International Scientific Conference "Modern Historical Informatics: Data Analytics in Historical Research" (XIX Conference of the Association "History and Computer")

Vladimirov Vladimir Nikolayevich ORCID: 0000-0002-0555-4999 Doctor of History Professor; Department of National History; Altai State University 61 Lenin Ave., room 312, Barnaul, Altai Territory, 656049, Russia vvladimirov@icloud.com Other publications by this author     Volodin Andrei Yurievich PhD in History Associate Professor; Department of Historical Informatics; Lomonosov Moscow State University Head; Digital Humanities Research Institute of Siberian Federal University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Lomonosovsky Prospekt, 27, room 4, office G-323 volodin@hist.msu.ru Other publications by this author

Garskova Irina Markovna Doctor of History Associate Professor; Department of Historical Informatics; Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Lomonosovsky ave., 27-4, Shuvalovsky building of Moscow State University, office G423 irina.garskova@gmail.com Other publications by this author

From November 15 to 17, 2024, the International Scientific Conference "Modern Historical Informatics: Data Analytics in Historical Research" (XIX Conference of the Association "History and Computer") was held in Moscow, on the basis of the Presidential Academy (RANEPA). The title of the conference reflected the strengthening of the role and importance of data, as well as methods of their analysis in historical research, on the one hand, and the further strengthening of data Science On the other hand, as a system–forming factor of interdisciplinarity. Consideration of the features of historical data and the formation of approaches to their analysis using the methods of exact sciences and modern digital technologies are important tasks of historical informatics. At the same time, as the conference showed, the priority in the development of historical informatics remains the same – it is an orientation towards increasing knowledge in various fields of historical science.

The Association "History and Computer" (AIC) was established in 1992 and unites researchers (teachers, researchers, graduate students, students, independent researchers) who apply mathematical methods and digital technologies in historical research. Recently, the Association was re-registered and changed its name, which in its modern version reads as follows: "Association of Researchers in the field of Historical Informatics "History and Computer", retaining the former abbreviation AIK. The current, 19th conference was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Academician I. D. Kovalchenko, who created the national school of quantitative history and had a great influence on the formation of modern historical source studies, and the 20th anniversary of the first Department of Historical Informatics in Russia (Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University).

The conference addressed the problems of processing historical source data in the light of data science, methods of computerized analysis of textual, statistical and geodata, the creation of digital historical resources, the use of digital technologies in professional historical education, etc. Within the framework of the conference, two plenary and 19 breakout sessions of eight thematic sections were held, at which over 110 were represented. presentations from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan; a panel discussion "Historical informatics and the challenge of machine learning: what is the future of historical science in the world of artificial intelligence?" and a round table "Topical issues of historical informatics" were held.

The conference was held in a mixed format: many of its participants chose online participation. This did not prevent a full-fledged exchange of views, which was largely due to the good technical capabilities of the classrooms provided to the conference participants. And the number of speakers and listeners present "live" was sufficient for full-fledged discussions in the classrooms and on the sidelines of the scientific event.

A special website was created for the convenience of the conference participants (https://aik2024.tilda.ws ) with full information about the main directions of the conference, the organizational and program committees, and the venue. The program and abstracts of the conference reports were also displayed here.

Before the first plenary session, the Vice-rector of the Presidential Academy, A. A. Azarov, and the Director of the Institute of Social Sciences, P. E. Golosov, as well as the Honorary President of the History and Computer Association, L. I. Borodkin, and the Vice-President of the AIC, V. N. Vladimir.

The first plenary session traditionally featured scientific reports reflecting the achievements and trends in the development of historical informatics in the two years since the previous, 18th AIC Conference ^[1], outlining new tasks and directions for further progress in this interdisciplinary field. There were five such reports presented at the last conference.

The meeting was opened by a report by Yu. Yumasheva (Moscow) "Electronic historical sources: yesterday, today, tomorrow". The report noted that electronic historical sources (EII) have become a reality. The author has given several definitions of EII from the standpoint of various scientific disciplines, and revealed the differences between EII and traditional "analog" sources. It is noted that changes in the theory and practice of source studies and research methodology are becoming inevitable.

By L. I. Borodkin (Moscow), V. N. Vladimirovs (Barnaul) and I. M. Garskova (Moscow) presented the report "The evolution of economic inequality in Russia from the Great Reforms to the Great Turning Point: data analytics, a digital resource of the project", which discussed the results of a research project devoted to the analysis of the dynamics of income inequality in Russia during the years of pre-revolutionary industrialization and NEP. As a result of the project, a digital thematic resource was created.

