Nowadays it is difficult to imagine the modern world and its processes without the Internet. Using the term Internet we have in view of all those processes in the modern society, closely bound with the world of an information technology. The Internet has got into all spheres of life and activity of human, connected with functioning of global social, economical and political processes. The virtual network leads to occurrence of new kinds of public relations and organizational structures, defines norms of public behavior. Internet, nowadays, more and more distinctly finds character of one of appreciable displays of evolution of a society of boundary ХХ-XXI centuries. The development of some new social phenomena, which value and possible consequences for the subsequent history are not up to the end understood and studied yet, is already noticeable to each of us. Such situation, due to global nature of occurring changes, should be identified as the scientific problem demanding decision. A question of historical understanding of the Internet becomes urgent.
For history the development of the virtual network the Internet and learning by society of its possibilities are interesting from a position of how information technology influences the most different spheres of life and activity of human. Integrated reflection of the content of historical value of Internet is an enormous file of the information included in the virtual network, numbering billions of web pages for today and which number grows in a geometrical progression.
Formation of a direction of studying the Internet within the limits of a history-graphic constant became an innovation. Feature of the last encompasses that the historical information placed in the Internet demands separate methodological judgment within the limits of history-graphic researches in the history. As researches show, principles of the organization of the history-graphic content have essential differences from the traditional, settled stereotypes in historical researches, especially when the question on hierarchical forms and structures of a history-graphic source (1) is dealt with. However this point in question yet has not received complex scientific research.
The offered report is directed on actualization of researches of the Internet space not only as history-graphical content, but also from a position of the versatile review of the information environment as object of the history-source study analysis.
The history-graphical review of a question illustrates research of separate aspects of the given problem (2). Meanwhile, the subject domain has not received still scientific study. In available scientific publications it is noticed that one of the most fundamental factors of influence the Internet on social and economic changes in a society are qualitative changes in conditions for information interchange between people, hence, and in their possibilities for information interactions in the virtual environment Internet. The general ideological study of these questions in a contemporary history has been begun in 70th years of the XX-th century in a context of research of a problem of formation of an information society, questions of globalization and development of mass media (3). In these works the information society is proclaimed as one of progressive forms of a social system (4).
Researches, where from the historical point of view the virtual environment the Internet was considered in details and comprehensively, and features and components of its environment were analyzed, in a historiography are absent. Despite lacking concrete historical researches, nevertheless, history-gnosiological bases and prospects of similar heuristic research experiments can be found out in A.I.Rakitova’s works, where the analysis of possible socio-economical and historic-cultural consequences from “information revolution” is conducted (5). Summing up stated, it is possible with sufficient confidence to assume, that now there is all the bases to speak about a historical constant of a virtual network.
Historical researches of the Internet can be perceived and as a direction of the source study work when the Internet space is studied as the information environment of occurrence and functioning of a historical content. The web-content, as object of studying, acts as the special environment of preservation and regeneration of historical material. The vector of researches is predetermined by rather new sub-discipline in the history – historical computer science.
The historical computer science, unlike simple information of a society which has only technical aspect, is connected with processes in a society, its interactions with it as a result of use of information technologies. In this context studying the Internet is capable to show dynamics of social, economical, cultural changes in a society under influence of information technologies, that is, it is possible to receive a historical cut of many public processes connected with information of economy, the right, psychology, education, etc. Accordingly, it is possible to speak about information technologies in these spheres, for example, information technologies in economy, politics (historical aspect), etc.
Such approach to the solution of a problem will allow developing an initial research position for the research of a web-content. Carrying out, describing and primary ordering of a historic-informational content of a global network the Internet, revealing socio-economical, politico-legal components, creating necessary conditions for hypertext occurrence, describing of functioning of the hypertext in the Internet network, working out of techniques of designing of the historical hypertext, revealing of features of functioning of a historical web content in a modern society, formulation of a technique of the source study studying and use of hypertext in historical researches – here is that small spectrum of resolved historic-applied problems within the limits of formation of non-conventional forms of heuristic researches in the history.
In a number of scientific works (in particular, on psychology, sociology, political science, philology) it is possible to find out, within the limits of the decision of specific targets of separate research, use of the Internet resources as a source for carrying out of researches and the analysis of a condition and dynamics of development of a modern society. The particular interest is thus caused to studying of on-line Internet communities. From the point of view of studying of information interaction between objects of social system, functioning of on-line communities supplements known stories of representation about historical interactions and models of functioning social levels. It is a question of virtual communities as non-conventional form of functioning and interaction of historic-social groups (6).
For a scientific explanation of a phenomenon of virtual communities it is important to use known categories at studying of traditional historical communities, having added component of complex studying of the nature and properties of functioning of on-line communities. As functioning of on-line communities is based on intensive information interactions between its members it is required to study this model of interactions with reference to social and economic systems in a historical retrospective show.
