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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1600-year-old Bible published online
The Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century Christian Bible written in Greek and containing the oldest complete copy of the New Testament, has been published online at codexsinaiticus.org. The book was discovered in 1844 at the Monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula. It had been split up among four countries, and The Codex Sinaiticus… Read more
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Most complete topographic map of Earth published
This week NASA and ASTER (Japan’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) released a new and more complete digital topographic map of Earth. Best of all, it is available online to users everywhere at no cost. NASA’s press release is here, with links to downloading the ASTER global digital elevation model Read more
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accessCeramics: a successful collaborative image project
Accessceramics.org is a collaborative database project which allows users to contribute images of contemporary ceramics for educational purposes. It was started by Ted Vogel and Margo Ballantyne at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, and it uses Flickr image software to upload, organize and display the images. It can be browsed by artist name, media,… Read more
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A helpful digitization site
Make it Digital: This new site, provided by the New Zealand government, includes loads of helpful hints and answers to difficult questions about how to digitize (technically, legally, aesthetically). Read more
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East African photo collection now online
The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs, housed in the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University, is now online and accessible to the public. This rare collection includes roughly 7,610 photographs, 230 glass lantern slides, and various additional materials from 1860 to 1960. Read more