III-rd International Summer School for Young Scholars in Historical Information Science: New Facets of Interdisciplinarity

Garskova Irina Markovna Doctor of History Associated professor, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119607, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Ramenki st., 31-253, Ramenki st., 31-253, of. Ramenki st., 31-253 irina.garskova@gmail.com Other publications by this author     Borodkin Leonid Iosifovich ORCID: 0000-0003-0422-1938 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, Moscow, Lomonosovsky ave., 27k4, of. G-454 borodkin-izh@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Volodin Andrei Yurievich ORCID: 0000-0001-9681-3214 PhD in History Associate Professor, Department of Historical Inforamation Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) 119991, Russia, Moscow, Lomonosovsky ave., 27k4, of. G-423 volodin@hist.msu.ru

Frolov Aleksei Anatol'evich ORCID: 0000-0003-2366-6545 Doctor of History Leading researcher, Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of Historical Geoinformatics Laboratory 119334, Russia, Moscow, ul. Leninsky ave., 32A, office 1405 npkfrolov@gmail.com

On June 29 - July 2, 2023, the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Association "History and Computer" held for the third time the international summer School of young scientists "Historical Informatics – 2023". The purpose of the School was to introduce participants to the latest trends in the development of the field of information / digital technologies and data analysis methods in historical research, to form a modern understanding of data and methods of their processing in the subject field of historical science.

The third School surpassed the previous two in terms of both enrollment and geographical coverage: more than a hundred students, postgraduates, and young scientists from research centers in Russia and three other countries registered to participate in the School.

At the opening of the School, L.S. Belousov, Dean of the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, A.A. Frolov, President of the Association "History and Computer", leading researcher of the IVI RAS and L.I. Borodkin, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the School, corresponding member of the RAS, Head of the Department addressed the participants with a welcoming speech historical informatics of the Historical Faculty of Moscow State University.

The School's program was implemented online and included four working days:
1. Lecture day (June 29), during which seven lectures were given on topical issues of historical informatics.
2. Days of master classes (June 30 - July 1), during which the participants of the school had the opportunity to master the methodology and software for data processing to solve various specific historical and source problems and get advice from teachers.
3. Conference day (July 2), when the conference was held, the program of which was compiled from the reports of the participants of the school. Two general discussions took place on the same day.

Lecturers and presenters of master classes:
Doctor of Historical Sciences, corresponding member. RAS L.I. Borodkin (Faculty of History of Moscow State University)
Candidate of Historical Sciences T.Ya. Valetov (Faculty of History of Moscow State University)
Doctor of Historical Sciences I.M. Garskova (Faculty of History of Moscow State University)
A.A. Hasanov (Faculty of History, Moscow State University)
Candidate of Historical Sciences D.I. Zherebyatyev (Faculty of History of Moscow State University)
V.A. Ilyashenko (Faculty of History, Moscow State University)
spec. by M.S. Mironenko (Faculty of History, Moscow State University)
Ph.D. B.V. Orekhov (HSE, IRLI RAS)
Candidate of Historical Sciences A.V. Smetanin (PSNIU)
Candidate of Historical Sciences N.V. Soloshchenko (History of the Fatherland Foundation)
Doctor of Historical Sciences A.A. Frolov (IVI RAS)
Master I.N. Galushko (Faculty of History of Moscow State University)
Ph.D., Ph.D. S.V. Shpirko (RSUH)
Doctor of I.N. Yu.Yu. Yumasheva (DIMI Center)

Experts-moderators of the conference day:
Doctor of Historical Sciences V.N. Vladimirov (Altai State University)
Candidate of Historical Sciences A.Y. Volodin (Faculty of History of Moscow State University)
Doctor of Ph.D., Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences K.V. Vorontsov (Faculty of the Moscow State University)
Doctor of Historical Sciences S.I. Kornienko (HSE – Perm)
Doctor of Historical Sciences V.V. Kanishchev (Tambov State University)

Coordinator of the School's Information and Communication Infrastructure:
Candidate of Historical Sciences A.Y. Volodin (Faculty of History of Moscow State University)

