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Can a country with a constant state of emergency in its capital – as was the case in Estonia in 1918–1934 – be considered a democracy? Or a country where political violence is used against members of a parliamentary committee during a committee meeting – as was the case in Finland in 1930? Why did the Estonian Social Democrats support the 1934 coup and why did the Finnish Swedes defend the Finnish Communists? Why could Estonia not find any allies except Latvia in the 1920s and 1930s, and why was Finland left without allies in the Winter War? Why did Estonia and Finland not behave in the same way in the autumn of 1939, and why did the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Finland in 1941? The answers to these questions lie in the relationships between democracy and security, which is exactly the topic of my dissertation. Based on the works of different philosophers, it is possible to show that democracy and security are interdependent. The relationship between democracy and security can be reduced to the classic dilemmas between freedom and security, freedom and sovereignty, and sovereignty and security. Although it is not possible to solve these dilemmas definitively, the solution can be improved indefinitely. I argue that the way in which democratic societies resolve these dilemmas does not depend on democratic culture or on the wisdom inherent in people, but on the perceptions of the majorities of democratic societies, which in turn depend primarily on historical experience. The theoretical explanation proposed in my dissertation helps to understand why Estonia’s and Finland’s quests for security failed in 1918–1948 and why Estonia and Finland made different choices at the turning points of their history. The behaviour of Estonia’s leaders during the events of 1939 and 1940 also becomes understandable. Hopefully, my dissertation will contribute to a fair judgement of the activities of Konstantin Päts and Johan Laidoner, and to reconciling Estonian society on the question of whether they were heroes or villains. However, the most important aim is to contribute to an understanding of just how fragile democracy and security can be, how they depend on each other and, in particular, how they depend on historical experience. Kas saab pidada demokraatlikuks riiki, mille pealinnas kehtib pidev erakorraline seisukord – nagu oli Eesti aastatel 1918–1934? Või riiki, kus parlamendikomisjoni liikmete vastu kasutatakse poliitilist vägivalda komisjoni istungi toimumise ajal – nagu oli Soome aastal 1930? Miks Eesti sotsiaaldemokraadid toetasid 1934. aasta riigipööret ja miks soomerootslased kaitsesid Soome kommuniste? Miks ei õnnestunud 1920-ndate ja 1930-ndate Eestil leida ühtegi liitlast peale Läti ja miks jäi Soome talvesõjas ilma liitlasteta? Miks Eesti ja Soome 1939. aasta sügisel ühtemoodi ei käitunud ja miks Ühendkuningriik, Kanada, Austraalia ja Uus-Meremaa 1941. aastal Soomele sõja kuulutasid? Vastus peitub demokraatia ja julgeoleku vahelistes seostes, mida minu väitekiri uuribki. Erinevate filosoofide töödele tuginedes on võimalik näidata, et demokraatia ja julgeolek sõltuvad vastastikku üksteisest. Demokraatia ja julgeoleku vaheline seos on taandatav klassikalistele dilemmadele vabaduse ja julgeoleku, vabaduse ja suveräänsuse ja suveräänsuse ja julgeoleku vahel. Kuigi dilemmasid ei ole võimalik lõplikult lahendada, on lahendust võimalik lõputult täiustada. Ma väidan, et see, kuidas demokraatlikud ühiskonnad neid dilemmasid lahendavad, ei sõltu mitte demokraatlikust kultuurist või rahvale omasest tarkusest, vaid demokraatlike ühiskondade enamuste arusaamadest, mis omakorda sõltuvad eelkõige ajaloolisest kogemusest. Minu väitekirjas välja pakutud teoreetiline selgitus aitab mõista, miks Eesti ja Soome julgeolekuotsingud aastatel 1918–1948 läbi kukkusid ja miks Eesti ja Soome oma ajaloo pöördepunktides erinevaid valikuid tegid. Mõistetavaks muutub ka Eesti riigijuhtide käitumine 1939. ja 1940. aasta sündmuste ajal. Loodetavasti aitab minu väitekiri kaasa õiglase hinnangu andmisele Konstantin Pätsi ja Johan Laidoneri tegevusele ja Eesti ühiskonna lepitamisele küsimuses, kas tegemist oli kangelaste või kurjategijatega. Kõige tähtsam on siiski aidata kaasa mõistmisele, kuivõrd haprad võivad olla demokraatia ja julgeolek, kuidas nad vastastikku üksteisest sõltuvad ja eriti – kuidas nad sõltuvad ajaloolisest kogemusest. https://www.ester.ee/record=b5391015

