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
-
ARTMargins Journal on East European Visual Culture
ARTMargins is an online journal devoted to Contemporary Central and East European Visual Culture. Founded in 1999 and published three times a year, it is managed by staff at The Hungarian University of Fine Arts and University of California, Santa Barbara – our own Sven Spieker is the Editor. There are wonderfully diverse articles on… Read more
-
Art Historians of Southern California Annual meeting on Nov. 7
THE ART HISTORIANS of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (AHSC) November 7, 2009 at 9:00 am Occidental College, Weingart Hall Program includes lunch and reception. RSVP for further information to Rachel Pinto at eaurae@gmail.com Full program is available here. Directions to Occidental College here. Read more
-
The Virtual Museum of Iraq
Highlights from the The Iraq Museum in Baghdad can now be viewed online at The Virtual Museum of Iraq. The “halls” are organized by period and offer historical and geographical background as well as sculptures and decorative objects. Objects can be explored both by description and visually via multiple views or a QTVR. Some objects… Read more
-
The Red Dot breaks 5,000!
We just passed 5,000 hits this morning – fantastic! We at the Red Dot are very happy, and grateful for your continued readership! If there’s anything you’d like to see more or less of, please let us know. With gratitude, Jackie and Christine Read more
-
Even more ARTstor additions and agreements
Ever busy ARTstor has announced these new additions to their Digital Library: Dov Friedman: America and European Architecture: approximately 560 new photographs of historic and contemporary architecture in San Francisco, Washington DC and New York (38% of projected 1,500 total images completed; keyword search: dovfriedman) Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) Visual Resources Collection:… Read more
-
Arounder – a new way to visit cities virtually
A new website targeted at travelers can have some great applications for historians as well. Arounder lets you pick a building or site and view it in the round. It works with Google Maps to help you find a site (or you can choose from a list of highlights and virtual tours) – double-click on… Read more