growth in the intensity of railway traffic, creating a feeling of lack of credit in agricultural areas among contemporaries.

● The project "Spatial reconstruction of the historical landscape of the White City of Moscow of the XVI - XVIII centuries. (using modern information technologies)"supported by an RFBR grant. (2019 – 2020). Head: Borodkin L.I. Research participants: Zherebyatyev D.I., Trishin I.G., Mironenko M.S.

In the course of solving the tasks of the multidisciplinary project, a research source base was formed, the collected material was digitized, and its comparative source analysis was carried out. Digital technologies are used in the project for the virtual reconstruction of the historical landscape of the White City and the main (dominant) elements of its development of the XVI - XVIII centuries, as well as to create immersive VR effects of "immersion" of the user into the recreated virtual environment. The virtual reconstruction of the historical landscape of the White City proposed for the first time makes it possible to assess the role of the anthropogenic factor, to identify the influence of expanding urban development on the evolution of its relief and dominant buildings. Based on the state of the sources, the second half of the XVIII century is taken as the main time slice in the created reconstructions, however, in a number of cases, earlier slices are also considered. Based on the formed source database, the following tasks were solved: creation of a database on materials on the structures of the studied territory of the White City; creation of a virtual reconstruction of the relief of the studied territory of the White City; creation of a virtual reconstruction of the dominant objects of the historical development of the White City (Ivanovsky Monastery, temples, chambers, buildings of urban estates); placement (coordinate reference) of reconstructed objects on the recreated relief; placement of the historical parcel of the White City on the recreated relief. The features of the relief were carefully taken into account during the construction of the virtual reconstruction of the Ivanovo Monastery, the main dominant object (ensemble) on the territory of the White City, located on Ivanovskaya Hill. The created visualization of 3D models of the monastery buildings and the entire complex as a whole reproduces the appearance of the monastery of the XVIII century, which radically changed after the Patriotic War of 1812. The department's website presents a digital resource created based on the results of the project (including the possibility of a virtual tour of the territory of the XVIII century White City).

● The project "Evolution of commercial banks of the Russian Empire, 1860-1913: new concepts, data, methods" was supported by the RFBR grant (2020 – 2022). Head: Salomatina S.A. Responsible executor: Garskova I.M. Research participants: Bozhinov A.B., Valetov T.Ya., Ivakin V.Ya.

In this project, work was carried out in five directions. Firstly, the 19th century discourse on the underdeveloped Russian banking culture was analyzed. However, from a modern point of view, these texts of the 19th century are based on the theory of credit, which in the 20th century was rejected as false, so the estimates contained in these texts need to be adjusted. Secondly, an attempt was made to look at the Soviet historiography of financial capital from the point of view of modern science. As a result, it is concluded that those phenomena that were called "financial capital" in Soviet historiography are interpreted in modern literature as the specifics of managing mass dispersed joint—stock property in the historical conditions of the late XIX - early XX centuries, when banks were much better suited to ensure companies' links with financial markets than other financial intermediation institutions. Thirdly, the influence of the entire system of commercial banks on the economic growth of the Russian Empire in 1860-1913 was studied. For this purpose, a new complete collection of data on loans, deposits and assets of all banks of this type has been created. Based on the results of the regression analysis, it is concluded that the country's banking system was one of the factors of economic growth, although not the only one and not decisive. Fourth, a special section of the project was devoted to the crisis of the 1880s, the most serious in the history of Russian banks. To clarify its reasons, there was not enough data on the operations of all city public banks and mutual credit societies in the 1880s. However, now such a data set has been created in this project. His analysis showed that the reduction of the city's banking system was particularly sharp and deep. The reasons for this were accumulated bad loans, weak financial stability and lack of proper control by the city duma and the Ministry of Finance. Fifth, the dynamics of commodity and money flows of the Russian Empire from the 1860s to the 1890s was analyzed using statistical, network and geoinformation analysis based on the statistics of commercial transfers of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. As a result, the existence of the highest (redistributing) segment of the payment network (the "double star" of St. Petersburg and Moscow), the reorientation of regional flows in the 1870s for commodity export to the west via the main railway network and, the opposite process, the strengthening of commodity and money turnover at close distances (development "locally") in the 1890s .

● The project "The role of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the development of infrastructure, economy and socio-demographic potential of the eastern regions of Late Imperial Russia" was supported by a grant from the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) (2021-2022). Head: Borodkin L.I. Research participants: Garskova I.M., Valetov T.Ya. Aletkina E.Yu., Zyuzin K.A., Mironenko M.S.

The analytical part of the project work was related to the analysis of the process of developing the Trans-Siberian Railway construction plan and its implementation, the development of infrastructure, economy and socio-demographic potential of Siberia and the Far East The development of foreign trade with China (at the beginning of the twentieth century). The little-studied aspects of resettlement activity, which intensified in 1900 – 1903, when the focus of attention in the work of the KSR shifted to the implementation of resettlement policy, are investigated. An important component of the project was the creation of a cartographic Web resource "Trans-Siberian Railway" and the development of a three-dimensional digital map of the Trans-Siberian Railway. A new direction of using 3D modeling technologies in the project was the virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage sites represented in the infrastructure of the Trans-Siberian Railway at the beginning of the twentieth century. According to the annual issues of the Statistical Collection of the Ministry of Railways, the weather dynamics of passenger traffic on the Siberian Railway, the Trans-Baikal Railway, and the Ussuri Railway in 1902-1914 were reconstructed.