This PhD thesis examines the Baltic art field during the Enlightenment, focusing on the amateur pictorial legacy. By turning our attention from the professional-institutional art world, which was still quite limited in the 18th century, to the broader circle of dilettanti, and from artistically high-quality pictures to everyday drawing practices (travel and scientific drawings, cartographical records, pictures related to local history and archaeology, journal vignettes, etc), the sudden increase of art appreciation and drawing skills among the Baltic nobility and educated class in the second half of the 18th century has been traced, along with the noteworthy role played by pictorial media during the Baltic Enlightenment. In the thesis, this change of perspective and a certain re-evaluation of the descriptive patterns related to the local art field help to highlight the special features of Baltic art, by allowing the limited aesthetic quality and the modest creative flight of the early local pictorial legacy to be treated without an inferiority complex and for its inherently Enlightenment-based pragmatic attitude and applied nature to be viewed as one of the main features of Baltic German art culture. Along with the mapping of the local art lovers’ pictorial experiences and prototypes, the topographies of Baltic sights and landscapes that were the most important and most characteristic pictorial genre of the Baltic Enlightenment, and which created the local visual identity, are examined. Various articles explore the aspect of female dilettanti, the theme of art collections and the art market, and provide a view based on the history of mentality as it relates to the various functions and art/artist positions in Baltic society. Attention is separately paid to distinguishing between an artist’s hobby and artist’s profession and the awareness thereof in the Baltic mentality; and to several, cultural self-determinations that developed locally during the Enlightenment, and which continued to feed the amateur, Enlightenment-based and pragmatic attitude toward artistic creation during the 19th century. Doktoritöö võtab vaatluse alla Balti valgustusaegse kunstivälja, keskendudes harrastuslikule pildipärandile. Pöörates fookuse 18.sajandi veel tagasihoidlikult professionaalselt-institutsionaalselt kunstielult laiemale harrastajate ringile ja kunstiliselt kõrgetasemelistelt piltidelt harrastuslikele, argistele, rakenduslikele joonistuspraktikatele (reisi- ja teadusjoonistused, kartograafilised ülestähendused, koduloolised ja muinasteaduslikud pildid, päevikuvinjetid jpm) on jälgitud kunstitundmise ja joonistusoskuse hüppelist kasvu Balti aadli- ja haritlaskonna seas 18.sajandi teisel poolel – ja veel enam, pildimeedia märkimisväärset rolli Balti valgustuses. Selline vaatenurga muutmine ja seniste kohalikku kunstivälja kirjeldavate mustrite teatav ümbermängimine on töös abiks balti kunsti erijoonte esiletoomisel, lubades alaväärsuskompleksita käsitleda siinse varase pildipärandi vähest esteetilist kvaliteeti ja madalat loomelendu ning hinnata sellele omast valgustuslik-pragmaatilist suhtumist ja rakenduslikku-harrastuslikku iseloomu kui baltisaksa kunstikultuuri ühte põhijoont. Koos siinsete harrastajate pildikogemuse ja -eeskujude kaardistamisega võetakse fookusesse Balti valgustuskunsti kõige tähtsam ja iseloomulikum, kohalikku visuaalset identiteeti loov pildižanr – muististe ja vaatamisväärsuste pildilised topograafiad ning maastikujoonistused. Erinevates artiklites lisandub naisuurimuse aspekt, kunstikogude ja –turu teema ning mentaliteediajaloost lähtuv pilk joonistamise erinevatele funktsioonidele ja kunsti/kunstniku positsioonile Balti ühiskonnas. Omaette tähelepanu saavad kunstiharrastuse ja kunstnikuprofessiooni eristamine ja teadvustamine balti mentaliteedis ning mitmed just valgustusajas siinmail väljakujunenud kultuurilised enesedeterminatsioonid, mis jäävad harrastuslikku, valgustuslik-pragmaatilist suhtumist kunstiloomesse toitma ka 19. sajandi edenedes. Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone https://www.ester.ee/record=b5249289~S1

