The Red Dot takes its name from the small sticker that once marked slides in a physical archive, flagging them as worth a second look. We’re keeping that spirit alive here.
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.
The Red Dot © 2025 is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
-
Carpentry @ UCSB Spring 2026 Workshops: Introduction to Data Analysis with Python
April 13, 15 & 20, 10:00am – 1:00pm / UCSB Library, Room 2509 This three-day workshop offers a comprehensive introduction to Python, specifically designed for participants with no prior programming experience. Through the use of Jupyter notebooks, learners will get started coding in Python. The workshop will cover essential skills such as data loading and… Read more
-
Carpentry @ UCSB Spring 2026 Workshops: Version Control with Git and GitHub
April 7 & 9, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm / UCSB Library, Room 2509. In this beginner-friendly workshop, you’ll learn the basics of Git for tracking changes and GitHub for sharing and collaborating on code. On day 1 we’ll cover setting up projects, tracking changes, and publishing to GitHub. On day 2, you’ll work with… Read more
-
Weave Your Own Story with Telar
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to use Telar, an open-source platform for building interactive visual narratives around high-resolution images. Telar produces free-standing websites using a minimal-computing approach — no servers, no databases, no installation, and no ongoing maintenance costs. Participants will work through the full workflow: setting up a project on GitHub,… Read more
-
![[Carpentry] Workshop – How to make a map with ArcGIS Online – Workshop 1](https://mirl.arthistory.ucsb.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/ArcGIS-logo.png)
[Carpentry] Workshop – How to make a map with ArcGIS Online – Workshop 1
“How to make a map with ArcGIS Online” the first in a three-part workshop series designed to add mapping skills to your research toolkit. Workshop 1: I want to make a publication ready map The goal of this session is to demystify GIS (Geographic Information Systems). By the end of this workshop, you will know… Read more
-
DH Monday: Faculty Research Lecture – Alan Liu, English
Alan Liu, English (2024-2025 Faculty Research Lecturer), will give the lecture “AI Virtue: What’s “Good” Knowledge in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?” In the age of AI, what will be good knowledge? Alan Liu applies digital humanities methods to map epistemic virtues (like “true,” “accurate,” “creative”) used to discuss artificial intelligence. “Creativity” comes in for… Read more
-
Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage (online, Feb 19 – May 7, 2026)
Photographic History Research Centre, Leicester, UK, Feb 19–May 7, 2026 PHRC is pleased to announce the second season of its Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage, a free, online series of talks and discussions exploring photography’s intersections with politics, technology, and cultural production. The series investigates the rich and evolving field of photographic cultures… Read more