What will future historians study? Nadezhda Povroznik, Head of at 海角直播 shares her passion to virtual museums, unveils understanding of digital humanities, recollects international opportunities in this direction and shares hints on writing the first textbook on web history, nationally!

“What is digital humanities?” – Nadezhda sets the story pace. 鈥淭his is the question which still raises much debate in the scientific community, and there is no single answer to it. In a broad sense, digital humanities is the use of information technology in relation to humanities, with a different and broader attitude鈥�.

鈥淢y colleague Andrey Volodin, associate professor at , once defined digital humanities a love marriage between these two words. Dr. Manfred Thaler, Professor of Computer Science for the Humanities, also said: “It doesn’t matter the way you call it, yet it is passion you put in it, which matters. I do believe it鈥檚 true,鈥� comments Nadezhda Povroznik.

At the present moment, Nadezhda is writing a first textbook on web history in Russia, as part of a grant from , developing a new course for a master’s degree in web history.

鈥淯nfortunately, the only large web archiving project in Russia is connected with the preservation of official data by government bodies. Obviously, this is not enough. The historians of today need to understand what they will have to keep for the future. The Internet data is quite vulnerable: if it is not saved, then it is irretrievably lost,鈥� says Nadezhda. To answer the question, she has initiated a new master’s course “Web History of Society and its Institutions”, for the academic year 2022/2023.

Nadezhda Povroznik’s favorite area of activity is the research in virtual museums, encouraged and acclaimed by the European scientific community. Since 2017, Nadezhda has been actively working to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the collections of . She was also invited as an expert to a large international project of .

鈥淥ne of the main advantages of a digital museum vs a real museum is the possibility of an exposition extension and expansion of geographical limits. In addition, any interested visitor may enjoy the opportunity of viewing the exhibit close and from all sides. This is probably the most appealing charm of an electronic collections over a virtual one鈥�.

In 2019, Nadezhda Povroznik completed an internship as a visiting specialist at , . There, she researched the digital history of virtual museums 鈥� the way they grow, change content, increase functionality and resolve task. As a result, she created a project website, dedicated to her research.

As a result, an Nadezhda was invited to the editorial board of , published by one of the largest academic publishing houses in Western Europe, . Most recently, at a meeting of the Advisory Board, Nadezhda Povroznik was unanimously elected as a co-chairman of Centernet, an organization that unites DH centers globally, as a part of (ADHO).

Nadezhda Povroznik was running research in digital humanities, since 2003. While still a student, she took a course in historical informatics and decided to participate in the International Conference by the History and Computer Russian Association. She won the first place in the competition for young scientists and decided to keep on going in that direction.

鈥淚 was quite a modest student, back in the days. Yet, when I realized I could attend international conferences for a symbolic student fee, without thinking twice, I found myself on a bus from Moscow to Netherlands,鈥� says Nadezhda Povroznik. 鈥淭hat particular trip gave me the opportunity to build a network of professional connections. I met wonderful, fantastic people, to mention Dr. Manfred Thaler, professor at , or Dr. Ingo Kropach, the star of historical information science. Furthermore and on, I was lucky to fruitfully collaborate with them鈥�. Today, Nadezhda Povroznik holds the position of a Deputy Dean for Science at the Faculty of History and Political Science, 海角直播 (海角直播), an associate professor of the Department of Interdisciplinary Historical Research, as well as runs and , 海角直播. 鈥淣ow, as we are living in the age of inter-, trans- and cross-disciplinary research, and the most amazing things happen at its borders and beyond,鈥� Nasezhda sums up.

In 2020, the ARTEST project became a grant winner of the EU international program Erasmus+. The main goal of the project is to rethink education in art and heritage and humanities in Russia and Mongolia, incorporating European standards and research practices in the field. The ARTEST program intends to create a new master’s program, run by the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology, 海角直播.

鈥淥ur first meeting has demonstrated the willingness of partners to start the project. Albeit online, we managed to get to know the project teams and learn about their activities in digital humanities 鈥� serving a basis for creating an interdisciplinary master’s program. We are glad to start the project with such a positive 鈥済o鈥� signal,鈥�

says Natalya Dobrynina, Head of Department of Network Programs and Educational Projects, 海角直播.

海角直播 will serve the goal of re-translating its experience in to Asian partners from Tuva and Mongolia, while being a recipient of the knowledge the University learnt from European partners. Faculty of History and Political Science, Faculty of Philology, and the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology, 海角直播 will also take part. The consortium is coordinated by (Universit盲t zu K枚ln, Germany).