 Lectures and workshops

"Methodological aspects of historical informatics at the present stage"
          L.I. Borodkin's lecture touched upon a number of issues characterizing the current discussions about the current stage of development of historical informatics in Russia. It was noted that the name of this interdisciplinary direction remains stable, although the relevant terminology is noticeably expanding. The fact is that computer science is a fundamental science, which means that it has general scientific significance, i.e. "its concepts, laws and methods are applicable not only within the framework of science itself, but also in other scientific and applied disciplines," as noted in numerous textbooks. The speaker turned to the experience of developing such "butt" directions at various faculties of Moscow University, where for 2-3 decades the names of departments and faculties have been linked to computer science: bioinformatics, geoinformatics, economic informatics, legal informatics, etc. Changes in the landscape of the humanities, which began in the first decade of the XXI century in connection with the processes of their digital transformation, led, as is known, to the formation of a multidisciplinary "umbrella" concept of Digital Humanities (DH). In 2021, the European Association of Digital Humanities (EADH) held its second international conference in Krasnoyarsk, which was attended by many of our colleagues, members of the Association "History and Computer", who "fit" into the program of this multidisciplinary conference.

The lecturer also touched upon the issues of the correlation of the content of the terms "historical informatics" and "digital history", the role of the concept of "Big Data" in historical research, the development of specialized educational programs.

L.I. Borodkin expressed the opinion that the main function of historical informatics in the near future will probably remain the same: to test existing and emerging information / digital technologies and mathematical methods in solving analytical problems of historical research. For example, the testing of artificial intelligence methods and technologies is now on the agenda. At the same time, the main question remains: what new methods and technologies give in concrete historical research, what increment of knowledge they provide for the studied field of historical science (including special historical disciplines).

 "Geoinformation technologies in historical research"
At the lecture on historical GIS, which was read by T.Ya. Valetov, it was about how a map created by GIS means differs from electronic maps (prepared with the help of a graphic editor, for example) or raster cartographic images. A key feature of GIS is the connection of the map with the database, which allows you to combine geodata with attribute tables. Historical GIS operates with objects that existed in the past, and most often at different points in the past, dividing such objects into different layers or storing timestamps for them. The greatest effect when working with historical maps prepared with the help of GIS technologies is achieved when map objects are linked to one of the existing coordinate systems - geographical or rectangular. This allows you to combine thematic historical maps with other thematic maps or other cartographic coverings that display, for example, modern administrative divisions, terrain, etc. At the end of the lecture, some Internet resources were demonstrated, offering the user maps that are useful primarily for the historian, as well as examples of the joint use of the QGIS software package and the Google Earth service.

To work at the master class, the students received a link to the training data sets. As part of the practical exercises, A.A. Frolov gave an overview of the QGIS program and demonstrated various ways of linking raster images to the map (by pairs of points, by geographical, by rectangular coordinates) and the basic techniques for setting up a raster coating known as a “grid” (from the English grid – grid). In the second part of the master class, T.Ya. Valetov introduced the audience to the main ways of working in QGIS with vector layers and practical techniques for creating objects for GIS in the Google Earth service.

 "3D modeling and virtual historical reconstruction" 
         The lecturers, L.I. Borodkin and D.I. Zherebyatyev, touched upon two aspects of the stated topic. L.I. Borodkin focused on a new trend in the development of the problems of virtual reconstructions of historical and cultural heritage: a combination of orientation to academic criteria for the reliability of such reconstructions and their applied capabilities (for example, in museum practice, in restoration work, in the educational process). The experience of research projects of the Department of Historical Informatics of Moscow State University, implemented with the active participation of students and postgraduates of the department, was considered.

In some cases, 3D reconstructions of historical noble estates can be used to restore "in stone" these cultural heritage objects that have been completely or partially lost. So, we are talking about the virtual reconstruction of the Sennitsa estate near Moscow, which belonged to the family of Count F.E. Keller; the obtained 3D models of the estate buildings will serve as useful material for the planned restoration of this object of cultural heritage of federal significance. Another example is the creation of a virtual reconstruction of the ruined church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Amrakits (Lori region of Armenia), which underwent significant destruction during the large–scale Spitak earthquake in 1988. This reconstruction may be useful for the realization of the intention to give a second life to a unique monument of Orthodox architecture in Armenia.