Uurimistöö eesmärgiks oli välja töötada meetod tekstilise andmestiku kogumiseks, mille alusel saaks hiljem arendada masinõppel põhinevaid meetodeid depressiooni ja ärevuse riski automaatseks hindamiseks. Töö käigus koostati ankeet, mille abil koguti tekstilist materjali ligi 300-st vabatahtlikust koosnevalt mugavusvalimilt. Kogutud tekstid sisaldasid nii etteantud pildi kirjeldust kui ka vabalt valitud sündmuse või mälestuse kirjeldust. Valimis osalenute emotsionaalset seisundit mõõdeti EEK-2 skriiningtesti abil. Ligi 42% isikutest ületas depressiooni ning ligi 30% isikutest ärevuse alaskaala riskilävendi. Esialgsed eksperimendid masinõppe mudelitega, mis püüdsid ennustada, kas inimese EEK-2 skoor ületab depressiooni ja/või ärevuse riskilävendi, edukaid tulemusi ei andnud. Kokkuvõttes tundub, et etteantud pildi kirjeldamine ei ole sobivaim viis soovitud andmestiku kogumiseks ja pigem peaks kasutama selliseid kirjutamise ülesandeid, mis oleks inimese endaga rohkem seotud.

For a historian the early modern chronicle is most commonly a historical source – good or bad, reliable or untrustworthy. Based on this information the historian decides how much he or she can use the events recorded and historical figures described in the chronicle to reconstruct the past. For those researchers who study the history of historiography, the chronicle represents the reflections of the historical knowledge and the idea of history of the period in question. He or she is interested in the author, his or her motives, circumstances concerning the creation of the work, author’s sources and the reception of the work by its peers and followers. Historians and historians of historiography have studied the early modern chronicles written in Estland, Livland and Courland and agreed upon their trustworthiness, however, equal attention has not been given to the chronicles as reflectors of the historical knowledge of the period and to how the chronicles received new developments in Western European historiography. This dissertation contains seven articles on the early modern historiography which look at the influence of social factors (such as power, wars, spreading of printing presses), Western European ideas (idea of history, antiquarianism, Gothicism) and author’s personal choice of sources on historiography in Estland, Livland and Courland. In summary it can be said that historians received different ideas from Western Europe, however, none of them rose to the level of fame as some of their contemporaries in Europe. In the dialogue with the cultural centre, they were at the receiving end and not an equal partner. Concerning the societal factors, there is usually a combination of aspects influencing the writing of history at any given time. Thus, we cannot say that warfare or the establishment pf printing shops definitely encouraged or discouraged the writing of history, printing and distribution of historical works. When in 16th century the authors were more concerned with descriptions of contemporary events for future generations then in 17th century some authors aspired to write a more comprehensive overview on local history from the earliest times. Ajaloolasele on varauusaegne kroonika enamasti allikas – hea või halb, usaldusväärne või ebausaldusväärne – ning sellest lähtuvalt otsustab ajaloolane kui palju saab ta kasutada kroonikas kirjeldatud sündmusi ja inimeste tegusid selleks, et minevikku rekonstrueerida. Ajalookirjanduse ajaloo uurijale on kroonika oma ajastu ajaloo teadmiste ja ajaloo idee peegeldus. Teda huvitab autori isik, tema motiivid, kroonika valmimisega seotud asjaolud, krooniku allikad ja selle edasine saatus ajaloomaastikul. Mis puudutab kroonika allikalist väärtust, siis selles osas on ajalookirjutuse ajaloo uurijad ja ajaloolased varauusaegsete kroonikaid uurinud ning neile hinnangu andnud. Vähem on uuritud kroonikaid kui oma ajastu ajalookirjutuse peegleid ning seda, kuidas võtsid need vastu Lääne-Euroopas levinud ajalooteaduse arenguid või kuidas ühiskondlikud tegurid ajalookirjutust mõjutada võisid. Käesolev doktoriväitekiri sisaldab seitset sissevaadet varauusaegsesse ajalookirjutusse uurides