The Internet will act thus as the artificial environment of ability to live of on-line communities, as object of research the hypertext will act as a basis of on-line services and interfaces. In other words, the hypertext will appear as the special form of the historical information and as the historical source demanding a bit different from accepted, in view of its nature of occurrence and functioning, the source study approach.
Along with traditional for a source study receptions, at hypertext studying it is necessary to consider also parameters of functionality of a web-content as in time (chronological) and “spatial” (geographical) cuts, and also their convertibility inside and among themselves. The analysis of degree of activity of the reference to this or that web resource as visitors, studying of time statistics etc can act as indicators for research. The basic work is thus done by means of technology of search systems to networks of the Internet, i.e. databank formations on indexes of the reference and citing of certain web sites as hypertext elements. On this basis, revealing of keywords and expressions as categories for studying.
Kazakhstan’s sector of the Internet became a testing platform for studying of all above-stated in our case. Presumably by 2010 the number of active users will exceed 3.5 million (in 2007 – the number of active users made 1.8 million), thus 95 % of schools of Kazakhstan have access to the Internet. It is possible to carry an urgency of a language problem to noticeable current features of Kazakhstan’s Internet (94,1 % of web sites contain a Russian-speaking content, 1,4 % – English-speaking, and only 4,5 % – Kazakh-speaking content (7), absence of own search system (available, for example the Kazakh searchers http://www.qazaq.kz/izdew.php have local character), dominating development of Russian-speaking social virtual networks, backwardness in the Kazakhstan sector of the Internet political-economical structure, and also active expansion of a state policy to the Internet network, including problem of information safety of the state, especially sharply lifted in connection with fast rates of development of the global network technologies, destroying traditional representations about territorial integrity, as consequence, predetermining “unsteadiness” of the laws based on geographical borders and by that, calling in question value and role of authorities in the state (8).
In view of middle age, social and economic situation, available ten-percentage of the Kazakhstan users of the Internet (from total number of the population of the republic) it is possible to show as presentable sample at studying of dynamics and social development tendencies in a modern history of Kazakhstan. On the average, using the Internet makes 7.4-8.1 % from the monthly average income of the inhabitant of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the operative statistical data on salaries for 2007-2009 of Agency of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan and cost of payment for the Internet services of the most popular among the population connection fee).
Sites of the non-governmental organizations, commercial structures, the central and local public authorities, initiative social networks, sites of the various republican organizations (9) have undergone to inspection. Representation about the Internet as the mechanism of interaction of social structures in a modern history became a working hypothesis of the research. It has allowed define a number of priorities for historical research:
– The State and a society as elements of interaction by means of the Internet (10).
– The content of the state and non-governmental web sites within the limits of the analysis of politico-legal, social and economic processes of modern history (thematic web resources).
– Social networks, the analysis of their content, research on degree of influence on formation of public opinion and social processes in a modern history.
– Historical past and the pseudo-history phenomenon in the Internet network: facto-graphical, bibliographic, documentary aspects of a problem.
– Archives of the data in the Internet network.
Along with the above-stated, it is possible to allocate also two independent directions of interest of researchers of the virtual network:
– The Internet as a part of modern history and integral compound of historical processes of boundary of XX-XIX centuries, i.e. history of the Internet and its influences on social and economic and political processes of modern history.
– The Internet as a tool for research of processes of modern history, i.e. an information source, which is necessary for a researcher of modern history to work.
– Let’s try to generalize within the limits of a statement the components of result of the research work.
– In Kazakhstan formation of the Internet communities carries an ethno-cultural shade.
– Web resources of political parties both pro-governmental, and oppositional, are not popular among the Kazakhstan Internet users, even during the periods of the pre-election companies (compare: the Russian web resources with political web content). It is explainable that political compound of the society life in a modern history of Kazakhstan, gives way economic, social and to ethno-cultural components of the society life.
– General interest of the Kazakhstan Internet communities is accumulated around the problems: the Kazakh statehood, a historical personalities, an ethno-cultural heritage of the Kazakh people (for example, http://www.massagan.com, http://qazaq.kz/, http://minber.kz/index.php). Thus frequently as the signs of a generality of a community is presented by the ethnic identity expressing through perception of code symbols, i.e. the signs received or transferred to the interlocutor. And the language acts as those signs. In other words, one of factors of formation of Internet community in the Kazakhstan segment is the linguistic component.
– The Geographical indicator far not the basic leitmotif of establishing of the Internet community that is visible from studying of number of Kazakh-speaking sites and forums. It is possible to tell that absence in the Internet of the accepted representations about frontiers has defined revision of the settled representations about “identity” of a nationality and the state. If to consider that all Kazakhstan Internet for today – Russian-speaking, the aspiration of isolation of a small part the Kazakh-speaking Internet communities is quite obvious. Therefore we deal with a single Kazakh-speaking Internet audience.
