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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Calisphere: A goldmine of California images and documentation
If you’re not already aware of Calisphere you should have a look at it. A project of the California Digital Library and serving both the UC system and K-12 education, Calisphere is a gateway to a profusion of primary sources about… California! The content comes from all UC campuses as well as non-UC institutions (including… Read more
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An Odalisque with a past
They almost got away with it. Matisse’s Odalisque in Red Pants was discovered stolen from the Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum in Caracas, Venezuela in 2002, but in fact it had been stolen at least two years earlier. The thieves had replaced the painting with a copy and no one had noticed, even though the fake… Read more
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More digital resources for British history
In honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, two sites have launched with images from Britain’s past. Queen Victoria’s Journals, through the efforts of the Royal Archives and the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, is an interactive site with online digital images of every page in the entire sequence of Queen Victoria’s diaries from 1832-1840.… Read more
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Happy Anniversary, first Web photo
Today is the 20th anniversary of the first photo to have been uploaded to the Web (pictured left). Its cultural and artistic merit speaks for itself. Read more about the story behind the photo here. hat tip to Alex Nichols Read more
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Ottoman miniatures meet Hollywood film
Turkish student Murat Palta has done something very creative for his senior thesis project – he merged the language of Hollywood film posters with Ottoman miniature paintings. He has captured the compositional style, colours and patterns, and general authentic “look” of the miniatures. Capturing a moment of high tension and drama from the films (Goodfellas,… Read more
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Bad news for antiquities collectors
The New York Times published an interesting article today about the ever-tightening restrictions on selling and donating antiquities that lack adequate provenance. On one side are the supporters of laws intended to prevent the looting of archeological sites and illegal selling or trading of antiquities. On the other side are collectors and dealers (and organizations… Read more