Report by D. V. Didenko, V. V. Popova, R. B. Konchakova (Moscow) "Methods and results of data analysis from statistical sources on the formation of human capital in the late Russian Empire" is based on the theory of human capital that emerged at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, when the role of man began to be rethought in connection with the radical expansion of the intangible production sector. The results of the research conducted by the Center for Interdisciplinary Human Potential Research were presented. It is concluded that under the "modern" economic growth regime, the accumulation of human capital is faster than physical capital.

A. A. Kolganov (Moscow) made a presentation on "The evolution of the use of artificial intelligence in the General Assembly of the Russian Federation: 2021-2024." The speaker focused on the problems of using artificial intelligence to analyze archival documents. The experience of the State Archive of the Russian Federation in creating appropriate tools is analyzed, the results and prospects of this activity in recent years are considered. Examples of solving some problems using artificial intelligence created in the General Staff of the Russian Federation were demonstrated.

Report by V. N. Maslov, E. V. Baranova, V. A. Vereshchagin (Kaliningrad) "Three-dimensional reconstruction of the Konigsberg routes by Immanuel Kant: the results of the project" was dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great philosopher. As part of this project, the exterior of the buildings of Konigsberg at the end of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX century was visualized. A 3D reconstruction of the Kant house and almost 100 buildings nearby was carried out, including the creation of a model of the Konigsberg Castle. A virtual sightseeing route has been created, passing through the streets where most of the buildings from the time of Kant have not been preserved, they are completely modeled within the route. The work under the project continues.

Thus, the plenary reports reflected a significant part of the most rapidly developing areas of historical informatics, including new approaches to source studies, methods of data science and statistical data analysis, artificial intelligence issues, and three-dimensional modeling of historical and cultural heritage sites.

An important event of the conference was the expert discussion "Historical Informatics and the challenge of machine learning: what is the future of historical science in the world of artificial intelligence?", moderated by A. Yu. Volodin and R. B. Konchakov prepared the following questions:

1. Can historical science ignore the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools?

2. How does AI change the way it treats the source?

3. Is it acceptable to use generative AI in the text of historical research?

4. Can we predict that the historian of the future is an AI specialist?

5. What new horizons does AI open up for exploring the past?

The invited experts were L. I. Borodkin, Honorary President of the AIC, Head of the Department of Historical Informatics at Moscow State University, P. V. Kolozaridi, Director of the DH Center and academic director of the Master's degree program "Digital Methods in Humanitarian Research" at ITMO University, Director and co-founder of ANO Information Culture, one of the leading Russian experts in the field of open data, author of the project "National Digital Archive of Russia" I. V. Begtin, graduate student of the Department of Historical Informatics at Moscow State University, one of the winners of the Contest of scientific publications of young scientists "Neural networks and their application in scientific research" I. N. Galushko.

L. I. Borodkin noted that it is impossible to deny the fact that many people use generative networks to work, including with historical material. But if it is ethical to do this, then in this case it is necessary to indicate GPT models as co-authors, as, for example, this has already been done in some highly rated scientific journals. L. I. Borodkin called the increasing penetration of GPT into the work of students a threat to the collective national intelligence, because it is difficult and hardly possible to persuade students not to use chatbots. When asked whether the historian of the future would be an AI specialist, L. I. Borodkin replied negatively: if we take a large history department as an example, then, at least today, the proportion of those who want to use AI should not be estimated at more than 10%, but perhaps the situation will change in the near future. According to L. I. Borodkin, the question of the horizons of AI cannot yet be answered definitively, primarily because there is still no critical mass of historical research using AI that at least outlines the real range of possibilities for such applications and future changes.

P. V. Kolozaridi, reflecting on whether historical science can ignore the appearance of AI-based tools, believes that any science creates tools in two ways. First, machines learn from what we know, and then this knowledge is incorporated into our cognitive apparatus. There is no apparent reason why this would not happen with generative artificial intelligence, which differs little from the methodological approaches known to us in the sense that it is a set of sequentially executed operations. However, it is important to keep in mind that most of the current models are based on linguistic principles rather than historical ones. And in this sense, P. V. Kolozaridi emphasized, it is necessary to clarify the definition of what constitutes data and algorithms in historical science, because this may not be at all identical to the definition of data and algorithms, for example, in popular generative models. No one has canceled epistemic conflicts, it would be very interesting to look at historical models based on historical approaches to the source, data, and research procedures.

