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
-
Update: BBC’s Your Paintings completes access to UK’s public-owned paintings; taggers now welcome
Eighteen months ago we announced the launch of Your Paintings, a BBC-hosted site “which aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings, and where to see them for real.” The site, co-funded by The Public Catalogue Foundation, announced it has completed its task. This translates into 3,217… Read more
-
Engaging topics abound on Ottoman History Podcast
Launched in Spring of 2011, Ottoman History Podcast is an online radio program dedicated to accessible and academic discussion of new topics in the history, society and culture of the Ottoman Empire and Middle East. Guests and contributors include over 40 scholars and students from a variety of disciplines. To date there are 83 podcast… Read more
-
Rembrandt Database offers a rich research resource
The Rembrandt Database is dedicated to gathering and presenting past and current scholarship (with their sources) about the 17th-century Netherlandish artist. Still in beta, the goal of the site is to foster “a platform for the presentation of new interpretations” through a collaborative effort between numerous museums, research institutions and individual scholars worldwide. Currently there… Read more
-
Architect Oscar Niemeyer dies at 104
Brazilian-born architect Oscar Niemeyer died on Wednesday at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, just shy of his 105th birthday. via BBC and New York Times; photo and written tributes at ArchDaily Read more
-
Rijksmuseum launches its collection digitally in Rijksstudio
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam now offers RijksStudio, a vast and ground-breaking online presentation of 125,000 works in its collection. The site, which is a “prelude” to the physical museum’s reopening April 13, 2013, contains high resolution images with which users “can do whatever they like”: create your own printed creations or collect and share image… Read more
-
Charles and Ray Eames’ Powers of Ten
A Slate essay revisits the iconic Charles and Ray Eames nine-minute film Powers of Ten created for IBM and narrated by physicist Philip Morrison. Illustrated with the video and a “Making of…” slideshow, the essay discusses the ground breaking process behind the awe-inspiring still and aerial photography that captures Chicago. Read more