Interest in Historical Figures on the World Wide Web as a Marker of Historical Consciousness in Contemporary Ukraine (Re-edition with editorial introduction, 2025)

Editorial Introduction (2025 Re-edition)

This re-edition of “Interest in Historical Figures on the World Wide Web as a Marker of Historical Consciousness in Contemporary Ukraine” (originally published in Eminak: Scientific Quarterly Journal, 2023) presents a significant early contribution to the emerging field of computational historiography in Central and Eastern Europe. Co-authored by Vitalii Telvak and Wiktor Werner, the article integrates quantitative analysis of digital trace data (Google Trends and Wikipedia metrics) with qualitative interpretation of collective memory and national identity.

At a time when digital platforms have become the primary mediators of historical awareness, this study demonstrates how born-digital data can serve as empirical indicators of historical consciousness. By applying time-series analysis (Hodrick–Prescott filter) to long-term data on public interest in Mykhailo Hrushevsky and other symbolic figures, the authors reconstruct the dynamics of online historical imagination in Ukraine during the years 2004–2022.

The methodological approach anticipates current developments in Open Science and Digital Humanities, combining reproducible computational techniques with interpretive frameworks derived from cultural and historiographical theory. It also resonates with broader comparative studies of historical consciousness in the digital environment conducted within Polish-Ukrainian research cooperation and the NCN project “Historical Narratives in Web 2.0 as a Functional Element of National Identities in Central and Eastern Europe”.

Re-publishing this text within an open-access environment highlights its continuing relevance for scholars investigating the algorithmic dimensions of collective memory, the transformation of historiography in the age of data, and the role of digital infrastructures in shaping post-Soviet historical identities.

Re-edition of a peer-reviewed 2023 study (Eminak Journal, Ukraine), co-authored by Vitalii Telvak and Wiktor Werner. The article explores digital traces of collective memory using Google Trends and Wikipedia data to analyse public interest in Mykhailo Hrushevsky (2004–2022). Applying statistical methods such as the Hodrick–Prescott filter and computational linguistics, the study identifies how digital behaviour reflects shifts in Ukrainian historical consciousness during the period of political transformation and war. The editorial note for this re-edition situates the article within the emerging field of computational historiography and open digital memory research.