As an example of the use of virtual reconstructions in museum practice, the implemented project of 3D reconstruction of the Trinity Cathedral in Stavropol-on-Volga (currently Togliatti) was considered. The cathedral, erected in the XVIII century, was blown up and flooded during the construction of the Kuibyshev (Zhigulevskaya) Hydroelectric power station in 1955 The results of the project are placed in the historical exposition of the Togliatti Museum of Local Lore "20th century: Stavropol – Togliatti". Another completed cathedral project in the field of historical urbanism is focused on the virtual reconstruction of urban development and the landscape of the White City, the historical territory of the center of Moscow, including Ivanovskaya Hill. Currently, a plan is being considered to create a museum dedicated to the evolution of the historical development of the Ivanovo Hill (on the basis of the current Ivanovo Monastery) using 3D models created as part of our project.

Another expansion of the use of virtual reconstruction of the lost cultural heritage is associated with the inclusion of 3D models as components of complex projects aimed at a multidimensional and multidisciplinary historical study of large-scale processes or events. As an example, the cathedral project on the history of the Great Siberian Way (Transsib) was considered, within the framework of which a virtual reconstruction of standard stations that had lost their original appearance was created.

You can get acquainted with all the projects mentioned here by referring to the relevant publications in the issues of the journal "Historical Informatics" for 2022-2023. (http://e-notabene.ru/istinf /).

In the second part of the lecture, D.I. Zherebyatyev presented an overview of methods, technologies and tools of three-dimensional modeling in relation to the tasks of virtual reconstruction of historical and cultural heritage. It was noted that the choice of software and equipment should be determined by the degree of preservation of the object and the composition of available sources. The most popular in the works of historians are programs for creating 3D models (3Ds-max, SketchUp, Blender, ArchiCAD), model visualization programs (Lumion, Twinmotion), photogrammetry technologies (ground and aerial photography), laser scanning and processing of the resulting point cloud. The role in the development of modern virtual reconstructions of game engines (Unreal Engine), virtual panoramas, 3D sculpting, web services for processing old photos and colorization of black-and-white photos using pre-trained neural networks, etc. was noted. The review was accompanied by extensive illustrative material based on the results of projects to create virtual reconstructions implemented at the Department of Historical Informatics of Moscow State University and in foreign research centers.

The master class "Three-dimensional modeling and VR/AR technologies in the tasks of creating virtual reconstructions of cultural heritage" was conducted by D.I. Zherebyatyev, M.S. Mironenko and A.A. Hasanov.

The participants gained skills in working with 3D modeling programs, got acquainted with the step-by-step work of the user of these programs (using the example of cathedral projects), got used to the virtual reality environment by making a virtual tour of the territory of the Ivanovo Monastery of the XVIII century.

"GPT Challenges for the Modern Humanities"
         B.V. Orekhov delivered a lecture "GPT challenges for the modern humanities" ^[1], in which he considered four important issues: what are large language models today (using the example of such varieties of LLM (large language models) as ChatGPT, GPT-3, GPT-3.5); how will the place of the humanities change in the world where texts are composed for him; how to learn to read texts produced by models; how to learn to interact with models? Given that phenomena in the language differ in frequency, it can be concluded that low-frequency phenomena are "learned" by models worse. Teaching language models is an extremely costly task that only large corporations can do today. At the same time, the result of learning large language models already depends more on the training data than on the actual learning algorithm. Algorithms of language models are learning faster and faster, which cannot but affect a gradual change, for example, in the forms of educational control, when it is necessary to change the approach to students' reporting texts ^[2]. The lecturer stressed that it is worth considering several important limitations inherent in the current versions of GPT solutions: these are factual errors, ranking problems, difficulties in constructing arguments, as well as a lack of confidence in statements/judgments. According to B.V. Orekhov, ChatGPT is not a philosopher's stone, but a "machine for generating text". And today the problem of ChatGPT in science is the problem of the status of text in science. The modern era has formed for us the idea that the main thing in science is ideas, discoveries, and the books and articles in which these discoveries are recorded are secondary, just as the writing system is secondary for language. If everything were like that, ChatGPT could not create any problems for anyone, because it has no ideas and is not able to make discoveries. But if we admit that there is a problem, it means that science actually looks somehow different. So, the text in it has a different status than we used to think. It is not just a carrier of knowledge, but also partly knowledge itself. "Is it permissible for a scientist to only come up with ideas, but not to write texts on his own?" asks B.V. Orekhov to the participants of the school.