I. V. Begtin suggested looking at the issues of discussion from the point of view of a specialist in data engineering, and a similar view from data science requires a reformulation of the first question: in what form will historical science exist after the advent of artificial intelligence tools? Technological changes can dramatically change professions when it comes to science. I. V. Begtin proposed to look at history in three aspects: educational, cultural and political. Artificial intelligence provides answers by learning from open data. Obviously, all the variety of texts that exist today and are used to teach language models are only partially relevant, but many of them are historical (in the broadest sense of the word). All modern models, including models of national "champions" (BEAC, Yandex), are still limited in the number of materials in Russian. And the key issue today is the opening of repositories, archives and libraries, including for teaching language models.

I. N. Galushko addressed the specific problems of using artificial intelligence in historical research, including taking into account the "domain shift" of language models into modern texts and, as a result, the need to train language models based on historical materials. It is important to look for fields of AI applicability in solving meaningful concrete historical problems. In this case, the use of AI can be divided into four tasks: regression, classification, clustering and generation. The first three tasks have a long tradition of being solved within the framework of cliometrics and quantitative history. It is likely that in the near future it will be machine learning approaches that will strengthen and expand the applicability of such seemingly familiar methods. It is interesting to test how modern models of neural networks and gradient boosting will allow us to obtain useful results and improve previous models.

Y. Y. Yumasheva joined the discussion, noting that historical science is a complex structure, and when talking about the introduction of AI into history, it is necessary to determine which "part" of it to implement. It is a mistake to assume that historians study texts, whereas they study historical sources from which it is really possible to extract data that may be far from just textual. Of the stages of classical historical research, only two stages can take advantage of the successes of data science – data extraction and analytical processing, everything else – neither the formulation of a hypothesis, nor the study of historiography, nor even writing a text – does not fit into the current possibilities of the applicability of AI in scientific research.

The discussion confirmed the ambiguity of opinions and assessments about the possibilities of using artificial intelligence technologies in historical science and education and demonstrated that we are at the very beginning of this path, which may take sharp turns and a complete reassessment of values. At the same time, it is clear that the problems discussed in the near future will be one of the "boiling points" in science, including in historical computer science.

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Breakout sessions traditionally take up most of the time at AIC conferences. For more than 30 years, the main research directions in the field of historical informatics have developed, while an important feature of this interdisciplinary scientific field is its rapid response to new phenomena and trends. In accordance with this, 8 sections were planned, covering the entire range of research – from quantitative research to Data Science and artificial intelligence methods. Interestingly, this time, for the first time, the section of historical geoinformatics became the leader in the number of reports submitted, a direction that has been steadily and rapidly developing for almost 30 years.

Section "Concepts of quantitative history: statistical sources, data, methods" were led by S. A. Bakanov, V. N. Vladimirov, Candidate of Historical Sciences S.A. Salomatina. It was one of the longest in terms of time and the most visited in terms of the simultaneous presence of online and offline audiences. During one working day of the conference, 20 reports were heard at four of its in-session meetings. Institutionally, the vast majority of reports (18 out of 20) were prepared by representatives of university science. The leaders in this regard were the traditional centers for the development of historical informatics – Lomonosov Moscow State University (5 reports) and Altai State University (3 reports), as well as the university that co–organized and hosted the entire conference, the RANEPA Presidential Academy (3 reports). Besides them, the Russian State University of Economics, St. Petersburg State University, MGIMO University, Tambov and Chelyabinsk State Universities, the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as two universities from the Republic of Kazakhstan were represented in the section. Four reports were made by young scientists from among graduate and undergraduates.

All 20 reports were devoted to the problems of the history of Russia and the USSR. The chronology of the reports covered the period from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 21st century. At the same time, more than half of the reports (12) focused on the pre-revolutionary period, which indicates the continued relevance of topics related to the post-reform development of the Russian Empire. The main focus of the speakers was on topics and plots related to economic and social history. At the same time, the key topic of discussion was the source problems of the study, the availability, adequacy and relevance of statistical data, as well as difficulties in their collection and processing. The section raised issues of banking, stock exchange, transport, customs, finance, budget, land, labor, educational and medical statistics.

Methodologically, the reports were combined by a common quantitative approach, involving the active use of both traditional statistical methods (from dynamic series analysis to regression models) and techniques that are quite new to historical science, such as building models of human capital development, using the theory of self–organized criticality, coefficient analysis of the budget system, or the author's methodology for identifying the continuity of design thinking. Judging by the length of the discussion, the greatest interest of the participants was aroused by the reports of E. A. Danilova (Moscow) on zemstvo medicine and access to medical care, D. V. Didenko (Moscow) on the results of assessing the amount of education funding in the Russian Empire, V. N. Vladimirova and K. P. Pribytkova (Barnaul) on the differentiation of wages for workers and employees in Siberia in the 1920s and 1930s, S. A. Bakanova (Chelyabinsk) on monetary circulation in the USSR in the 1940s and 1980s, Yu. V. Kuzmina (Moscow) on the dependence and independence of design schools in the aircraft industry. The work of the section showed the undying interest of the scientific historical community in statistical data, quantitative estimates, methods of analysis and information technologies.