ühiskondlike tegurite (võim, sõda, trükikunsti levik), Lääne-Euroopast tulnud ideede (ajaloo idee, antikvaarne liikumine, gootitsism) ning autori individuaalse allikavaliku mõju ajalookirjutusele Eestimaal, Liivimaal ja Kuramaal. Kokkuvõttes võib tõdeda, et Eestimaa, Liivimaa ja Kuramaa ajalookirjutajad võtsid vastu erinevaid Lääne-Euroopas levinud ideid ning lugesid uuemat kirjandust, kuid nende endi keskelt ei kerkinud esile ajaloolast, kes oleks olnud üle Euroopa tuntud. Dialoogis Euroopa kultuuri keskusega jäädi pigem vastuvõtjaks kui võrdseks partneriks. Ühiskondlike tegurite mõju avaldus enamasti paljude tegurite kombinatsioonis kui selgelt üheselt. Näiteks ei saa väita, et sõjategevus või trükikodade asutamine Eesti-, Liivi- ja Kuramaale alati julgustas või vastupidi pärssis ajalooteoste sündi, trükkimist või levikut. Kui 16. sajandil oli ajalookirjutajate jaoks esiplaanil oma eluajal toimunud sündmuste kirjeldamine järeltulevate põlvede jaoks, siis 17. sajandil asusid mitmed autorid koostama terviklikumat käsitlust kohalikust ajaloost. Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone

It is quite natural that different sources from the past pass on different information. The current thesis studies how the archaeological and folkloristic information relate to each other and what are the possibilities to use theses as a combined. Archaeological research has focused on the material remains from the past; the folklorists, however, study the information that has mainly been passed on orally. When the academic interest lies in the past culture as a whole, the use of different sources will grant richer and more comprehensive knowledge. The case-study of thesis that is covering the material from Estonia is analysing the information about origin of and finds associated with human remains in wetlands. The main focus has been on mires. This kind of intriguing and unstudied topic was chosen because of folk songs that describe burying in mires. Also, in the place-lore there are stories about burials in mires, as well as depictions of drowning in wetlands. For archaeologist, this raises a question, whether this folklore could reflect the events that have led to bog bodies? Additionally, the place-lore describes unearthing of human remains from waterlogged soil of which there is no archaeological documentation. Attempts to find new archaeological record for some of these place-lore sites were unfortunately unsuccessful. These fieldworks illustrate how complicated is it to discover archaeological finds from wetlands. At the same time, the work with archive sources and literature showed that there are previous archaeologically documented finds of human remains from wetlands. The age, context and way of emerge of these human remains has been very different. The archaeological excavation conducted as part of this research in Alasoo Varajemägi revealed finds in peat originating from the pyre. It seems that items left behind from cremation burials were taken into a former lake. There was no record of this kind of behaviour from the Viking Age previously documented in Estonia. Therefore, the study represents information in archaeology and folkloristics concerning human remains in wetlands. The information of both records is quite diverse, but the systematic study has brought them closer and at the same time has helped to understand the character how the archaeological and folkloristic information has been emerged, transmitted and stored. On täiesti loomulik, et erinevad minevikust pärinevad allikaliigid kannavad endas edasi erinevat informatsiooni. Käesolevas doktoritöös vaadeldakse, kuidas suhestuvad omavahel arheoloogiline ja rahvaluuleline teave ning millised on võimalused nende kooskasutuseks. Arheoloogide uurimistöö on keskendunud mineviku materiaalsetele jäänustele, rahvaluuleteadlased aga uurivad informatsiooni, mis on üle põlvkondade edasi kandunud enamasti suusõnaliselt. Kui teadlase uurimisobjektiks on mineviku kultuur terviklikult, siis aitab erinevate allikate kasutus saada möödunud aegadest palju rikkama ja mitmekihilisema arusaama. Eesti materjali käsitleva doktoritöö juhtumuuring vaatleb teavet inimjäänuste tekkest ja vastavatest leidudest märgaladel. Peamise tähelepanu all on