In the development of the lecture topic, a master class "Historical Data Science and artificial intelligence methods in historical research" was held. It was conducted by L.I. Borodkin and I.N. Galushko.

In the first part of the master class, L.I. Borodkin considered specific examples of the use of artificial intelligence methods by historians at an early stage (1980-1990) - expert systems, cognitive methods of text analysis, etc. Describing the current stage, he noted the undoubtedly dominant role of artificial neural networks. There are a number of projects aimed at recognizing handwritten historical texts using machine learning, as well as projects focused on the meaningful analysis of historical texts. The issue of the accepted division of artificial intelligence methods into two classes was discussed: "with a teacher" and "without a teacher". Thus, cluster analysis and regression analysis, as well as thematic modeling, are often referred to the second class.

Continuing the consideration of this issue, I.N. Galushko introduced the participants to the possibilities of thematic modeling as a tool for working with large-volume texts. He noted that thematic modeling can be considered as a convenient tool for preliminary assessment of the content of a large collection of historical documents; selection of only those documents that contain information relevant to the research tasks. The newspaper "Birzhevye Vedomosti" of the early twentieth century (457 issues) was chosen as an illustrative material. With the help of a program implementing thematic modeling algorithms, materials reflecting the content of the request on the behavioral aspects of stock trading in St. Petersburg were identified. In this study, thematic modeling was used exclusively as an applied tool to accelerate the search and primary assessment of the information potential of a collection of documents through the analysis of selected topics. The question of whether thematic modeling using the LDA algorithm makes it possible to draw meaningful conclusions in the study under consideration was discussed. The participants of the master class got acquainted with the program interface, the sequence of actions of the thematic modeling algorithm.

 "Statistical methods of historical data analysis"
         Statistical methods were not included in the program of the I School of Young Scientists, and within the framework of the II School this direction was presented only by a lecture, without a master class. However, in 2023, statistical methods were presented for the first time in a "full format" – as a lecture delivered by I.M. Garskova and a master class conducted by I.M. Garskova and V.A. Ilyashenko. The lecture gave an idea of the methods of mathematical statistics that are most in demand in historical research, and the master class – their implementation in Statistica software.

The master class program included three main topics: descriptive statistics, sampling method and correlation analysis. Each topic was first considered in the demonstration mode, then the students performed test tasks under the guidance of teachers, the topic was completed by performing independent work with a discussion of the results obtained. The working files posted on the pages of the Department of Historical Informatics on the website of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University were used; methodological support was the textbook of the Department "Computerized statistical analysis in historical research", posted there.

The students worked very actively, asked questions related to the possibilities of statistical processing of their sources' data using a wider range of methods, for example, automatic classification methods. At the end of the work, a very useful exchange of views took place with the wishes to include statistical analysis in the program of the next school, maybe even expand this master class to two days, since such a course is not in the curricula of Russian universities. There were also suggestions to expand the program by familiarizing listeners with the statistical capabilities of the R package, as well as giving listeners the opportunity to install software on the eve of the master class.

 "Methods of working with historical texts (content analysis, network analysis)"
          Methods of content analysis and methods of network analysis (more precisely, classical social network analysis), unlike statistical methods, are traditionally included in the programs of all summer schools in historical informatics, starting from the first (2021), but until 2023 they were given separately - they were two different lectures and, accordingly, two different master classes. At the third school, it was decided to combine these areas, focusing on working with text sources.

The task turned out to be difficult, as among the participants were those who had experience in master classes in content analysis, but did not master network analysis, as well as those who had no experience in content analysis, but attended lectures and workshops on text analysis. A lecture on this new complex problem was delivered by I.M. Garskova and A.V. Smetanin: the lecturers emphasized the specifics of substantive problems requiring content and network analysis of data, and text sources involved in solving such problems.

Given the composition of the audience, we had to organize three separate master classes: on content analysis under the leadership of S.V. Shpirko, on social network analysis under the leadership of A.V. Smetanin and on working with texts, including both content analysis and elements of network analysis - under the leadership of I.M. Garskova and N.V. Soloshchenko. The specifics of this master class was that the teaching was conducted on the examples of analysis of historiographical sources, transcripts, texts of discussions and speeches - to identify the links of actors and with press materials and sources of personal origin – to identify the links of semantic categories reflecting the content of texts.