The section "Methods of computerized analysis of texts of historical sources" (led by I. M. Garskova and S. V. Shpirko) heard seven reports, most of which were presented by young scientists.

The work of the section showed that the field of text analysis is dominated by the tradition of using computerized content analysis programs, primarily on press materials. Several reports presented the results of the analysis of Soviet newspapers. Thus, the study of the transformation of the historical narrative in the Kaliningrad press during the period of perestroika was the aim of the work of A.V. Sayenko (Kaliningrad). Based on the materials of historical publications in the newspapers Kaliningradskaya Pravda and Kaliningradsky Komsomolets, the Maxqda program analyzed the dynamics of mentioning countries and personalities, showed the specifics of the local press, its difference from the central press in the period under study – Kaliningrad periodicals mainly refer to the pre-war past of the region.

K. M. Bogacheva (Petrozavodsk) analyzed the vocabulary of twinning in the context of sociolinguistics based on the materials of Karelian newspapers from 1960 to 1980. using the Sketch Engine program, designed for corpus research of electronic collections of texts. The changes in socio-political vocabulary have been studied, characterizing the impact of new terms on mass consciousness through newspapers, which were not only a source of information, but also a tool for shaping public opinion, where vocabulary played the role of an instrument of political influence. One of the interesting results was the highest frequency of the term "friendship", in contrast to the emotionally neutral term "twin brother", which may indicate its artificial introduction into the language in line with the propaganda strategy of the USSR aimed at creating a positive image of the country.

The report by A. A. Beklyamisheva (Moscow) was devoted to the content analysis of the large-circulation newspaper "Soviet Physicist" of the I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy (IAE) for the period from 1967 to 1991. The source provides a lot of information about the cultural life and the formation of the unique cultural environment of the institute in different historical periods. An important aspect of the study is the analysis of the degree of ideological control in the cultural sphere, as well as the level of interrelation between the activities of the House of Culture and ideological work among the staff.

A comparative computerized content analysis of the memoirs of GULAG prisoners and the censored camp press using the Maxqda program was presented in the report by K. A. Zingis (Moscow). The key difference between these sources is that memoirs are personal testimonies that are free from censorship, while newspaper articles serve as an instrument of ideological propaganda. An important component of this study is the methodological component – the assessment of the effectiveness of measuring the interrelationships of lexical units for different types of texts.

The second group of reports demonstrated the possibilities of analyzing medieval texts using modern information technologies and analytical methods. V. P. Bogdanov (Moscow) devoted his report to determining the functions of old–print Cyrillic editions of the late XV-XVIII centuries based on the records deposited on their copies. This study is based on an extensive database containing 17,164 entries made on 5,125 copies of 1,370 Cyrillic editions from the 1490s to 1800.. The division of publications into 6 categories, their statistical analysis and analytical interpretation of the results, appealing to the context of the era under study, make it possible to present the structure and functions of old-print literature, its cultural and educational role in the Russian state.

A report on the prospects of using quantitative methods in the research of Ancient Russian chronicles was made by K. P. Kostomarova (Moscow). The study is based on the Kiev Chronicle, one of the most important sources on the history of the East Slavic language and culture. The author uses network analysis to study the intertextual connections between characters, which provides interesting results about the structure of complex social interactions in ancient Russian society and calls into question some traditional ideas about power and influence.

A report by S. V. Shpirko (Moscow), who develops methods of computer textology, was also devoted to medieval texts. The report examined the basics of the author's complex of methods of intellectual text analysis based on the concept of fuzzy sets for the genealogical classification of ancient Russian texts. The application of the proposed approaches seems promising in solving complex problems related to the use of artificial intelligence in poorly formalized areas.

The work of the section showed that in the field of computerized text analysis, the source base is expanding and methods are being improved, and the approaches of linguists and historians are of mutual interest.

The Historical Geoinformatics Section gathered researchers from 10 cities (Moscow, Barnaul, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, St. Petersburg, Tambov, Tver, Tomsk, Tyumen, Ufa). The section was led by Sh. D. Batyrbayeva, T. Ya. Valetov and Yu. V. Stepanova. 20 reports were heard, most of which were presented by full-time participants of the conference. The work of the section began with a minute of silence in memory of the deceased Doctor of Historical Sciences Alexei Anatolyevich Frolov, who was not only the president of the AIC, but also the undisputed leader in the field of historical geoinformatics in our country. Many speakers spoke of him as a specialist they had studied with and whose work they looked up to.

