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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The changing direction of the Learned Society
Dianne Harris, president of the Society of Architectural Historians, has written a very thoughtful overview of the changing role and direction of the learned society in Learned Society 2.0, in HASTAC. She uses her experience with SAH over the last five years, recounting how it has grown from an organization with little electronic interaction or… Read more
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New image downloading requirement for ARTstor users
As of August 22, all ARTstor users are required to log in before downloading images. In the past, users in the IP address range of licensing institutions could download images without registering or logging in, but ARTstor has added this new restriction. So, even if you’re at a campus computer, you will be faced with… Read more
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More high res images available for academic publishing
More and more museums and archives are making high resolution images of public domain works available online, and free, for academic publishing. The first to do this was the Metropolitan Museum, which now has thousands of Images for Academic Publishing (IAP) available through ARTstor. Other museums that have followed suit with selections from their collections… Read more
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Most recent additions to ARTstor
These collections have been added to ARTstor’s Digital Library: Contemporary Architecture, Urban Design, and Public Art (ART on FILE Collection): 1,000 of contemporary architecture in Shanghai, including the Expo 2010 Shanghai (this last installment completes the total 13,033 images from ART on FILE) Smith College Museum of Art: 1,000 images of works from the museum’s… Read more
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Middle Eastern image resources on ARTstor
One of the ways ARTstor helps users find material relevant to their teaching or research is through their subject guides. They have just published an excellent user guide on finding materials relevant to Middle East studies, covering the whole geographic/social/cultural region. In addition to objects from museums and archives, the rich holdings include contemporary and… Read more
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Assumptions about Fair Use
Inside Higher Ed has an interesting article today, called “Myths about Fair Use“. It does a great job of breaking down the myths in an easy-to-understand way. Read more