The created online GIS allows you to work in several modes – interactive, tabular (with a description of the source database), as well as in the modes of editing information in the cloud storage database or in a limited data input or download mode. A set of vector and raster data is used, transformed to work in a modern coordinate system: historical maps and diagrams, satellite images in the form of mosaics and fragments of images obtained through available geoservices (Google, Yandex, Bing). Digital layers are also available, generated and edited based on digitization of historical and modern maps of different scales. The department's website presents a digital resource created based on the results of the project.

● The project "The evolution of income and property inequality in Russia: from the Great Reforms to the "Great Turning Point" in the regional dimension (statistical and geoinformation analysis)" supported by a grant from the Russian Academy of Sciences. (2021-2022). Head: Borodkin L.I. Research participants: Garskova I.M. Aletkina E.Yu., Mironenko M.S.

The project has contributed to the ongoing debate over the past decades about the degree of economic inequality in late Imperial Russia and in Soviet Russia during the NEP years. The emphasis was placed on a comparative analysis of estimates of the differentiation of income and property of the population in the regional context and in various sectors of the economy, in various social groups. The source base included relevant data for Siberia, the Urals, the Central Asian Republic and the country as a whole. These data covered statistical materials on the salaries of workers and employees in leading industries, transport, and agriculture. Decile coefficients, Gini index values and other measures of inequality were used. In particular, comparative estimates of the wage differentiation of industrial workers in Russia before the First World War, in 1914-1916 and during the NEP years were obtained in research on the project. It is shown that the policy of regulating the wages of industrial workers in the 1920s was carried out in general in accordance with the course of its equalization, in the conditions of a certain confrontation between economic authorities and trade unions. The degree of differentiation of wages of industrial workers during the NEP was significantly lower than in the pre-war period (and during the First World War), and at the same time it decreased in the second half of the 1920s. The results obtained were compared with historiographical estimates of economic inequality. The department's website presents a digital resource created based on the results of the project.

● "Virtual reconstruction of historical estate complexes in the Moscow region". This is a joint project of the Main Archival Department of the Moscow Region and the Faculty of History of Moscow State University within the framework of a cooperation agreement. (2016-2024). Head: L.I. Borodkin. Participants: D.I. Zherebyatyev, M.S. Mironenko, students and postgraduates of the department: D.I. Kondrasheva, S.A. Korsakov, E.O. Korsakova, T.V. Malandina, S.A. Mamonova, D.A. Pimonova, S.A. Poshevelya, A.P. Saloid, K.E. Sorokina, A.O. Soloviev, I.G. Trishin, A.O. Khalkechova et al.

The main objective of the project is to create virtual reconstructions of ruined historical estates near Moscow in the XVIII – early XX centuries. using modern 3D modeling technologies, based on archival materials. Archivists of the Moscow region assist students of the Moscow State University Faculty of History in identifying, selecting and issuing electronic copies of design and restoration documentation and text documents to recreate the authentic appearance of historical estates of the Moscow region in a three-dimensional environment. Special attention in each of the works of the project is paid to the source analysis, as well as the reconstruction of the history of the estate and its owners. By 2024, work has been completed on the creation of virtual reconstructions of 12 estates of the XVIII – early XX centuries, half of which are objects of cultural heritage of federal or regional significance. According to the results of the project, students published 10 articles in journals from the list of the Higher Attestation Commission. The department's website presents a digital resource created based on the results of the project.

In most cases, a problem-oriented digital resource is formed on the basis of a completed project, which may include various datasets: statistical materials, texts, cartographic materials (including GIS maps), visualization results of virtual reconstructions of historical and cultural heritage objects, etc. At the same time, we are talking about both the original source materials and the research results presented on the department's website (http://www.hist.msu.ru/Departments/Inf/activity.htm ). At the moment, this is a collection of thematic digital resources; the immediate task is to create an information system that combines them into a single resource. Thus, the task of recycling these digitized materials will be solved, and open access to them will be provided.

Concluding the topic of the interdisciplinary direction of the department's work, we will mention the participation of its staff in the work of the interdisciplinary scientific and educational schools of Moscow University. Over the past seven years, L.I. Borodkin, D.I. Zherebyatyev and M.S. Mironenko (as well as a number of graduate students and undergraduates of the department) have been participating in the work of the NOSH "Mathematical Methods of analysis of complex systems", as part of one of the strategic projects: "Mathematical and software technologies of virtual and mixed reality". The work is being carried out on the basis of the VR Center of Moscow State University, which was opened with the participation of the Faculty of History (consisting of five faculties of Moscow State University), M.S. Mironenko is the responsible executive of the VR Center of Moscow State University (https://vrmsu.ru /) (https://vrmsu.ru/proekt/istoricheskaya-rekonstrukcziya-landshafta-belogo-goroda-moskvy /) The staff of the department develops a methodology for the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies in historical and cultural research, museum practice, and the popularization of the history of science. In 2020-2024, more than 20 presentations reflecting the results of this work were presented at various venues.

It should be noted that the popularization of the achievements of historical informatics is one of the applied areas of the department's work. Over the course of 10 years, more than 60 performances have been made within the framework of various radio and television programs, on digital media platforms, on the pages of newspapers and magazines.

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Looking into the foreseeable future of our scientific field (in the horizon of the next decade), it seems that this future is positive, the demand for historical informatics should increase both in terms of expanding the possibilities of historical informatics in the space of historical science and in terms of interdisciplinary training of our students (in the process of further digital transformation of science and education). The approaches to the development of scientific and educational projects of the department will continue to be based on the principle of the fundamental nature of scientific knowledge and focus on the training of historical analysts capable of effective work in changing conditions, in a new digital environment.

The author is grateful to colleagues, employees of the Department of Historical Informatics of the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University, who provided detailed information about research projects supported by grants and conducted under their supervision.