Abstract: The article discusses topical issues of the development of methodological tools of historical research in the light of the “digital turn”. The current agenda is formed today in the framework of international conferences and round tables. In the first part of the article the authors characterize the interdisciplinary discussion that took place at the Helsinki conference in 2019. The discussion focused on the role of digital data and tools in historians' research practices and forms of cooperation. Special attention is paid to the question of the extent to which the “digital turn” affects the fundamental aspects of historical research and its results. In the second part of the article it is noted that the answer to this question can be obtained through concrete historical research projects. The characteristic of a number of the latest works of Russian and foreign historians using digital resources and technologies in concrete historical research is given.

Abstract: Russian quantitative history studies began in the 1960s when historians started to use mathematical methods and computers. Those activities contributed to the establishment of the Commission on application of mathematical methods and computers in historical research at the Department of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1968. So, this event initiated by I. Kovalchenko, the future academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, marks the 50th anniversary of Russian quantitative history. The article, written for the column "Editor-in-Chief", through the prism of the materials of this issue of the journal describes current trends in historical information science, which origin was largely due to the experience of computer applications in the quantitative history studies. New approaches are characterized in the application of technologies of virtual and augmented reality creating 3D reconstructions of historical and cultural heritage. The new trend is software modules development aimed at providing validation of virtual reconstructions in historical and archeological studies. New approaches to the study of spatial aspects are developed using GIS technologies in combination with the analysis of narrative sources.
 

Abstract: The second 2017 issue of Historical Information Science journal is characterized. The main sections of the issue are presented. These are “Databases and Data Retrieval Systems”, “Quantitative History”, “Digital Resources”, “Information Technologies in Archives and Museums”, “Information Technologies in Historical Education”. The basic content of the articles is analyzed. Emphasis is laid on the articles describing the use of geoinformation systems in historical studies. The authors of these articles emphasize the necessity to modernize opportunities of spatial historical processes dynamics analysis on the basis of GIS-technologies. In this respect, they suggest the use of available GIS-packages as well as their own software. The editorial board plans to publish at least two issues of the journal and focus on research in this domain in one of them. The second issue is likely to address the analysis of historical texts based on modern software application.