As in the work with statistical methods, the structure of the master class included a demonstration part, the performance of test tasks and independent work of students. The working files were fragments of texts that formed the source base of several WRC and dissertation studies of students, postgraduates and teachers of the Department of Historical Informatics of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University; methodological materials were the department's developments in the relevant courses ("Computer methods of analysis of narrative sources" and "Methods and technologies of social history") for specialized students. The feedback from the audience showed that combining two research directions in one master class turned out to be most useful for those who already have a certain level of training for computerized text analysis, obtained either at previous summer schools or when mastering the curricula of relevant profiles at a number of universities.

 "Digital transformation of auxiliary historical disciplines"
          Yu.Yu. Yumasheva in the lecture "Digital transformation of auxiliary historical disciplines (Part II)" continued the topic that she started in a lecture at the summer school in 2022, turning to the analysis of approaches to non-written sources. In the typology of online information resources, she identified auction house websites, professional and amateur forums, information search engines of a reference nature, as well as software tools that mimic the methods of auxiliary historical disciplines (for example, Transcribus). The possibility of conducting research of objects of auxiliary historical disciplines with the help of information technology depends on (1) the specifics of the types of sources studied; (2) the availability of hardware and software capabilities and methods of creation, as well as the quality of created electronic copies of historical sources, since it is electronic copies that are being studied; (3) close relationship with natural science disciplines and their methods; (4) the content of research tasks; (5) the availability of software tools adequate to the tasks (DB, GIS, 3D, LOD, ML/AI, etc.). Yu.Yu. Yumasheva presented interesting observations on current trends in the development of berestology (in connection with papyrology), epigraphy, heraldry, vexillology, sphragistics, faleristics, genealogy (including in the context of HTR – Handwritten Text Recognition).

The recording of the lecture hall of the school "Historical Informatics – 2023" is published on the AIK YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HQezjps7ig ).

The conference
         An important component of the program of the school "Historical Informatics" is traditionally a conference at which participants make scientific reports. This year, five reports were discussed, and according to the general opinion of the school's teachers, all the reports were at a high level, and the speakers could not even be called students, but rather colleagues.

Ekaterina Igorevna Nosova (SPBI RAS) in her report "The experience of using network analysis in the study of the court community: the Court of the Dukes of Burgundy" described various possibilities of network analysis when working with complex documentary collections. The mastered technology made it possible to demonstrate the interrelationships of documents from the collection of N.P. Likhachev, the scientist's contacts with European antiquaries visualized in NetDraw, and to present the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach to concrete historical material.

Anastasia Vasilyevna Faronova (School No. 179, Moscow) in her report on "Determining the boundaries of the Vokhon tithe of the Patriarchal region in the XVII century using QGIS" presented in detail the possibilities of localization and visualization of the Patriarchal region in modern historical GIS. The report showed how it was possible to install almost all the temples of the Vohon tithe and present them on the map. As part of a school project to determine the church tithes of the Moscow District, Anastasia Vasilyevna was helped by her enthusiastic students.

Anna Alekseevna Kayryak (LSU named after A.S. Pushkin) in her report "Features of the demographic development of the German colonies of St. Petersburg province in the first half of the XIX century." showed the possibilities of reconstructing demographic processes based on complex statistical sources deposited in the funds of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in Strelna, Kronstadt, Oranienbaum, Peterhof and Kipensky German colonies of the capital province.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Shapovalov (HSE – Perm) in his report "Pilgrimage notes in the Diocesan Gazette of the Russian Empire: the experience of creating a corpus of texts and its purpose" described the possibilities and difficulties of collecting and analyzing the corpus of texts of Russian pilgrims. The creation of systematic collections of such travelogues (in particular, published on the pages of the "Orthodox Palestinian Collection") makes it possible to significantly expand the understanding of both the pilgrims themselves and the palette of their impressions, assessments and opinions.

Mikhail Evgenievich Vasiliev (ISAA MSU, Sefer Center) in his report "Digital methods in the study of Jewish tombstone epigraphy" spoke in detail about the project on digital cataloguing of Jewish cemeteries located on the territory of Russia and the former Soviet republics (SFIRA (SEFER Field Research Archive) project: https://sfira.org/cemetery ). The field research of the Sefer Center is devoted to the so-called pale of settlement, and the turn to total digital archiving in necropolistics allows using modern technologies for successful documentation of epigraphic monuments: from the development and filling of a database to the creation of a special mobile application for field work.