As the section leaders noted in their report, the chronology, topics, software used, and research methodology presented in the reports were very diverse. GIS reflecting the variety of forms of human interaction with the landscape during the Holocene epoch (V. M. Kostomarov, Tyumen), an electronic atlas on the history of land use in the forest–steppe zone of Russia of the XVII-XX centuries (V. V. Kanishchev and K. S. Kunavin, Tambov) were considered, a number of reports were devoted to the results of studying the land descriptions of Russia of the XVI–XVII centuries. (P. V. Gavrilov, Moscow, V. O. Bogdanov and L. B. Molotilov, Tver, Yu.V. Stepanova, Moscow, etc.). Interactive GIS resources prepared by A.M. Myasnikov (Novosibirsk), D. E. Sarafanov (Barnaul) and a group of Krasnoyarsk researchers from Siberian Federal University led by T. A. Katsina aroused great interest.. The reports also included an analysis of the geographical distribution of various objects, the results of mapping routes and events related to the activities of scientists and travelers, the typology of historical GIS, etc. Valetova (Moscow), devoted to the methodological problems of compiling a historical atlas of the administrative division of the USSR in the second half of the twentieth century.

Analyzing the composition of the participants and the topics of the reports, it should be noted that from conference to conference, historical geoinformatics is developing both by expanding issues, covering new territories and chronological periods, and by creating new approaches and methods for studying spatial patterns of historical phenomena and processes. The first way is still the predominant one, and this is largely due to the fact that a lot of scientific youth have come to historical geoinformatics, mastering and developing traditional approaches first of all. However, the same circumstance associated with a certain rejuvenation of the area under consideration, which has found a fairly vivid expression in the work of the section, also causes optimism. It seems that we are on the threshold of new projects and research focused on more advanced research methods.

The section "Digital technologies in the study and preservation of historical and cultural heritage, 3D reconstruction, VR/AR, virtual archeology", led by R. B. Konchakov and M. S. Mironenko, presented a number of fairly traditional reports by researchers from scientific, educational and public organizations in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Tashkent and other centers.. Along with this, there have been many studies involving new approaches to creating virtual reconstructions, including a marked increase in researchers' attention to the use of artificial neural networks.

In a report by D. I. Zherebyatyev and M. D. Tikeev (Moscow) on the implementation of a project to restore the lost appearance of the historical Ufa Kremlin at the end of the 17th century, including the wooden Ufa Kremlin, the first stone Smolensky Cathedral (with interior and exterior reconstruction), a three-tiered bell tower and other buildings, an expansion of traditional approaches was presented to create staffages using laser scanning technologies for people in traditional Bashkir costumes using the Polycam app on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Additionally, more than 15 panoramas for the VR helmet were prepared, on the basis of which a virtual tour of the Ufa fortress of the XVII – XVIII centuries was created.

M. S. Mironenko (Moscow) considered the possibilities of using neural networks to solve the problem of detailed polychrome reconstructions using the example of the entrance portals of the Chudov Monastery, decorative elements of drums and a number of other objects. The work used 3 types of neural networks that can refine and verify the study: generative – to create the texture of the material, analytical – to clarify the color of the object from preserved black-and-white photographs or drawings, Upscale–networks - to increase the resolution / clarity of objects presented in historical sources.

V. N. Maslov, E. V. Baranova and V. A. Vereshchagin (Kaliningrad) presented a project of virtual reconstruction of the world of Immanuel Kant, including his dwelling, the architectural appearance of Koenigsberg of the XVIII century, the streets he walked, and the people he met. As a result of the work, a VR route through Konigsberg at the end of the 18th century and a 3D film on the Unreal Engine platform were created. An unusual and one of the most difficult tasks of the project was the creation of virtual characters, including three groups: real historical figures, typical representatives of the era and people in the background. To recreate the images of real people, such as Immanuel Kant and Nikolai Karamzin, their lifetime portraits were studied. Typical representatives of the era were reconstructed on the basis of engravings, which required careful study of the details of clothing and the objects they used. The character models were created by a 3D sculptor using the ZBrush and CLO3D programs. The characters in the background, such as beggars and children, were created using the neural networks Midjourney and Fusion Brain.