– Ethno-linguistic criterion, as the accessory indicator to a certain Internet audience, carries a distinct sign of aspiration of realization of national self-expression and identity. If, as a rule, popularization of the Internet first of all is caused by development of social networks, uniqueness of formation of the Internet in Kazakhstan, as parts of its modern history that extending social Internet networks, are not the typical features of formation of the Kazakh Internet.
– The Kazakh-speaking Internet is formed as representation about ethno-territorial and national belongings of users of the Network, arising within the limits of special forms of its existence and functioning and uniting them in a single Internet society. The Kazakh-speaking Internet community reflects tendencies of socio-political and cultural processes in a modern history of Kazakhstan.
The particular interest is represented by a problem of quasi-history and pseudo-historians, as consequence – the analysis of a phenomenon of their Internet popularity. Research only a small part of a historical web content of a network (about 2.5 thousand web sites with the Kazakhstan subjects have been investigated), formation on this basis of various criteria of studying of the hypertext and as historical source, serves as an illustration of perceptivity of undertaken researches from a point of working out of innovative technologies of historical heuristics. As a whole it is possible to speak about the increasing tendency of preservation of a historical content in the form of the hypertext. For its studying as working versions of source study of the heuristics researches the phases of “activity” (an information need – the data of inquiries through “search engines”), the phases of “localization” of the historical information on web sites can be offered. Certainly these names are rather conditional. Meanwhile, they are simple for adapting and then to interpret in a historical discourse: revealing of an urgency and degree of a demand of the information, the historic-source study analysis, studying of mechanisms of formation through a historical content of steady representations about individual questions of a historical and cultural heritage. With reference to the Kazakhstan plots, as those the following actual questions in a network acts: «Astana and modern history of Kazakhstan», «Nation establishment and the XX-th century history», «The Kazakh ethnos and the Kazakh statehood», «The National language and national culture», «The cultural heritage and national revival in the XXI-st century». Search and ranging of indicators was made through the Internet search services with their subsequent ordering.
In other words, web content research acts as an additional tool of studying of dynamics social and cultural processes in modern history.
The historical source-study constant of Internet researches caused by that the Internet is interesting to a historical science as a tool of formation of stereotypes of social behavior and mass consciousness, as variety of forms and contents of information streams in a modern society, the mechanism of preservation and regeneration of great volume of the information. The requirement for the organization of an information stream and its streamlining has led to occurrence before non-existent forms of the information and communications methods in a society. It became a consequence of occurrence of the new form of a historical source – an electronic (multimedia) source.
The tendency is that that frequently most of volume of historically significant information exists only on electronic carriers. Formation of electronic data archives became an institutional basis. Archives of the electronic data assume a mass stream of constantly replenishing data, appreciably the stereotypic one. Such documents on a modern history are arriving on storage in the state archives: materials of the central, local authorities, municipal departments – from the state structures to the commercial organizations. Realization of the concept of the electronic government of Kazakhstan, has caused besides and formation of network electronic documentary databases. Therefore it is obvious that today the large quantity of the documentary information on modern history is mostly stored in the electronic form.
Thus the archival establishments, as materializing the right of citizens of the state to reception documentary information, carry out a special role in formation of a uniform information field of a documentary heritage of modern history. In Kazakhstan these positions have received reflection in accepted on November 30th, 2006 the Program of development of archival business and systems of the documentation of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2007-2009, where one of actual problems which archival establishments urged to carry out, the supply with information of economic, social and moral development of a modern society acts.
Formation of electronic archives of the data on a modern history can be divided in several blocks:
– Electronic copies of historical sources;
– Computer databases for archival documents;
– Information service within the limits of functioning of “the electronic government».
Along with that it is an accumulation effective remedy it acts also as reliable way of fast placing and subsequent extraction of the necessary information on modern history.
Active introduction of classical forms of preservation of historical knowledge – archives and museums, in information and computerization processes, causes the Internet researches as innovative spectrum and direction of activity of the modern historian-researcher, mastering with modern toolkit of source study researches. Formation of this direction of the historical source study works is urgent also due to that within the limits of the decision of specific targets of researches on economic history, social and political history of a boundary of the XX-XXI-st centuries, is difficult to do without attraction of the informative content of sources on the electronic carriers.
The formulation of a hypothesis that transition of a modern society to an information technology shows value not only traditional objective factors of social development, but also information accumulation by a society, change of ways of the thinking in the course of mankind evolution as key criteria of understanding of processes in a modern history, became a logical result of the conducted research work.