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
-
More on copyright
The Copyright Clearance Center has loads of information to help with copyright questions, including this 6-minute video that breaks down the basics. The Copyright Alliance is another organization with a very helpful website, including a section specifically for Educators. Read more
-
Is it copyrighted?
Ever wonder if that manuscript, book, image, etc. is protected under U.S. copyright laws? The American Library Association has come up with a fantastic tool to help answer that question: http://librarycopyright.net/digitalslider/. It lets users scroll through numerous copyright terms for works published or created during different time periods and under various conditions. Read more
-
Richard Neutra drawings at LA Public Library
“Richard Neutra, Architect: Sketches and Drawings” just opened and is on until September 6 at the Central Library in LA – it consists of material from UCLA’s Young Library Special Collections. There will also be a series of lectures by architects in conjunction with the exhibit through the ALOUD series at the library. Read more
-
Organizing your images with Cooliris
Cooliris is a plug-in for your browser which displays images in a wonderful “3D Wall” effect – you can browse your own image folders, or online image searches (google, flickr, etc.). There’s a great explanation of it here: http://aahvrc.blogspot.com/search?q=cooliris Read more
-
New ARTstor collection releases
ARTstor announced the following collections are now available: The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (approximately 800 images, learn more) The Roy Lichtenstein Collection (800 images, learn more) MoMA Exhibition Installation Photograph Collection [The Museum of Modern Art Archives] (last release completed and totals roughly 16,700 images, learn more) Larry Qualls Archive of Contemporary Art… Read more
-
New ARTstor feature: Associated Image Clusters
There are two new icons in ARTstor that help you efficiently find and use images. When applicable, the icons are located beneath a thumbnail image on the search results screen and help you act on special features related to that image. The two new icons are: Duplicates & Details: This identifies groups of image duplicates… Read more