E. E. Taktasheva (Moscow) in her research also set the task of virtual reconstruction of historical characters, in this case historical costumes (using the example of the owners of the chambers of the clerk of the embassy order E. I. Ukraintsev in the White City of Moscow of the XVII–XVIII centuries). The methodology of the work is based on a comprehensive analysis of textual, physical and visual sources, including portraits, descriptions and tissue samples. The methods of 3D reconstruction using the software Marvelous Designer, Blender and Unreal Engine 5 were used. The result of the study was a detailed reconstruction of the historical costumes and appearance of the owners of the chambers, integrated into a virtual model of the White City.

Applied research in the field of 3D modeling can relate not only to architectural monuments, but also to objects of industrial heritage. Thus, the research of A. A. Gasanov (Moscow) is devoted to a scientifically based virtual reconstruction based on the Baranchinsky Metallurgical Plant, founded in 1743 in the Middle Urals. Using photographs in combination with 3D modeling, as well as neural networks to recover color information from monochrome images opens up new possibilities for creating reliable virtual models.

Three-dimensional modeling allows you to recreate not only architectural objects, but also realistic interiors, including for museum exhibitions. The report by D. Y. Guk (St. Petersburg), A. S. Shotkarina, and N. O. Pikova (Krasnoyarsk) identified critical points in the general context of the museum space, using the example of the archaeological exposition in the Kutuzov corridor of the Winter Palace, and also suggested ways to eliminate them. The results of the 3D modeling include renderings of the Kutuzovsky Corridor space in 4K resolution in formats.PNG for images and .MP4 for video. The resulting high-quality visualizations can be used for presentations and publications.

A number of reports were devoted to methodological, methodological and technical problems of virtual reconstructions. Methodological issues of knowledge organization using cultural heritage ontologies based on the CIDOC CRM reference model were raised in the report by D. Y. Guk (St. Petersburg) and A. B. Antopolsky (Moscow). Methodological issues of 3D modeling were the focus of S. A. Korsakov's research (Moscow). The report examines the modern technology of creating dynamic models of lost or ruined objects of historical and cultural heritage - heritage building information modeling (H-BIM). H-BIM models consist of intelligent micro-objects that can be updated and adapted, integrated through the creation of databases, which facilitates the exchange of information between various software platforms and research projects. The report presented a reconstruction project for the lost buildings of the Sennitsa estate near Moscow based on a trial database of architectural elements.

A useful technical area is the development of 3D modeling hardware and software. For example, V. A. Mekhovsky and E. R. Khabarov (Krasnoyarsk) proposed an installation for automating photogrammetric photography using 3D printing technology and programming on the Arduino platform. The author's software and hardware complex is designed for use in museums, allowing to significantly simplify and accelerate the process of digitization of museum collections.

The wide variety of objects, methods, and technologies of virtual reconstruction has shown that there is no reason to talk about a decline in interest in 3D modeling.

The section "Digital technologies and resources in archives and museums", led by P. A. Kung and E. V. Bobrova, it turned out to be very rich and interesting: many reports provoked lively discussions. Six reports dealt with archival issues. Reports by representatives of VNIIDAD – P. A. Kunga and L. P. Afanasyeva were devoted to pressing theoretical and practical issues related to the problems of identifying electronic documents and organizing the transfer of such a specific type of electronic documents as state information systems to state storage. N. A. Ovchinnikova, an employee of the Vologda State Archive, told about a new information resource, unique for the archives of the Northwestern region, which was created and posted on the archive's website - an index of churches, which included all the churches found in the archive documents, geographically located in the Vologda province and adjacent Novgorod, Olonets, Yaroslavl provinces. Our colleague from Uzbekistan, Z. R. Ishankhodzhayeva, continued the topic of information resources by presenting a project based on archival documents on the evacuation to Tashkent during the Second World War and the Holocaust. From the point of view of researchers, the reports of young researchers P. A. Stepanova (Barnaul) and E. S. Smykova (St. Petersburg) were devoted to the study of information resources of state archives created on the Internet.

Two reports touched on museum issues. A very impressive report was given by A. B. Mityukova, an employee of the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve (St. Petersburg), who used open data from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (IS Goskatalog) to solve the problem of building an ontological model in order to describe the types of museum objects stored in the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve. Of great interest was the report by P. O. Senotrusova (Krasnoyarsk) on the Sibiriana network project, which touched upon the organizational aspects of interaction between volunteers creating an information resource and museums of the Krasnoyarsk Territory at various levels participating in the project.