 The conference was followed by a discussion on the topical topic "What are the prospects and limits of the use of artificial neural networks in historical /humanitarian research?". The leading expert in this discussion was K.V. Vorontsov, a well-known expert in the field of artificial intelligence and Data Science.

The focus was on the following issues:
is it true that the development of generative networks (ChatGPT, Midjourney, etc.) brings us closer to universal (general) artificial intelligence?
what is the ratio of "pros" and "cons" in the further development of these chatbots capable of working in an interactive mode, supporting queries in natural languages?
what is the specifics of using neural networks in the humanities (philology, linguistics, history, art history)?
there is a point of view that training artificial neural networks requires huge training samples; when is this so, and when is it not?
should we agree that in the humanities, the main prospects for using AI are related to working with textual material? (although historians, for example, also pay a lot of attention to working with visual sources, statistical data, etc.)
can AI methods be useful in verification tasks, identifying false information?
is it generally accepted to attribute the methods of cluster analysis, regression analysis, thematic modeling to the problems of machine learning "without a teacher"?

The lively discussion did not end in the allotted time and lasted another half hour. Her transcript will be published in the next issue of Historical Informatics.

The work of the School ended with a general discussion on the problems of historical informatics. It was also about the experience of using artificial intelligence by humanitarians, and about the prospects for further development of the School. Taking into account the growing interest in the School among students, the organizing committee decided to consider the possibility of dividing the master classes into two levels in preparation for the next, fourth, school: one for beginners who came to get acquainted with the relevant direction "from scratch", the second for students who already have some experience, for example, who attended I-III summer schools. The future School's areas of work will probably include two new ones – on databases and digital archaeology.

Application
Reviews of the School "Historical Informatics – 2023" of its participants

Yes sha Voronkova:
It's not the first time I've participated in our Summer School, and I really enjoyed it again! The school gives a new impetus to doing their own research, motivates, allows you to feel like part of a friendly community again, in which senior colleagues and we, young scientists, are one team! It is especially valuable and important to exchange opinions and receive feedback by communicating directly with those who are moving our science forward. And this goal of transferring experience to the younger generation of colleagues, determining vectors and trajectories of scientific research has been achieved. I try to get the most out of school. I think I've managed it again. I am interested in many things, including beyond the scope of my subject area itself. I attended all the lectures on the lecture day, worked in two master classes ("Statistical methods of historical data analysis" and "The possibilities of historical geoinformation systems (HGIS)), participated in the discussion of the reports presented at the conference and in the discussion on the prospects for the development and application of neural networks in the humanities and, in particular, historical research. I will be happy to help organize the Summer School next year.
I will outline some prospects that, in my opinion, will make the school even more interesting. At the statistics master class, you can give practical examples of the use of Python and R programming languages in data analysis. I think it is useful to move towards Data Mining as a whole as a set of methods for detecting and interpreting non-obvious, hidden patterns and relationships in data, allowing you to gain new knowledge as a result. Mathematical statistics are only part of the methodological arsenal of Data Mining. I would really like to study such data mining software as, for example, IBM SPSS Modeler and RapidMiner.
It would be great to return databases to the school program as a separate thematic area.
I always check my mail and answer important emails, but perhaps it will be more convenient for someone if messengers (for example, Telegram) are more widely used for informing and surveys within the school.
I look forward to seeing you at the Summer School-2024! Thank you all!

