Digitalization and Digital Projects in the Study of the Ukrainian Sixtiers

Abstract

The article aims to explore the potential of digital technologies in studying the history of the Ukrainian Sixtiers, to assess the role of digital projects in preserving, analysing, and disseminating sources, and to outline the methodological and ethical challenges that accompany the digitalization of cultural heritage.

The study employs comparative, structural-functional, and problem-oriented analytical methods alongside digital humanities approaches. It examines three levels of digital integration – digitization, digitalization, and full-scale digital transformation – and evaluates the possibilities offered by tools such as Voyant Tools, Bookworm, QGIS, StoryMapJS, and HistoryPin. Special attention is given to Ukrainian and international digital projects that may serve as models for digital initiatives related to the Sixtiers.

The research demonstrates that digital tools expand analytical possibilities for working with sources on the Sixtiers and enable the creation of new formats for visualizing historical processes, including interactive maps of cultural events, text-mining models, multimedia archives, and narrative-based cartography. Key problems of digitalization were identified: fragmentation of digitized materials, technical limitations, incomplete corpora, risks of contextual distortion, and ethical concerns related to personal data and sensitive archival records.

Digitalization and digital projects provide new opportunities for reinterpreting and preserving the history of the Ukrainian Sixtiers. Their successful application, however, requires careful consideration of technical, legal, and methodological challenges. The creation of an integrated interactive digital archive of the Sixtiers is proposed as a significant step toward preserving cultural memory and promoting the international visibility of Ukrainian historical heritage.