The section "Databases, datasets, open data, information resources" (hosted by L. N. Mazur, Yu. Yu. Yumasheva) included 16 reports from participants from Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Barnaul, Tambov, where long-standing and successful centers of historical informatics are located, traditionally working with databases on demographic, historical, urban, prosopographic, family history topics. The main part of the reports described the sources, structure and functions of the created information resources, and their information potential. In addition to them, a number of reports of methodological importance were heard.

The work of the section was opened by a report by Yu. Yu. Yumasheva (Moscow), devoted to the problems of forming a research culture of working with electronic sources, the principles of analyzing created and used information resources – their completeness, reliability and representativeness, including such specific features of electronic sources as variability and multiplicity of versions, the possibility of referring to primary sources.

The experience of web archiving is analyzed in a report by E. V. Bobrova (Moscow). Using the example of the Archives of Russia portal, the author considered the possibilities of using the site, which was last updated in May 2011 and currently up to 90% of links to regional and national resources are not working.

The problems of "resuscitation" of databases created in the 1990s were revealed in a report by A. O. Solovyov (Moscow). As an object of research, the author used T. Owen's RUSCORP database with information on corporations of the Russian Empire, created in 1992. Among the problems of using retro databases were highlighted, firstly, the loss of information during the development of its structure, which requires additional input of necessary information, and secondly, the problem of converting the database into a modern format.

The report by A. V. Safonov (Yekaterinburg) caused a lively discussion about the expert reference system of Cyrillic books of the XVI–XX centuries created by him, the principles of its construction and sources of content. The system not only helps to attribute printed books, but also allows you to implement analytical tasks.

In general, if we summarize some of the results of the work of the section, it is necessary to state the trend of transition from the description of historical databases to the formulation of methodological and methodological problems of working with them. Databases are the most popular technology that has long been successfully used by historians when working with mass sources, which has contributed to the accumulation of experience not only in creating, but also in critically understanding the information product being created.

Another trend is related to the creation of more complex in structure and functions, multi-purpose information resources that claim to provide comprehensive historical research in the planned future, as well as their popularization in the Internet space. The implementation of such projects requires the cooperation of various specialists – historians, IT specialists, archivists, archaeographers.

In any case, the database is a secondary source (meta-source) that needs to be comprehensively evaluated. The most optimal option for the source analysis of the created database is a complete and critical description of all stages of its creation and modification, starting from assessing the reliability and completeness of the primary sources, substantiating the principles of their formalization and database design, and ending with a description of the methods for controlling the filling of the database. Such an analysis is aimed at assessing the authenticity of the information presented in the database – the main issue of working with digitized sources.

The section "Digital technologies in professional historical education and specialized educational programs" was led by L. I. Borodkin and A. Yu. Volodina, 6 reports were made at the meeting. L. I. Borodkin (Moscow) shared his experience of teaching a master's course on the problems of Data Science and artificial intelligence in historical research. D. I. Zherebyatyev (Moscow) presented modern possibilities of teaching 3D laser scanning of architectural monuments at the Moscow State University Faculty of History, including using neural networks in the tasks of digitization and reconstruction of lost cultural heritage sites. Volodin (Moscow) proposed an option for teaching Internet heuristics to historians in the situation of the spread of generative pre-trained transformers, drew attention to the differences that arise during the transition from the usual query to search engines to gpt-shaped solutions. L. N. Vodolazhskaya (Simferopol) spoke about the experience of cooperation between the Institute of Physics and Technology of the Crimean Federal University and the Institute of Archeology of the Crimea RAS by involving students who co-authored the report in the research work. S. V. Besedina (Voronezh) showed how it is possible to involve students in mathematical modeling methods in history, and this experience of students' research work in departmental universities aroused great interest. S. A. Merkulov (Tomsk) presented an initiative experience in teaching the discipline "Fundamentals of Computer Literacy" to the first year of the Faculty of Historical and Political Sciences of TSU; the proposed program the course aroused great interest. The section was held in a friendly atmosphere of enthusiastic didactic discussions.

The topic of the reports of the section "Data Science methods in historical research: data analytics, network analysis, artificial intelligence" (led by S. I. Kornienko and L. I. Borodkin) was related to the most relevant areas in the field of applying Data Science methods in historical research: neural network modeling; big data and machine learning; semantic network analysis. It should be noted at once that the authors of the reports on this topic are largely young scientists. Geographically, various regions were represented: Moscow, the European part of Russia, the Urals, Siberia. Most of these were university centers of historical informatics (Moscow State University, Novosibirsk, Perm, Tambov and Tomsk Universities).

