Named after the small red sticker that once guided scholars through legacy 35mm slides, The Red Dot is here to help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of visual and material research. While rooted in the University of California, Santa Barbara community, our posts are open to all.
At MIRL, we engage with art history, digital humanities, and material culture through hands-on research and archival projects. Guided by our core principles—critical engagement with visual and material culture, ethical stewardship of images and data, and innovative approaches to research and pedagogy—we work at the intersection of technology and the humanities. We are especially interested in how digital tools can expand the study of images, objects, and spaces.
Here, we’ll share insights on Digital Art History and Architectural History, highlight new image and data resources, discuss copyright and ethical considerations, and spotlight events that shape our field.
The Red Dot © 2025 is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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Carpentry @ UCSB Spring 2026 Workshops: Version Control with Git and GitHub
April 7 & 9, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm / UCSB Library, Room 2509 In this beginner-friendly workshop, you’ll learn the basics of Git for tracking changes and GitHub for sharing and collaborating on code. On day 1 we’ll cover setting up projects, tracking changes, and publishing to GitHub. On day 2, you’ll work with… Read more
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Weave Your Own Story with Telar
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to use Telar, an open-source platform for building interactive visual narratives around high-resolution images. Telar produces free-standing websites using a minimal-computing approach — no servers, no databases, no installation, and no ongoing maintenance costs. Participants will work through the full workflow: setting up a project on GitHub,… Read more
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![[Carpentry] Workshop – How to make a map with ArcGIS Online – Workshop 1](https://mirl.arthistory.ucsb.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/ArcGIS-logo.png)
[Carpentry] Workshop – How to make a map with ArcGIS Online – Workshop 1
“How to make a map with ArcGIS Online” the first in a three-part workshop series designed to add mapping skills to your research toolkit. Workshop 1: I want to make a publication ready map The goal of this session is to demystify GIS (Geographic Information Systems). By the end of this workshop, you will know… Read more
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DH Monday: Faculty Research Lecture – Alan Liu, English
Alan Liu, English (2024-2025 Faculty Research Lecturer), will give the lecture “AI Virtue: What’s “Good” Knowledge in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?” In the age of AI, what will be good knowledge? Alan Liu applies digital humanities methods to map epistemic virtues (like “true,” “accurate,” “creative”) used to discuss artificial intelligence. “Creativity” comes in for… Read more
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Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage (online, Feb 19 – May 7, 2026)
Photographic History Research Centre, Leicester, UK, Feb 19–May 7, 2026 PHRC is pleased to announce the second season of its Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage, a free, online series of talks and discussions exploring photography’s intersections with politics, technology, and cultural production. The series investigates the rich and evolving field of photographic cultures… Read more
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DH Monday: AI in Action Speaker Series Launch and Reception
February 9, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm, UCSB Library, Room 1312 Events are free and open to UCSB faculty, students, staff, and the general public. Register Here Join us for the launch of UCSB Library’s new speaker series. The event features short presentations by Tobias Fischer (Director, Earth Research Institute), Ben Halpern (Executive Director, National… Read more