olnud sood. Niisuguse intrigeeriva ja senikäsitlemata teemavaliku põhjustasid sohu matmisi kirjeldavad rahvalaulud. Ka kohapärimuses on nii jutte matmisest sohu kui ka kirjeldusi uppumistest märgaladel. Arheoloogi jaoks tõstatab see küsimuse, kas ja mil määral võib niisugune pärimus kajastada sündmusi, mis on maha jätnud soolaipu? Lisaks kirjeldab kohapärimus inimsäilmete avastamist liigniiskest pinnasest, mille kohta arheoloogilist dokumentatsiooni ei leidu. Katse leida osadest pärimuspaikadest uusi arheoloogilisi tõendeid kahjuks ei õnnestunud. Mainitud välitööd illustreerivad hästi, kui keerukas ja raske on avastada märgaladelt arheoloogiliste leide. Samas, töö arhiiviallikate ja kirjandusega näitas, et eelnevalt on ka arheoloogiliselt registreeritud inimjäänuste leide liigniiskest pinnasest. Need leiud on aga väga erineva vanuse, konteksti ja tekkepõhjusega. Doktoritöö raames tehtud arheoloogiliste kaevamistega õnnestus Alasoo Varajemäel tuvastada turbas asuvaid leide, mis pärinesid tuleriidalt. Näib, et põletusmatustest järele jäänud asju viidi endisaegsesse järvevette. Niisugusest viikingiaegsest käitumisest Eesti arheoloogias seni tõendeid ei olnud. Seega esitab uurimus märgaladel leiduvate inimjäänustega seonduvat arheoloogilist ja rahvaluulelist informatsiooni. Mõlemas allikaliigis esinev informatsioon on küll üsna eriilmeline, kuid süstemaatiline uurimine on vähendanud nende vahelist lõhet ja samas aidanud mõtestada ka eripära, kuidas need allikad on tekkinud, edasi kandunud ning talletunud. Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone

The possibilities for using folklore in studying history are directly dependent on the raised problem. In memories about the distant past, reality and fiction are often mixed up, which is why historians may regard the reliability of such stories as low. Still, such folklore shows what was valued, which events were felt to be significant and important. For historians, problems have been posed by the reliability and difficulties in dating the lore. In connection with the emergence of microhistory, more and more attention is being paid to how and what people thought, and it is often very difficult to find answers to this question in written sources. This article observes the possibilities for using historical tradition in the studies of agrarian and settlement history and, more specifically, five narrow topics that concern border markers, the emergence of villages, land use in farms, inheritance matters, and beggars. Oral tradition about the founding of villages and farms and their first settlers is in most cases connected with the periods of war and the plague, immigration of people, or some other extraordinary event. Descriptions of everyday life, which are abundantly found in folk memory, usually speak about well known and familiar things. At the same time, they considerably help to broaden notions of the past and enable to find out the peasants’ attitudes towards and evaluations of one or another event or phenomenon. As a result of taking folklore into consideration, the picture of history becomes much more differentiated and colourful. The folklore that has been observed in this article is closely connected with the village society, and it primarily reveals notions connected with the farm people’s everyday life. Archive sources usually disclose them from quite a different point of view. As a result of the analysis, we have reached the conclusion that the best results are achieved when historical tradition is taken into account for relatively recent events, those that have happened since the second half of the 19th century, and under circumstances in which spatial relationships have not considerably changed. The use of earlier lore is more complicated, although it also enables us to see people’s attitudes, which gives a ‘soul’ to the discussed phenomena. The biggest difference is that archive materials, naturally, do not reflect the reasons hidden in the peasants’ mental world. Namely, this is why the use of folklore enables to provide important extra material for studying settlement and agrarian history, which supplements a rational picture about past events and processes, and enables to open up deeper backgrounds to what happened.