The reports of I. N. Galushko (Moscow) on the use of large neural network language models for classifying historical documents and V. V. Latonov, A.V. Latonova (Moscow) on the use of machine learning methods to determine authorship once again confirmed the leadership of Moscow scientists and the Department of Historical Informatics of Moscow State University in such a relevant field today as the use of artificial intelligence in historical research. artificial intelligence and neural network modeling. The report of I. E. Rogaeva and N. V. is relevant (although not indisputable) from the point of view of the use of big data technology in historiographical research using the example of the analysis of modern foreign publications on the problems of historical temporality. Trubnikova (Tomsk).

A number of reports were devoted to the application of network analysis. These are the speeches of M. S. Shapovalov (Tyumen) "From a carriage to a steam locomotive: a network analysis of pilgrimage trips to Palestine"; P. Yu. Mingaleva (Tambov) "The network structure of the secular salon of A. V. Bogdanovich in 1900-1912"; A.A. Storozhenko (Kyzyl) "The experience of studying the resettlement of Old Believers of Yenisei Siberia in the 1920s and 1950s by methods of social network analysis". One of the reports heard at the section was devoted to the history of Russian computing technology. E. V. Zlobin (Moscow), based on documents and other evidence, highlighted the little–known history of the creation of a unique personal computer in the USSR.

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On the last day of the conference, according to established tradition, a round table, a final plenary session and a general meeting of the members of the Association "History and Computer" were held. The traditional round table "Topical issues of historical Informatics" was devoted this time to the teaching of disciplines related to historical informatics at Russian universities. It was noted that there is still only one full-fledged department of historical informatics in the country – at the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University, where a multi-stage system of bachelor's, master's and graduate students has developed. The speakers noted that so far no other university is able to provide such training. At the same time, students of history have a steady interest in the possibilities of processing historical sources using analytical methods and digital technologies. Many universities have quite a large number of training courses for them, however, they are carried out from different positions, and the level of teachers' qualifications differs. In this regard, proposals were made and accepted, along with the already traditional AIC winter seminars on teaching methods and technologies, to include special lectures and master classes for teachers of disciplines related to historical computer science in the program of the next summer schools.

The second plenary session summed up the results of the conference. Section leaders spoke at the event, noting the successful implementation of the conference program and general trends in the development of various areas of historical informatics. It was noted at the meeting that the current conference attracted a large number of young researchers, many of whom went through the summer school, which was held in 2024 for the fourth time. The conference participants noted that the current conference was a success and thanked the leadership of the Presidential Academy for the opportunity to host a scientific forum at this prestigious university. The results of the traditional competition of reports by young scientists were also summed up at the plenary session and diplomas were awarded.

The conference ended with a general meeting of AIC members, which was attended by the majority of the association's members, including those who participated in a remote format. The activities of the AIC members and its council were discussed and approved, and seminars and summer schools for young scientists were noted. Special attention was paid to the journal "Historical Informatics" (editor–in–chief - L. I. Borodkin, Deputy editor-in-chief - V. N. Vladimirov), who was included in the RSCI list just before the conference. The journal's policy related to the choice of the main directions of publication and the selection of articles turned out to be in line with modern trends and brought the journal among the leading historical publications in Russia.

The participants of the meeting honored the memory of our colleagues and comrades who passed away over the past 2 years – A.F. Oskin (Polotsk University), I.N. Kiselyov (VNIIDAD), T.F. Izmestyeva (Lomonosov Moscow State University), A.A. Frolov (Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

The last event related to the conference was the election of the President, vice-presidents and by-elections of three members of the AIC Council. Candidate of Historical Sciences E. A. Bryukhanova (Altai State University), Candidate of Historical Sciences Yu.V. Stepanova (Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Candidate of Historical Sciences I.G. Silina (National Center of Historical Memory under the President of Russia) were elected members of the AIC Council. Doctor of Historical Sciences V. N. was elected President of the AIC for the next 2 years. Vladimirov (Altai State University). The vice-presidents of the AIC were Candidate of Historical Sciences A. Yu. Volodin, Doctor of Historical Sciences I. M. Garskova (both from Lomonosov Moscow State University) and Candidate of Historical Sciences R. B. Konchakov (Presidential Academy).

It should be noted that the rhythm of the conference was very rigid and intense, and the rare free minutes, as usual, were occupied by colleagues from universities and scientific institutions in Russia and neighboring countries. This is a huge sea of information that has been circulating at the conference, and it remains to be understood and the necessary conclusions drawn. In general, the conference showed that historical informatics as an interdisciplinary scientific field is developing steadily and actively responding to all new trends in the development of science as a whole, while remaining a part of historical science, but using all possible methods and technologies as research tools to gain new knowledge.