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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Participate in visual literacy competency standards
The ACRL IRIG (Association of College & Research Libraries Image Resources Interest Group) Visual Literacy Standards Task Force is working on Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. To foster discussion about visual literacy, the Task Force has started a blog as a communication tool to provide information about the standards development process and progress… Read more
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Ship found buried at World Trade Center site
Construction workers at the World Trade Center have uncovered the remains of a ship buried in the site’s mud. The vessel, whose hull measures roughly 32 feet, appears to be from the 18th century but archeologists plan to study the ship and an anchor found nearby to determine its age and place of origin. Both… Read more
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“Forbidden Art” curators found guilty
Two Russian curators have been found guilty of “inciting hatred” with their 2007 contemporary art exhibition Forbidden Art — 2006. The exhibition had angered the Russian Orthodox Church, which condemned several works that depicted Jesus Christ in non-traditional ways and supported the charges against the curators. This in turn worried artists, who countered with a… Read more
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Photographers’ portfolios online at Photography Now
Photography Now is a website that offers high-quality portfolios of contemporary and “master” photographers. The photographs are displayed via Flash in a page-turning format. The image quality is very good, but there are unfortunately no captions or other information with the images, nor are the images downloadable. Still, it’s a very nice way to peruse… Read more
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Wayne Thiebaud’s CA license plate helps raise money for California Arts Council
In 1993 the California Arts Council teamed up with state government officials for the first “specialty plate” in California: a sunset and palm tree motif, titled Coastline, designed by Pop artist Wayne Thiebaud. Now Governor Schwarzenegger is launching a Million Plates Campaign for the Arts to aggressively help the CAC raise at least $40 million… Read more
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Ghent Altarpiece undergoing new technical analysis
Today in the LA Times there’s an interesting article about the history of the Ghent Altarpiece, and the conservation team working on a detailed analysis of it. The work, paid for by a $230,000 grant from the Panel Paintings Initiative of the Getty Foundation, is being done in a high-security room in a side chapel… Read more