The 100th anniversary from the outbreak of the First World War (WWI) has increased the number of academic studies dedicated to the war both in Western Europe as well as in Estonia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, where it was heretofore rather known as the “forgotten war”. This increased focus has revealed several gaps in the local historiography, especially in relation to the social and cultural aspects of the war. Among these gaps is the topic of the war experience of soldiers and its post-war meaning, which stands in the center of this doctoral thesis. The thesis relies on Estonian soldiers’ letters, diaries, memoirs and materials of veterans’ organizations, and analyzes both the common as well as previously less explored elements of the war experience of Estonian soldiers who served in the Russian Army during WWI. The thesis examines the formation of the experience during the war as well as its postwar meaning over a long timespan, i.e. how the experience was perceived and re-implemented in the transformed sociopolitical context during the interwar period and the Soviet era. By analyzing the central aspects of the Estonians’ war experience (enemy-image, self-image, relations with fellow soldiers and with the home front, returning home), the factors that affected these aspects (the context of the Russian Army, postwar conflicts), and the postwar meaning of the experience, the thesis places the Estonian case study into the wider framework of the local and international historiography and highlights the need to further research the experiences of minorities who served in the Russian Army as well as the numerous aspects of the “long” WWI on the Eastern Front. Saja aasta möödumine Esimese maailmasõja puhkemisest aktualiseeris teemakohast ajalookirjutust nii Lääne-Euroopas kui ka Eestis ja mujal Ida-Euroopas, kus ilmasõda tunti seni pigem “unustatud sõjana”. Sellest tulenevalt on siinses ajalookirjutuses tulnud nähtavale mitmed lüngad, eriti sõja ühiskondlike ja kultuuriliste aspektide käsitlemisel. Viimaste hulka kuulub sõdurite kogemuse ja selle sõjajärgse tähenduse analüüs, mis on antud doktoritöö uurimisülesanne. Tuginedes eesti sõdurite kirjadele, päevikutele ja mälestustele ning veteranide organisatsioonide materjalidele, analüüsib väitekiri Esimeses maailmasõjas Vene armee koosseisus osalenud eestlastest sõdurite sõjakogemuse ühisosa, selle eripäraseid ja/või seni vähest tähelepanu pälvinud komponente. Töö käsitleb sõja kestel omandatud kogemust ning viimase tähendust pikemal aegreal, st kogemusele hinnangu andmist ja selle rakendamist 1920.–1930. aastate ning nõukogude perioodi teisenenud ühiskondlik-poliitilistes oludes. Analüüsides eestlaste sõjakogemuse iseloomulikumaid komponente (vaenlase- ja enesekuvand, suhted kaassõdurite ja kodurindega, kojupöördumine), neid mõjutanud tegureid (nt Vene armee taustsüsteem, ilmasõjale järgnenud konfliktid) ning kogemuse sõjajärgset tähendust, astub töö diskussiooni maailmasõja alase lokaalse ja rahvusvahelise historiograafiaga ning juhib tähelepanu vajadusele Vene armees teeninud väikerahvaste kogemuse problemaatikat, aga ka erinevaid “pika” Esimese maailmasõja aspekte idarindel kompleksselt analüüsida. Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.

The tradition of Estonians’ cultural festivals is a rich topic and may be considered profoundly distinctive for Estonian people. It is a unique way of maintaining and advancing the traditions of national heritage through a variety of activities. Since after World War II a forced separation took place in Estonian national culture and many citizens of the former Republic of Estonia escaped from the Soviet occupation to the Free World (thereby splitting geographically into the groups of homeland Estonians and Estonians abroad), the tradition of cultural festivals continued on both sides of the Iron Curtain, in an effort to maintain traditions under different circumstances. This special issue of the journal is the outcome of a project begun in 2012, to investigate the role of folk dance hobby activities and festival traditions in the maintenance of national culture. During the compilation of the special issue the focus shifted towards the question of the role of Estonians’ traditional festivals in the ever-changing world – their viability and transmission of the traditions of national identity both in Estonia and abroad. This issue covers the experiences of hobbyists in traditional cultural activities, their involvement in festivals, and their cultural contribution, both in Estonia and in communities outside it. Among the basic themes of the articles the following deserve special attention: the place of the Baltic countries’ song festivals in the world cultural heritage and the relationship between new and traditional songs; the role of dance festivals in the preservation and transmission of traditional dancing skills in contemporary Estonia and the nature of cultural heritage being maintained at dance festivals; the role of folk dance among the Skolt Saami, our neighbours in the North, in shaping their history, identity, and future, as well as the connections between contemporary Skolt Saami folk dance and identity; the revitalisation of old folk musical instrument traditions both in Estonia and among the Estonian diaspora; the split and repression in the realm of choir music, due to the forced separation by a foreign power; the recording of World War II refugees’ cultural events on narrow gauge film in Sweden and the identification of the filmed individuals by a group of experts. Another and not less important goal of this issue is to stimulate a more wide-ranging discussion in Estonian society about the role of hobbies and traditional festivals, especially outside Estonia, which are an integral part of Estonian national culture and Estonian folk culture.