Denis Ramm:
For the first time I learned about the summer school in historical informatics from my senior colleague at the Department of History and Philosophy of Togliatti State University. It was 2021. Then, due to the busy work schedule, I had to limit myself to attending only the first (lecture) day. The situation with the "unlearned lesson" was repeated in 2022. Finally, on the third attempt, I managed to fully attend all four days of the school in a row.
When I listened to the teachers of the school for the first time, I immediately realized that what scientists are talking about is the cutting edge of historical science in an information society. It cannot be said that I did not know anything at all about the existence of such a direction as "historical informatics". I had a chance to get acquainted with the basics of this discipline while studying in the first year of the master's degree at Samara University. If we compare the level and volume of developments, then Moscow State University, without any doubt, is the leader in this direction.
What I heard and saw during the school struck me: I would never have thought that history would experience such a profound transformative effect of information technology, and in the hands of the historian there will be new tools that will allow you to cope with the abundance of sources. Up to this point, history was perceived by me as an extremely traditionalist scientific discipline, developing in line with the once established methodology without cardinal changes. Having studied the socio-cultural issues of the history of the USSR in the second half of the XX century, I realized that it is not easy to understand the "paper boom" without new techniques that will help to summarize a large array of information and give it a convenient look for work.
I express my great gratitude and appreciation to all the teachers of the school for their selfless work and high professionalism in their field! Of course, I did not learn how to work with programs as a professional, but I learned about new research opportunities, programs and problems that I will face in the near future. I wish that the summer school continues to be a landmark event and every year steadily gathers more and more people around it, promoting knowledge to the masses!

Andrey Pavlov:
Thank you so much for the School! Very interesting and useful. And very intense.
Please include me in the mailing list of school materials and AIC, if there is one.
As a suggestion, I would suggest stretching the school by time, spending it not in 4 days, but longer, perhaps with breaks between days of work.  This would allow, in addition to reducing the workload for one day, to participate in several or even all master classes. It would also be very useful to be able to view the lessons in the recording, since it is impossible to record all the steps of the speaker, it takes a lot of time to master elementary steps in an unfamiliar program — its installation, etc., especially since the versions of the programs of the speaker and participants may differ.

Maria Komkova:
Let me express my gratitude to you and all the speakers / moderators / teachers of the 2023 Summer School.
I am taking part for the third time and every year the school becomes more interesting and informative. You manage to cover current trends every year and attract the most interesting speakers.
From the voiced proposals:
- I support the division of master classes into "beginner" and "advanced" levels;
- I really liked the idea of I.M. Garskova about sending material before the master class;
- it would be useful to consolidate the material passed to send tasks for independent work (after the master class) and keys / answers;
- to save time, if possible, I would like to receive instructions in advance on installing the necessary software at the master class;
- the new format with the invitation of experts for discussion seemed very interesting and useful (about the speech of Konstantin Vyacheslavovich Vorontsov — the speaker and the topic covered were 100%);
- the topics that L.I. Borodkin proposed to consider at the next school are interesting and useful, but it seems to me that it is worth talking about the formation of the agenda closer to the date of the event;
- about "volunteering" — I am ready to get involved in the work of preparing for the next summer School.
I hope that next year I will be able to participate in the Summer School. I wish you the realization of all your plans!

Mikhail Vasiliev:
Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in the School! I was pleasantly surprised by the high level of organization of the School, as well as the high level of involvement of both teachers and participants. Special thanks to the organizers for the panel discussions and the opportunity to openly discuss various problems related to the applied aspects of the use of digital technologies in the humanitarian environment. It was very interesting to hear colleagues from other fields and learn about their experience in solving similar problems.
I wish you strength and resources to conduct new schools!

Konstantin Zolotarev:
A very interesting master class on statistical methods. I would add the number of tasks according to statistics. And expand the number of statistical data analysis methods used. I believe that such a course should be mandatory at all universities.

Oleg Intermediaries:
I am writing following the results of the master class "Statistical methods of historical data analysis". I want to express my gratitude for the master class and new knowledge.
The opportunity to get acquainted with the professional program and work in it during the master class was especially useful. In my opinion, it is the opportunity to receive some materials (presentations, programs, assignments, manuals, etc.) or to receive links to them during and after the master class would be very useful.

Rimma Elemanova:
The format of the international summer school of young scientists "Historical Informatics – 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the SCHOOL) was very interesting and informative. The program included lectures, master classes and a discussion part. The content of the program fully corresponded to the title. At School, they gained skills in working with GIS, participated in practical classes with VR. 
The technical organization of the School was held at a high level. Lecture halls, breakout halls worked without any problems, in addition, all announcements and newsletters in all channels, chat rooms were very well broadcast.
The reports from the participants sounded interesting and very informative. The level of preparation of reports rises annually. I will note the wide geographical scale of the school.
By tradition, at the end of the School, all participants were given certificates with three signatures – so nice! 
I express my deep gratitude to the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, the Association "History and Computer" headed by prof. A.A. Frolov, Honorary President of AIC prof. L.I. Borodkin, Vice-Presidents of AIC prof. V.N. Vladimirovu and assoc. A.Yu. Volodin, as well as to all other scientists – organizers of the annual International Summer School of Young Scientists "Historical Informatics – 2023".
I wish every expert inexhaustible energy, creative inspirations and long life!

