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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Calisphere Soars Past Two Million Digital Primary Resource Items
Calisphere announced that it now provides access to over two million historical images, texts, recordings, and other primary resources from the state of California’s remarkable digital collections. Explore early maps of the world; photographs from historical newspapers; paintings reflecting periods of cultural significance; personal journals and diaries charting new frontiers; political posters calling for decades… Read more
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Speculative Annotation Invites Public to Interact with Digitized Collections at the LoC
Created by artist and 2021 Innovator in Residence Courtney McClellan, Speculative Annotation is an open-source dynamic web application and public art project. The app presents a unique mini collection of free-to-use items from the Library for students, teachers and learners to annotate through captions, drawings and other types of mark-making. As a special feature for… Read more
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DH Monday: CFP: Critical Data in Art Market Research (College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL/February 16-19, 2022)
College Art Association Annual Conference (Chicago, IL/February 16-19, 2022)Submission Deadline: September 16, 2021 TIAMSA Session 2: Critical Data in Art Market Research In recent years, the study of the art market has seen significant progress due to the increasing availability of digitized source materials, such as dealer archives and stock books, auction catalogs or exhibition… Read more
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New Online Exhibition: Find Yourself in Copyright
July marks the end of the Copyright Office’s 150th anniversary celebration. To commemorate their 150th year, they’ve launched “Find Yourself in Copyright,” an online exhibit exploring the rich history of copyright in America. “Find Yourself in Copyright” explores how U.S. copyright law has evolved and how the millions of copyright claims registered with the Office illustrate… Read more
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DH Monday, Part II: CFP: magazén, 2022: [re]constructions
Call for Papers | Volume 2022: [re]constructionsDeadlinesAbstract Submission – September 15, 2021Abstract acceptance – October 15, 2021Articles Submission – Febrauary 15, 2022 (issue 1) or July 15, 2022 (issue 2)Prospective publication – June 2022 (issue 1) and December 2022 (issue 2) Magazén, the interdisciplinary journal of the Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities (VeDPH)… Read more
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DH Monday, Part I: TOC: magazén – International Journal for Digital and Public Humanities, Volume 2021
Now available online: the first issue of the second volume of magazén, International Journal for Digital and Public Humanities. The articles are divided in two issues and devoted to the topic of “Consolidation”. The volume indeed speaks of the necessary interaction and negotiation between different groups and cultures. The result is not an entirely new… Read more