Selle töö eesmärgiks on treenida statistiline masin ehk algoritm, mis on võimeline pilte eesti keeles kirjeldama. Vastav mudel oleks kasulik nii pildiotsingul kui ka nägemisvaegustega inimestele navigeerimisel. Eesti keel on morfoloogiliselt rikas (palju käändeid ja pöördeid), mis teeb selle modelleerimise keeruliseks. Enne kui on võimalik genereerida grammatiliselt korrektset kirjeldust, tuleb osata lauseid ja sõnu informatiivselt esitada. Selleks uurin neurovõrkudel põhinevaid meetodeid. Lisaks on eestikeelsed andmekogud tihti väiksemad kui analoogilised ingliskeelsed korpused. Uurin, kuidas kanda tarkust üle suurtest ingliskeelsetest andmekogudest, et eesti keeletehnoloogia rakenduste tulemusi parandada. Treenin uudse neurovõrkudel põhineva tõlkesüsteemi ingliskeelsete lausete tõlkimiseks eesti keelde. Näitan, et analoogilise mudeliga saab tõlkida ka pilte tekstiks. Töö käigus valmib esimene mudel, mis on edukalt võimeline pilte loomulikus eesti keeles kirjeldama.

The aim of the paper is to analyse the collective expression of attitudes elicited by the doping scandal that concerned the esteemed Estonian cross-country skier and Olympic gold medal winner, Andrus Veer­palu. The paper provides an insight into the evolution of an athlete into a national hero on the Internet. The analysis is based on the material col­lected from Estonian online media during two years (from April 2011 to March 2013), when Andrus Veerpalu’s court case was actively followed by the Estonian sports circles and laymen alike. The data corpus includes the most relevant news texts published in the online news portal Delfi (www.delfi.ee), comments from the same online environment, posts from the Facebook fan sites, e.g., “We believe in Andrus Veerpalu”, etc. The doping accusation called forth a quasi-religious movement, which was built around the belief that the athlete was sacred and it was not allowed to attack or accuse him in any way. The main threads in the comments analysed within this study could be divided into two opposing, although intertwining categories: the serious and the ironic. Both categories included people who believed in Veerpalu’s innocence, and those who did not; in addition, there were those who displayed their superiority towards the entire discussion. The analysis addresses the transformation of an Olympic hero into a national hero, and points out narratives that treat the scandal within the present-day genres of urban legends, conspiracy theories, and Internet humour. The more or less genuine belief of people was reflected in sought-out explanations for the doping test result and counter-arguments (above all, via conspiracy stories, but also through social mobilisation in support of Veerpalu). In the post factum comments, the ma­jority expressed the feeling that their trust had been justified; they renewed their unremitting belief in the acquitted hero. But the rather complicated end to the long case was also a confusing one, and this allowed the ironic discourse to produce parodies, jokes and other critical comments. The questions central to the analysis are the following: (1) How does the audience interpret information provided by the media and which topics do the interpretations initiate in turn? (2) How does the notion of belief emerge in the discussion, which narratives and stereotypes are believed in, and how is the belief rationalised? (3) Which folkloric and other cultural (transmedial) texts have taken inspiration from this doping scandal?