Nazar Volchkov:
Positive:
- there were really experts who have been in the problem field of the historical school for many years,
- the school was diverse,
- there was no need to re-enter the zoom. Moderation was at the highest level.
Minuses:
- the master class on content analysis was delayed, it was easy to lose attention, and therefore the quality of the master class was not at the highest level,
- a few hours without a break in front of the screen is too much. It would be great if the amount of time per session was less, or you need to make lectures/workshops more interactive so that the audience is always focused.

Lilia Biryukova
Thank you very much for a very informative master class on content analysis and network analysis! Despite the fact that it included two directions related to different programs and approaches, the topic of interconnections, intersections and proximity of different categories passed the red line. This left the impression of a solid array of information received, which can really be applied in our practical activities. The summer school "Historical Informatics – 2023" turned out to be very useful for expanding knowledge about software, about the functionality of the programs used. Thank you very much for your hard work!

         Elena Vronko:
Many thanks to the organizers and speakers for the wide variety of digital tools and methods. I especially want to mention the possibility of using a mobile application (Note) for cataloging. In general, there are a lot of new things.

Liana Petrova:
Thank you very much for the summer school. Everything was interesting and informative. I will definitely participate in it in the future.

Igor Inozemtsev:
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the summer school "Historical Informatics – 2023". It was informative and productive.
Historical science does not stand still, and digital technologies, of course, occupy an increasingly large niche in helping scientists.
Good luck in your endeavor!

Nadezhda Konyushikhina:
I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers of the school for such excellent work. I have been wanting to start working with the QGIS program for a very long time, and thanks to the master class I had this opportunity. I hope that the knowledge gained will be the first step towards deeper development of GIS.
In addition, the master class on statistics turned out to be very useful and productive. I would like to translate the knowledge acquired on it into a practical plane. I also wanted to attend a seminar on content analysis and network analysis, but, unfortunately, it took place at the same time as the GIS master class. Thank you again very much!

Ekaterina Nosova:
The program of the International Summer School of Young Scientists "Historical Informatics - 2023– included both lectures and practical classes. The final chord of the school was the reports of the participants and a general discussion on the most pressing issues.
The school covers a wide range of topics: network analysis, GIS, 3D modeling, etc. For me, the School became an opportunity to close a gap in geoinformation technologies that I had not had to work with before. Also, communication with the teachers of the School made it possible to clarify the details concerning the functionality of programs for network analysis. I hope this will contribute to the development of my projects in the field of historical informatics. The school provides a lot of new information, but what is most valuable is live communication with professionals and free constructive discussion.

Saina Kolesova
I would like to express my gratitude for the master class on content analysis and network analysis. I already had experience with MAXQDA, but yesterday I realized how to use other functions of the program that were unfamiliar to me. I really liked that two topics were included in one master class at once, since I have not yet encountered the network analysis method. That's why I signed up for a "combined" master class, and I'm very happy about it. I was able to consolidate my previous experience and understood how to work with a new program for me (UCINET). Thank you very much!

Grigory Shchepin:
Thank you for the opportunity to take part in the summer school! The presentation of the material was at a high level, despite the fact that it was a little difficult to master previously unknown programs. However, this is compensated by the submission of special materials by teachers for deeper study.

 Elena Aleksandrovna Goryacheva (PhD, Senior Researcher, Scientific Secretary of the Center for Global and Regional Studies of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS):
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the summer school "Historical Informatics". For me, the lectures presented, the presentations at the conference and the training at the master classes were very useful. I got a lot of pleasure from participating in the event, as well as a lot of information about the latest methods in history. Among the wishes for the future school-2024, in which, of course, I would very much like to participate: I would like, if possible, to have a list of literature presented to the participants in advance for familiarization with each master class, before the start of the school, so that it would be clear beforehand what we will do, what basic terms the lecturer will use, and then you can do self-education. And also, if possible, so that you can participate in more master classes. This time on the third day there were 3 master classes that I would like to attend at the same time.
Thanks again for the opportunity! I wish every success to your future projects!